Consumer complaint received 2018-11-27
Product: Mortgage — FHA mortgage
Issue: Struggling to pay mortgage — 
Company: PENNYMAC LOAN SERVICES, LLC. (NJ)

I am facing a foreclosure sale date on XX/XX/XXXX because my loan servicer Penny mac has denied me access to government assistance programs that they are required to offer homeowners with FHA loans backed by HUD. I have been trying to work with them and submitted my financial information numerous times, but they continually assign new people to my case, have changed my point of contact three times in the last three months and most recently told me that my documents had been received too late to review. I made sure to mail them in 6 weeks prior to my sale date and verified that the documents were in their office 40 days prior to the sale. However, Penny mac said it was too late and they would not even look at my documents. To make matters worse, they are breaking New Jersey protocols and laws by failing to offer state mandated mediation. I work as a XXXX XXXX and make a good living and could afford a fair and reasonable payment if Penny Mac would actually allow me access to all government programs. That is the issue here. 

My ex-husband and I bought this home in XXXX. We refinanced in XXXX to take care of a bad mold problem and had to gut the house to fix the problem. In XXXX we decided to refinance into a high interest FHA loan through XXXX   XXXX XXXX so that we could get caught up on our bills. I had no problem making the monthly payments until my ex-husband and I split up in XXXX. I lost his income and it was hard to keep up. In XXXX my company was going through a tough time and told me they had to cut me back to 3 days a week. The combination of divorce and no income from husband and my reduction in hours led me to default on my FHA loan. I immediately contacted XXXX  XXXX XXXX and explained the situation. They told me that HUD had programs available for employed homeowners who had lost hours and I made reduced payments for a few months. Then I was laid off and unable to make that payment and fell further behind. 

I hired a law firm to assist me but they ended up providing no help. I did not have a modification and I was out thousands of dollars. I tried repeatedly to apply for a modification through XXXX  XXXX XXXX and after the loan was transferred to XXXX XXXX I continued to apply. I was not able to become approved for any help -- -the offers I received kept my payment the same, or increased it, there was no payment reliefthere was no partial claim offered where a portion of the arrearages would be removed from the balance and put into a silent 2nd. There was no offer of a special forbearance to make the modification more affordable. My interest rate right now is 6.5 %. I work as a XXXX XXXX and make a good living. I find it hard to believe that there are no programs through HUD that I qualify for that could offer some type of payment relief through modification and reduced interest rate or increased term, partial claim or special forbearance. The obvious truth is that Penny Mac has obstructed access to these programs and is denying me my chance and right to be considered for government programs designed to help people in my situation.