Consumer complaint received 2023-08-22
Product: Mortgage — Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process — 
Company: PENTAGON FEDERAL CREDIT UNION (CA)

On XX/XX/2023 I submitted a Mortgage Loan Hardship application along with supporting documents ( from checklist ) to PenFen Credit Union. At that time my loan was current. The hardship document requested that I select how I wanted to be contacted and I checked the boxes for email and/or text message only. My initial intent was to seek assistance for future payments, a loan modification or other assistance directly from the lender. The reasons that lead up to the hardship were clearly stated : A ). Home is located in a FEMA ( Federal and State ) declared disaster area. B ). Home Fire. C ). Covid 19 D ). FMLA to care for a XXXX  family member. All of these events occured within the past six months, which resulted in an unforseen financial hardship that was beyond my control. PenFed acknowledged the receipt of my request on XX/XX/2023. PenFed also stated that I had until XX/XX/2023 to submit any additional requested documentation. On XX/XX/2023 I received a letter from PenFed that my request for hardship was denied because I did not submit the additional information within the 30-day limit. They were wrong. The 30-day timelimit would have expired on XX/XX/XXXX, not XX/XX/XXXX. Furthermore, when I called PenFed and spoke to my case manager, XXXX XXXX on XX/XX/2023, she stated that she had been " calling me and calling me '' several times and was unable to leave a message. I reminded her, that the requested form of contact, per the hardship request document, was either by email or text message ( due to my FMLA responsibilities I could not take phone calls ). XXXX XXXX located my hardship application and verified that I was correct, and PenFed had made an error, not only in the contact method, but by canceling my application prematurely. Additionally we found several inconsistencies between the online system document requests ( from the third party website ) and PenFed 's internal system that XXXX XXXX had access. After some reconciliation, we also discovered that the hardship application that was available on-line was considerably different then the PenFed hard copy application that PenFed mails out to hardship applicants not able to access the on-line system. The documents were not only different in content, but also by the documents requested and differences in page numbers -- all which lead to much confusion when trying to figure out what was truly needed. After sorting out the differences in requests with XXXX XXXX, I told her that I tried to make my mortage payment, but the system had me locked out. She verified that during the application phase of the program I was unable to make payments. As it stands today, XX/XX/2023, the on-line system is still incorrect, showing that there is still missing documemtion, even after XXXX XXXX confirmed receipt. I have two complaints ; 1 ). The hardship process is very difficult to navigate by its inconsistent requests for documemtation and 2 ). Not being able to make a payment to my account which in turn has PenFed now reporting my loan 30 days past due ( soon to be 60 days ) because of their internal delays, errors or mistakes in attempted communication, premature cancellation if my application, inconsistencies in their documentation requests and their inability to correct their internal system so that it matches the online document center ( XXXX ).