Consumer complaint received 2023-12-08
Product: Mortgage — VA mortgage
Issue: Struggling to pay mortgage — Trying to communicate with the company to fix an issue related to modification, forbearance, short sale, deed-in-lieu, bankruptcy, or foreclosure
Company: Mr. Cooper Group Inc. (MA)

I purchased my home in XXXX with a VA loan and was able to refinance in XXXX. I am now in danger of losing the property to foreclosure because of the unethical business practices of Rushmore Loan Management. I live in the home with my wife and three teenage children and dont understand why Rushmore turned their back on me. I went through a difficult time and due to XXXX sickness and death and income loss fell behind on my mortgage payments. When I contacted them to ask for assistance options, I was told that I needed to get caught up on payments. No one explained that Rushmore was required as a VA loan servicer to offer CARES  program forbearance to me. This would have given me a chance to have these payments temporarily suspended and then when the hardship ended I would be reviewed for programs to put the missed payments at the end of the loan or defer the payments or loan modification. This never happened because Rushmore denied access to government programs that they were required to offer to struggling homeowners with VA loans who had been impacted by Covid. The actions of Rushmore had a snowball effect on my familys life. Instead of resolving this problem two years ago I have dealt with their continued obstruction and unethical practices. 

In late XXXX my uncle became very sick and since he had no one else to help him I began serving as his caretaker to help him and took time off of work. Little did we know that this was the beginning of XXXX  and my uncle got XXXX  and then XXXX XXXX. I caught XXXX also and was unable to work for several months due to quarantine rules and fell behind on the mortgage payment. When I contacted Rushmore their agents knew of my hardship and knew it was Covid related. Even though they were required to offer the CARES forbearance plan these agents told me that I needed to figure out a way to get caught up. Due to my XXXX I try to avoid conflict and I did not argue with their agents. But now that I know they were REQUIRED to provide this help it makes me very distressed. Once I got back on my feet I tried to resume mortgage payments to Rushmore but was told that they would only accept the full past due balance. When I asked for options for help I was again told I needed to reinstate the late payments or apply for the state government HAF program, which I did in late XXXX. In early XXXX Massachusetts HAF approved me and reached out to Rushmore to get the loan details so they could pay off the late payments and I could start fresh. However, Rushmore spun their wheels and did not provide the proper information in a timely manner and eventually HAF pulled back the offer of funds to pay back my missed payments, even though that would have fully satisfied the missed payments at that time. 

I realized that Rushmore was a difficult lender and resigned myself to filing bankruptcy to resolve the matter and protect me from foreclosure in XX/XX/XXXX. I made bankruptcy payments for several months but this was eventually dismissed and Rushmore said they were going to foreclose on me again. So I contacted Massachusetts HAF again and gave them an update and they were willing to consider my case a second time. Just like the first time I was approved for the program and they contacted Rushmore and told them that they would pay off $ XXXX towards my arrearages. The second time around Rushmore was eager to accept these funds but demanded that I bring in $ XXXX in cash so that they could pad their coffers and then they would modify the remaining balance. Why couldnt they consider a solution that would address the entire past due balance remaining after they committed to paying $ XXXX of my arrearages. Why did Rushmore run the clock out in XXXX when I was approved for HAF for $ XXXX and it would have caught me up on the mortgage at that time? Why does this bank treat veterans this way?