Consumer complaint received 2022-01-29
Product: Mortgage — Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Struggling to pay mortgage — 
Company: Acra Intermediate Holdings, LLC (CA)

To whom it may concern, my name is XXXX XXXX and I am the owner of XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX CA, XXXX. I refinanced my home loan in XXXX with a lender called Citadel Servicing Corporation. All of my payments were always made on time and my loan has always been in good standing. Last year, in XX/XX/XXXX, due to the Coronavirus lockdown, I was forced to apply for forbearance, which was approved in writing by Citadel. After my five-month forbearance period, I agreed to a two-year repayment plan, which was the only option Citadel offered me to avoid losing my house. Even though I had been severely impacted by the shutdown of my business, I started making the requested {$12000.00} a month mortgage repayments immediately, to avoid any negative outcome. Meanwhile, I contacted Citadel multiple times to see if there were any other solutions such as refinance or deferring the amount owed to the term of the loan. Each time I was told that my only option was the 2-year repayment plan, which increased my mortgage payment from nearly {$9000.00} to nearly {$12000.00} a month. I made those requested payments every month on time and was surprised when I received a mortgage statement in XX/XX/XXXX stating that my monthly amount due was {$9800.00}. I called XXXX and was told that it was under new ownership and that I had to reapply for a new loss mitigation package. I requested a loss mitigation package but never received anything from them. Meanwhile, I paid my new mortgage payment in the amount of {$9800.00} every month on time. Back in XX/XX/XXXX, I was in process of applying for a XXXX lease and ran my credit and to my utter shock, I saw my credit rating had dropped from around XXXX to XXXX points. Upon investigating my credit score and report, I realized that Citadel had reported me late for the time I had been on an approved forbearance. I called them immediately and their representative said that there were no notes that I was ever on a forbearance plan and no notes about a repayment contract. I immediately emailed all the documentation proving that I have a written forbearance agreement and a written and signed repayment contract. I received an email the next day with an apology and promise to correct the falsie credit reporting but nothing happened for months. Furthermore, they didn't accept my mortgage payment of {$9800.00} and were not connecting me with a loss mitigation representative or supervisor. I reported them to the CFPB and also called them every day for nearly 10 days without being able to talk to anyone who could resolve this matter. After my filing with CFPB, Citadel finally responded and admitted that there might have been a " misunderstanding '' due to the transfer in servicing in their company. They corrected the inaccurate reporting on my credit with XXXX and XXXX but left the incorrect negative reporting on my XXXX report. Citadel was reporting me as late for XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX on my XXXX report. After reviewing my payment history, I realized that I paid my full repayment plan amount of {$11000.00} in XXXX, and in XXXX the reduced amount of {$9900.00}. However, my XXXX credit report showed me late for both mentioned months, which was totally inaccurate. 
During that time I was in daily contact with XXXX XXXX XXXX from XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX XXXX from Customer Resolution Specialist, and their collections department. To my surprise, I received a certified letter saying that Citadel has tried to contact me on XXXX different occasions unsuccessfully. This was absolutely incorrect. 
As per Citadels suggestion, we applied for a new loss mitigation package. Meanwhile, they told us that they would honor the payback contract but only if we could pay the difference of the new lower payment to the higher repayment plan for the multiple months they did not bill us correctly. Due to our financial situation, we were unable to do so and sent in our loss mitigation application. Immediately after we submitted the new loss mitigation package, we started receiving letters that states that we have 30 days to pay off {$50000.00}. This was absolutely ridiculous and unethical since these circumstances were NOT caused by us but by Citadel due to the change in their servicing operation. None of this should be to our disadvantage since we kept our part of the agreement and were clearly harmed by Citadel 's sloppy payment department that did not know that we had a signed repayment contract. 
During all the above-mentioned months we tried with our loan broker to refinance our home. However, due to the incorrect negative credit reporting, we were unable to do so until late last year. Now, we are finally close to securing a refinance but Citadel sent us an email yesterday that they will only let us make our XX/XX/XXXX mortgage payment if we have proof of a loan approval with a locked rate. I forwarded them our preliminary loan approval which does not have a locked rate as we are still in need of submitting the XXXX bank statement which has not been populated yet. Therefore, they denied to accept our XXXX mortgage payment and XXXX XXXX told us over the phone that we will be reported to the credit agencies for failing to pay the XXXX mortgage. 
As I mentioned above, every month I had to beg to make my monthly payment, as my over {$50000.00} in past due payments have not been deferred due to the change in servicers within the Citadel Servicing Corporation in XXXX. Moreover, the credit reporting suppression was on a month-to-month basis and every single month I worried that they will deny my request for the coming payment period which they now finally did. It is of immense importance that my outstanding credit stays intact as I am tirelessly trying to refinance my loan so I can move on from this horrible situation. Moreover, I applied for the California Mortgage Relief Program and have submitted all necessary documents. The California Mortgage Relief Program will cover past-due mortgage payments in full through a grant of up to {$80000.00} per household. The money will go directly to a homeowners ' mortgage servicer. It's free to enroll and funds do not need to be repaid. My case qualifies for this grant and I have been in constant contact with the California Mortgage Relief Program. Citadel Servicing Corporation has not signed up for the program and I have kindly asked their representative to forward a written message from the California Mortgage Relief Program to upper management in order to consider joining this amazing supportive initiative for struggling homeowners like me. 
I don't know how to further proceed with them and need your help urgently. This lender seems suspicious and negligent. I am worried about my loan and the way they are running their mortgage department. Their whole operation seems shady and unprofessional. 
It seems that Citadel is extremely unorganized and I am scared of losing my home due to their unprofessionalism. Please help me resolve all my challenges with this mortgage lender. 
Thank you very much. 
With best wishes, XXXX XXXX