Consumer complaint received 2023-09-05
Product: Mortgage — FHA mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process — Paying off the loan
Company: U.S. BANCORP (CA)

During Covid 19 Pandemic my job was impacted as I am a XXXX XXXX and was in the process of obtaining approval to sit for my XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX right at the beginning of the pandemic which the pandemic caused delays with the XXXX  XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX in processing applications and then once approved to sit for the exam the test center was booked up six months in advance due to Social Distancing Guidelines, and one week prior to my scheduled exam, the test center had to cancel my exam due to more social distancing changes causing me to be timed out of my position and having to take a demotion with a 50 % pay reduction. This caused a financial hardship in which we were unable to make our mortgage payments as my husband XXXX XXXX was XXXX  and receiving his social security retirement. US Bank offered us a forbearance for 12 months and we were told that the forbearance amount of approximately {$14000.00} would be added to the back of the loan and our loan would be extended to a longer duration. We were never told there would be a balloon payment and were told that this would save our home from going into foreclosure. We were told that since we agreed to this that the bank would be sending us paperwork to sign before a Notary. We signed this document not knowing that there was a {$47000.00} lien placed on our home. My husband passed away XX/XX/XXXX from XXXX XXXX and I had to sell our home and only then did I find out about this lien. I was told that the loan number to this lien was the same number as my original loan and that there was a second mortgage on my house. We never borrowed against our home and never received any money from a loan. My seasoned relocators and XXXX XXXX said they never seen anything like this and did not know what this was. I had nothing on my credit report showing I owed HUD over {$47000.00} nor did I receive any documentation from HUD or the bank explaining this and how they calculated this amount. All I was told was I agreed to pay HUD back {$47000.00}. Once my home sold and I moved in with family we learned that HUD had granted us a Partial Claim under the CARES ACT and had frauded us out of over {$47000.00}. I learned that those who took out Covid 19 Mortgage Forbearances now have balloon payments they did not know they and were owed to HUD upon paying off the original loan, refinancing the original loan, or selling their home. The CARES ACT was implemented by the XXXX XXXX to help people through a difficult situation during a global pandemic. How is it legal that HUD was able to inflate the forbearance amount due to an astronomical amount of money and take advantage of desperate people who were uninformed about the balloon payment. If we knew that we would have to pay back an astronomical amount of money for such a small forbearance we would never have agreed to this. The government preyed on so many unsuspecting vulnerable people facing a financial headship during a global health crisis. Many of those who participated in the Covid Mortgage Forbearance were XXXX, XXXX, and XXXX  citizens and many of them were heavy in grief as they lost family members to Covid and some even losing multiple family members at once due to the virus. The US Government and the banks took advantage of people during a crisis and financial hardship. How is this legal? How do I get my money back? Something needs to be done about this as this is just lime the housing crisis of XXXX and doesnt seem like this should be legal. Also, we reticence our home last Summer in XXXX and we were not informed of this {$47000.00} and from what I read on the internet recently when my home was refinanced US Bank was supposed to pay off the {$47000.00} and we should have been made aware of this at the time of refinancing. US Bank Loan pay off was {$150000.00} at the time of close of escrow. US Bank Loan XXXX XXXX FHA # XXXX for property at XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX California XXXX.