Consumer complaint received 2021-08-26
Product: Mortgage — FHA mortgage
Issue: Struggling to pay mortgage — 
Company: MONEY SOURCE, INC., THE (VA)

My mortgage has been serviced by The Money Source ( TMS ) since XXXX. We encountered some issues affecting our income and had to file for chapter XXXX bankruptcy in XXXX. While in the process, the trustee requested that I apply for a modification in order to resolve some shortfall in our plan 's budget, so in XX/XX/XXXX I made my first attempt and cited that in addition to financial hardship, my wife and I were going to assume full responsibility for mortgage payments ( my father is the co-signer on the loan but he has since retired and we don't expect him to pay towards that expense any longer ). The problem with TMS is that they are very poor on communication and slow in a way that almost feels intentional. My first two attempts at modification applications were fumbled due to slow/no feedback about issues with my application or missing documents and the process would time out automatically. The third attempt was a success though and I made three consecutive trial payments of {$2500.00} - much better than the original {$3200.00}. The time came for acceptance documents to be signed, which felt like a great achievement due to the clumsy and difficult process leading up to it. Papers were signed and returned and I called to verify the documentation had been received. I checked back periodically and some ten days later, I was told there was a minor issue with the acceptance documents - a mismatch on the signature dates. Frustratingly long time to disclose such a simple error, but ok. Digital copies were re-issued to me but in separate files ( both with identical names even though one copy was for the mod. and the other copy was for a partial claim to re-absorb mortgage arrears back into the loan ). I happened to only print and sign the document labeled as " modification '', assuming the second PDF was a duplicate since both had the same file name and were both 16 pages long. My father and I paid out of pocket to rush the notarized signatures to TMS and called feverishly to make sure they had been received. Operators told me that my dad 's signature was received but that mine had not arrived yet ( this was about 5 business days after sending it via 2-day USPS and tracking info said it was received ). Finally, two business days before my acceptance forms expired someone left a note that my documents had been received but that it was only the modification and the partial claim was missing - my three applications and three months of trial payments did nothing ... the mod was dead in the water. I was asked to re-apply for the fourth time. I gritted my way through a fourth attempt immediately, sending all my details, the application, statements, etc. and things were looking good. By this time, I had a competent " customer ally '' named XXXX who is incredible as a customer service provider. Roughly a week later, she encountered some confusion. My application appeared to be missing or canceled and XXXX spent hours looking through notes and updates to my account - finally discovering that an automated process from my failed third application had cleared the entire cache on my account and somehow took my most recent documents down with it ( this was something technical that I have no idea about - maybe they can explain why their system failed so readily ). That meant I had to apply a fifth ( 5th ) time. I waited a few days to make sure no more bugs in the system were lingering to undo my efforts and then I began the flurry of documents, applications, statements, etc. Once that was out, I checked in from time to time and eventually found out there were some financial documents needed for my dad ( even though I explained that my wife and I are handling the payments ). The note sounded like they needed some proof of income for his retirement, so I sent what I had and later on heard that they needed a specific bank statement showing deposits, which I supplied. Time wore on and then there was a comment about some missing docs for Social Security income. At this time, I was traveling more than usual for work and had very limited access to the items requested so I was hampered in my efforts to get what I thought they were asking for. The underwriting department seemed to change the note - like a moving target and of course, yet again ... time ran out. I am beginning my sixth application to TMS for a modification that I already completed trial payments for. It has been a year. The trustee handling my Chapter XXXX  bankruptcy has dropped my case due to inability to supply modification documents - an expense of at least {$3000.00} that I will not recoup. I will make sure to calculate the exact total of that expense for future reference. The Money Source has been accruing interest on my account all this time. I was granted a forbearance in order to help buy some time for the modification process, but that window will close next week, making my entire balance due and jeopardizing my mortgage and my credit. The forbearance also cuts off my options for refinancing, which I have attempted. All providers say they can't help until well after the forbearance ends. I have spent an astounding amount of time, energy, money, and my family has had to pay by enduring a version of myself that was stressed out constantly due to being plagued by a totally incompetent mortgage company whose constant fumbling and poor communication posed a constant threat to the roof over our heads. TMS is not competent as a loan servicer for someone in my circumstances.