Consumer complaint received 2021-10-28
Product: Mortgage — Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Struggling to pay mortgage — 
Company: U.S. BANCORP (CA)

To whom it may concern, Hope you are well and thank you for your help with this issue. 

My name is XXXX. I own a XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX and have been in business over 20 years. Early last year with Covid shut down california and my business, we had no choice but to enroll in a forbearance plan with XXXX XXXX for our home loan. It was such a stressful time and we honesty had no idea at all what was going to happen. So, fast forward, We just came out of a 17 month forbearance plan with US bank, made the 3 trial payments and got the loan modification documents. I quickly signed them because I was so stressed over this situation and I did not want to be late on a payment. 

However, shortly after signing loan modification I got a routine followup call from my loan officer who obtained this initial loan with US Bank. She was calling to check in with us to see if I was interested in doing a refinance because the interest rates are historically low. So we began the process of a refinance as I was completing my final and 3rd payment to get out of the forbearance. We were about 15 days into the refi process and she asked me what this $ XXXX was for in the pay off amount I replied and said I don't know. 

Upon further investigation we came to realize that this $ XXXX was the interest that had accrued from the last 17 months of my forbearance. I began to research and look through all the documents US Bank had sent to me and there is not one document stating that I would be responsible for paying interest over the term of the forbearance plan. All it said was ALL payments were to be suspended. It did not define what payments were suspended or what payments would need to be paid at the end of the forbearance ie. principal, interest, property tax or homeowners insurance, it just said all payments will be suspended. 

Though the entire forbearance I called numerous times to speak with the customer service people over at US Bank to get clarity on what to expect when we completed the forbearance and they just kept telling me that once I decide I can start making payments again they were tell me what I would have to do and there was no clarity or ever any discussion that I would be responsible to pay interest only at the end. You can even look at the phone records on my account and you will see I called every few months because I was extremely anxious with what was going to happen next. 

My loan officer was beside herself when she realized that the best loan modification offer US Bank verbally made to me was a 40 year loan with the same interest-rate ( XXXX ) knowing full well that the market value right now is around 3 % interest-rate. US Bank kept me at XXXX and extended my loan an extra 10 years making it 40 years. To make matters worse US Bank took the $ XXXX in interest and rolled it back into the principal balance which means I now have to pay interest twice over the next 40 years which means I'll be paying hundreds to thousands in additional interest because of this extra XXXX. This is robbery and not helpful at all. 

During the 17 months in my forbearance AND when discussing the load modification, there was no clear information about fine details of what money was going where at the end of the forbearance plan. In fact in a letter dated XX/XX/2020 stated the following Each day brings new laws and guidance, often impacting the communications we are regularly sending. By listening to your feedback, we realized that the initial letter we sent advising of the requested assistance may not have been clear. This comment was referring to XXXX XXXX their letter one month prior on XX/XX/2020. The XX/XX/XXXX letter goes on to continue outlining the terms of and conditions of the forbearance plan and it's nowhere in there did it say that I will be paying interest only at the end of the forbearance. It just says all payments were suspended. 

In closing, my wife and I were misled and have been severely taken advantage of with this very important information and now we are facing the cold hard fact that we may be stuck with paying double interest for the next 40 years because of the lack of clear communication from XXXX XXXX. I am seeking some sort of solution here. It was my understanding form the beginning that the government and the banks are here to help, not to steal and manipulate and take advantage of their customers. I have never been late with one payment and have always been very good and my communications with US Bank. 

Thank you for your time and I do hope for some good news soon, Sincerely, XXXX XXXX