Consumer complaint received 2019-08-09
Product: Mortgage — Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Struggling to pay mortgage — 
Company: GUARANTEED RATE INC. (IL)

I was the victim of a university scam by XXXX university. My money was stolen from me by the faculty and I lost my job. In fact more than 20,000 students including XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX were scammed. The school would eventually close as investigators found they stole more than XXXX XXXX dollars. I also lost a XXXX scholarship. My XXXX degree is done and I had to apply for loan forgiveness which was approved. 
I applied to the Illinois Hardest Hit fund and was pre-approved. As part of the approval process the state of Illinois pays for any past due mortgage payments. They also then pay for a year. I also applied to loss mitigation and was approved for forbearance. 

What has rubbed me the wrong way is my mortgage company today told me they were going to report me late for XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX. I called them the last week of XX/XX/XXXX and asked if a payment was needed to be made because I did not want to be reported late to the credit reporting agency. I then asked them if that was sure and I was informed by the loss mitigation employee that this was the case. I was told to call next week during the XX/XX/XXXXweek. I later called the following week and was told I was approved for forbearance. I was informed that I would not be reported late. They even looked at my credit and did a hard inquiry. 

My problem is I have made all of my payments on time prior to having this problem. It does not make any sense for me to stop making payments and be reported late to the reporting agency. As a whole I feel like my mortgage company has failed me as a customer. I have spent countless hours sending them documents and calling them. They have not done anything to help me resolve me not being reported late. All of the information that they have told me is a lie and several of their employees led me to believe that I would not be returned late. I have perfect credit and have not been reported late ever. I also wrote the following goodwill letter. 

To Whom It May Concern : Thank you for taking the time to read this letter, and I hope your day is going well. Im writing because I noticed that my most recent credit report contains [ late payments ] reported on XX/XX/XXXX andXX/XX/XXXX for my mortgage account. 

I want you to know that I understand my financial obligations, and if it werent for being the victim of a fraudulent scam and qualifying for Illinois hardest hit program Id have an excellent repayment record. I was also given the impression and informed several times that I would not be reported late by your staff. They told me that it would be reported as on time after the forbearance period. 

Today its come to my attention that the missed payment on my record could hurt me I truly believe that it doesnt reflect my creditworthiness and commitment to repaying my debts. It would help me immensely if you could give me a second chance and make a goodwill adjustment to remove the late payments Thank you for your consideration, and I hope youll approve my request. 

Best, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX