Consumer complaint received 2021-02-13
Product: Mortgage — Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Closing on a mortgage — 
Company: Freedom Mortgage Company (CA)

On XX/XX/2020 I called Freedom Mortgage at XXXX for what in the past has been a simple payoff request which previous mortgage holders & financial institutions have been able to answer during a single call. The experience with Freedom Mortgage was an extreme outlier in comparison. In summary, it required 11 phone calls & several hours of being on hold, being transferred, being disconnected after being on hold for long periods, and conversations with numerous Customer Care Specialists, Supervisors, & Servicing Dept. employees who always stated that they were following procedures and this is the only way Freedom Mortgage can handle this request as well as we are not responsible for our errors. 

The first person I spoke to was XXXX at XXXX on XXXX XXXX for payoff on XXXX XXXX. She informed me that the only way I could receive a payoff was to request it by phone and that I would receive an email ( to the only email address which Freedom Mortgage has on file for my account ) 3 days later on XXXX XXXX with the payoff amount & wire instructions and the per diem rate is {$45.00}. If I paid later than XXXX XXXX then all I would have to do is add the amount for additional days. 

I did not receive an email from Freedom Mortgage on the XXXX so on XXXX XXXX I called the number again & was connected with XXXX ( sp? ). She said according to the records an email was sent to me. I told her that I never received it but I have received all the junk emails which Freedom Mortgage had sent out in the last few days and that they must have sent it to another email address instead of the single correct address on file with them. She said she would expedite the request to resend the email and first told me it would be resent to me on Saturday, XXXX XXXX. She then put me on hold to do the expedite ; when she came back on the line told me it would be sent the morning of Mon. XXXX XXXX. I then filed a complaint with XXXX on XXXX XXXX but to date have not received a reply. 

XXXX XXXX XXXX I called again as I had not received an email & was connected with XXXX. She told me I could request online for a specific payoff date and that once requested, I could logon 30 min. later & look in the Statements section to find the payoff. I did the online request ( there was no option to enter a specific payoff date ) then checked back about 50 min. later and found the statement. I was shocked to see that the statement was generated for a payoff date one MONTH later & the statement included not only interest which would accrue for a month but also late fees of {$96.00} ( which did not exist ) in addition to two fees/charges for {$30.00} each. Apparently one of them was for the email which I never received. And below the payoff info. was a statement that if a wire was received for anything less than the full payoff amount in the statement that it would be returned. 

I called again & was connected with XXXX # XXXX. She told me that I would not be charged for either the late fees or the {$60.00} of other fees & that I could disregard those in making a payment. She also said any amount in excess of the full payoff would be refunded. I then asked to speak with a supervisor who just transferred me to the servicing dept. After being on hold for abt. 40 min. the call was disconnected. 

I called back immediately & spoke with XXXX # XXXX who put me on hold then transferred me to XXXX in servicing. I asked him why I had never received the email and he checked and found that someone at Freedom Mortgage had made a mistake and it had been sent to an email address which is not mine. I told him that it is outrageous the company would send a payoff statement for a date a full month away and he stated that it was according to company procedures. It is incredible that in 2020 the process of receiving a simple payoff amount is so antiquated at Freedom Mortgage. And the process can be as simple as taking the XXXX XXXX date ; adding 19 days of per diem & the recording fee. I first asked him what the company would do to make up for their mistakes which prevented me from sending the wire on XXXX XXXX ; he said he would check on escalation to see if I could make the payoff as of that date & he put me on hold. When he came back online he said that it would be impossible for me to make the payment for that date and that he could not send the XXXX XXXX payoff document to me as it was now invalid. I said that the mistakes Freedom Mortgage employees had made would cost me at least an additional {$270.00} and asked what Freedom Mortgage could do to compensate me. He said the company could not do anything and they were only following procedures. I asked him if the company took any responsibility or liability for their mistakes & he would not respond which effectively means NO. I then asked him for the exact payoff for XXXX XXXX & that I would be able to send the wire that day ; he said that payoff info. was provided by another department and that they would be unable to comply even after I pointed out how simple the calculation is. I then told him I would do that simple calculation and send the wire f ( which I did that day ) and asked him if the wire was more than the actual payoff, would Freedom Mortgage refund that excess and if so, how long would it take the company to refund it and would I receive interest on the excess. He told me it would take the company at least 14 days to issue a refund and there would be no interest. 

It appears that the Customer Care Specialists & servicing department employees are either poorly trained or the company procedures direct employees to delay payoff as long as possible so Freedom Mortgage can continue to receive interest. In checking recent complaints against Freedom Mortage with the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXhere are numerous similar issues with poor customer care and misleading or incorrect information. 

On XXXX XXXX, 2020 I mailed a letter regarding the above to the XXXX, XXXX XXXX ( along with the call logs ) to their HQ address in XXXX XXXX, NJ in which I stated I would be filing a complaint with the CFPB To date I have not received a response. 

I can provde the phone logs to CFPB if needed.