Consumer complaint received 2025-07-11 00:00:00
Product: Mortgage — Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process — Escrow, taxes, or insurance
Company: Freedom Mortgage Company
State: VA

Complaint narrative:
In XX/XX/year> Freedom Mortgage sent me a letter saying our Real Estate tax payments ( we don't have Escrow ) were delinquent and that I needed to send Proof of Payment or they would pay our taxes for us and establish an Escrow account. We were not delinquent, so I called the number in the letter to discuss correcting their erroneous info. The person I spoke with had difficulty comprehending what I was saying & conversing in XXXX, so I requested a Supervisor and was told someone would call me. No one did. I went to the website and called the listed Customer service #. The person I spoke said it sounded like a scam and asked me to email a copy of the letter, which I did. He then emailed me back saying he had spoken with Fraud Prevention and they confirmed the letter was a scam and to not respond to it. 
Then in early XXXX I rec 'd another letter. This time I responded with proof that we didn't have an outstanding tax balance -- faxed the documents from XXXX to the number they provided AND mailed a physical copy. 
Then in late XXXX I rec 'd an email from Freedom stating they had paid our delinquent RE taxes ( we were not delinquent ) and set up an Escrow account ( without my authorization ). So on XX/XX/XXXX I called again, and finally got to speak with Supervisor XXXX, explained everything to him and he told me XXXX Co actually didn't contact Freedom Mortgage -- they have a computer program that scans the database. I asked him to check it, which he did, and confirmed he could see that we weren't delinquent, could also see when I made our payment, BUT he still needed me to upload proof that I ( ONLY me, and no one else ) had paid our RE Taxes. He gave me a secure link to access and upload all documents into, which I did. And NOW I have rec 'd an Escrow Account Disclosure Statement explaining that they have established an Escrow account for us and, starting XX/XX/XXXX, will be automatically withdrawing an additional XXXX XXXX with our Mortgage payment, to cover our " shortfall ''. I phoned again this morning, spent XXXX XXXX on the phone, and was told " they are researching the issue and their target date for Resolution is XX/XX/XXXX ''. This is unacceptable -- they are about to start withdrawing funds from our bank account without our authorization, to cover a non-existent XXXX in an Escrow account they established without our authorization, cover a tax payment they made in error. I have repeatedly asked them to send me a letter or email confirming their mistake and that steps are being taken to correct it, which they have refused to do, for a variety of reasons. Their advice today was " go to the website and submit a written request to have your Escrow account removed '', and that someone will call me next week. I have spent 25+ hrs trying to get this straightened out! This is INSANE! They told me they could Foreclose on my house or it could be Auctioned off for " past due Real Estate taxes! '' And supposedly XXXX XXXX XXXX Collector told Freedom mortgage that they had never rec 'd a payment from Freedom! So they are about to start taking money from us to cover a payment they never made, to cover Real Estate taxes we didn't owe??!!

Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation