Consumer complaint received 2025-07-03 00:00:00
Product: Mortgage — Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process — Trying to communicate with the company to fix an issue while managing or servicing your loan
Company: PENNYMAC LOAN SERVICES, LLC.
State: UT

Complaint narrative:
b'This complaint of Pennymac pertains to unethical and illegal practices during making payments, closing a loan, and attempting to contact Pennymac to resolve issues. I filed 2 separate complaints on XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX to which Pennymac provided blatantly false information and lied about certain occurrences.\nPennymac has never returned my calls and claims they made one singular attempt to contact me by phone on XXXX XXXX XXXX. This is false, as there are no missed calls on this date from any Pennymac number. This follows the pattern of Pennymac blatantly lying about contacting customers who reach out, repeatedly, for help and are unable to contact anyone. It is imperative that the CFPB look into such practices as these obstacles are purposeful attempts at not resolving customer issues.\nSecond, and this is where most of the problems stemmed from, I was offered a forbearance plan of 6 months, in effect for XXXX  through XXXX XXXX because it is for 6 months. Again - THROUGH XXXX XXXX, of this year - WHICH IS SIX MONTHS. When this was discussed via phone, I requested this in writing immediately, and nothing in writing was ever received. Again - NO WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS WERE SENT ON BEHALF OF PENNYMAC REGARDING THIS FORBEARANCE, DESPITE MULTIPLE REQUESTS FROM ME, THE CONSUMER. On XXXX XXXX XXXX, Pennymac uploaded a document to the online portal, backdating it several months, notifying of a forbearance plan, WITHOUT ANY OF THE DETAILS DISCUSSED DURING THAT INITIAL PHONE CALL. This is a blatant example of Pennymac trying to cover up their errors during this process.\n\nParagraph 3 of the previous response states that I, the customer, reached out to Pennymac on XXXX XXXX to discuss the forbearance plan, which is NOT AT ALL TRUE. I was attempting to access my XXXX XXXX information through the online portal - a completely different topic. It was only then that I had seen the amount due for the FOLLOWING DAY - XXXX XXXX I REPEAT XXXX COMMUNICATION FROM PENNYMAC FROM XXXX  THROUGH THAT DAY. \n\nAs a reminder, the reason I called in XXXX  to ask about options is because I have an ongoing XXXX XXXX XXXX and I was about to go into the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX where I would not be available to work or do daily activities such as log into computers. Yet in that time, there was NO COMMUNICATION: No written summaries of what was discussed in phone calls per requests, no statements, no written correspondence whatsoever, no mail, no ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.\n\nPennymac simply decided to SHORTEN THE LENGTH OF THE FORBEARANCE, WHICH THEY NEVER FORMALIZED IN WRITING ANYWAY, AND END IT WITHOUT ANY ATTEMPT OF NOTICE TO THE CONSUMER. They are even admitting in their letter that the forbearance was shortened to only four months with XXXX warning and XXXX communication, which supports the notion that they purposely withhold written communications from their customers.\n\nThe end of paragraph 3 states "...as you were no longer in an active forbearance plan..." which is completely false on Pennymac\'s part. The plan was supposed to go through XXXX XXXX. This is what was discussed on the phone as my last XXXX  was supposed to be XXXX XXXX \n\nPennymac admits in that paragraph that the loan was reported as late in XXXX XXXX XXXX  credit transmissions, which is inaccurate, as the forbearance plan was supposed to have covered that time. As an aside note - I STRONGLY URGE THE CFPB TO LOOK INTO THESE PRACTICES, AS IT IS EXTREMELY PREDATORY AND IN MANY CASES ILLEGAL TO REMOVE ACCOUNTS FROM PRE-IDENTIFIED PLANS WITHOUT ANY KIND OF NOTICE WHATSOEVER.\n\nThe last paragraph on page 1 also states that an XXXX (does not state what this means) was mailed, which again is not true - we had not received any written correspondence at this time and therefore have no idea what an "XXXX" is, since we were told this plan went through XXXX. Any payments we made during that time we were NOT planning ot make since a) I was not working due to this medical issue and b) all of my savings were covering the medical expenses and care.\n\nPennymac is insisting they charged a XXXX fee due to recording a notice of default when the account should have never made it to that status anyway.\n\nI had hired a housing advocate to deal with Pennymac at this time because a) they kept leaving these erroneous fees and notes on the account and b) they made it impossible to reach them, either due to long hold times or the "correct departments being busy" or providing no way for disabled people to reach them other than hiring someone who can physically speak.\n\nDuring this time, we spoke with several Pennymac representatives who provided wildly incosistent information. XXXX  on XXXX XXXX  told us that I needed to make 1 monthly payment to keep the forbearance active, which is what I did, despite being XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX  Then XXXX  on XXXX XXXX  claimed there was no record of the XXXX XXXX XXXX Also during XXXX XXXX XXXXhey claimed we could only speak to "Loan Modification" and not "Loss Mitigation," and even admitted they were two entirely separate departments with no communication between the two. The verbatim sentence the Pennymac rep said was: "I\'m gonna be honest with you right now, our system is limited, so I cannot address your question with details."\n\nThe housing counselor even stressed with the Pennymac rep at this time due to Pennymac using non-industry standard terms for their departments as if in a purposeful attempt at deceiving consumers. Pennymac\'s terminology does NOT align with HUD definitions.\n\nAt one point one of the reps stated that they do not mail physical documents and everything is on the online portal; however they do not notify you if a new document is uploaded. I tried checking right there on the phone and the website was down. Pennymac later claimed that the website was down for WEEKS. How are consumers supposed to be notified of anything if the website is down, or Pennymac doesn\'t mail things and lies about it, or never notifies you when a new document is available, and doesn\'t put the documents in any accessible form on the portal??? This is ridiculous!\n\nWhile Pennymac\'s letter mentions the Loan Modification form, this was NOT brought to my attention until our XXXX XXXX call with Pennymac rep XXXX, which he stated that the account had changed status again due to an open Loan Modification application, which again had been opened without my knowledge or any correspondence on the matter. XXXX  informed us that I had to come up with 2 payments on the stop in order to close out this Loan Modification application that I never even requested and had no knowledge of.\n\nOn XXXX XXXX  we spoke with someone named XXXX and then XXXX from Pennymac. First XXXX insisted that I had to submit a mortgage assistance application. The housing advocate asked: "Are you saying there needs to be another application to be considered for continued forbearance?" The Pennymac rep XXXX replied: "Yes and no," verbatim, and stated that regular processing is to run back through the review, without giving any details as to what that meant, and why we had to deal with 2 different departments, the loan modification and loss mitigation departments. However, this directly contradicted what XXXX  had said on the previous call, which is that the mortgage assistance application was the WRONG application and needed to be closed out in order to request an extension of forbearance, which he said he had done. The current rep XXXX stated that she is not in the right department to do that.\n\nThis is also when we filed a formal complaint with Pennymac about the original XXXX call. Again - that call was to ASK about what was POSSIBLE since I knew I\'d be going into the hospital for several months. The rep on that day had offered the 6 month forbearance plan, stating that I could resume payments at the end of 6 months as normal. I was hesitant because that sounded too good to be true and he insisted I sign up right away or it would not be available - which is why I requested the written details of that BEFORE signing up, which I never got, and he insisted I sign up at that moment or that would not be available in the future.\n\nPennymac claims they record all these calls but have refused to provide any audio we requested, which is why we started recording them ourselves, especially as we found Pennymac continuously lied throughout our complaint and account process.\n\nOn XXXX XXXX we spoke with Pennymac rep XXXX who admitted this - Pennymac can change its forbearance plans any time, without notice - which substantiates, again, why Pennymac refuses to put any of this in writing when requested. She also said that the payments do NOT automatically go to the end of the loan (completely inconsistent with the rep in XXXX who told me thats why I should accept this 6 month plan immediately). XXXX told us to request an extension of forbearance and again stated that the Loan application is still open and pending, despite the last 2 reps saying it had been closed out. XXXX  also mentioned Disaster Forbearance as an option since the home had been in the middle of Hurricane Helene. \nBetween JXXXX XXXX XXXX, half of these reps also stated that the account should NOT have been reported to credit bureaus as late, because forbearance protects that.\nAt the end of the XXXX XXXX call, XXXX again admitted that she was not in the correct department to handle my extension, even though she was the XXXX rep we had been transferred to on that particular day, and I should call back after making a payment to get to a different department. XXXX informed me that the ONLY way to get to the CORRECT DEPARTMENT TO HANDLE MY ACCOUNT is to make ALL of the missing payments AT ONCE to bring the account current outside of any forbearance assistance programs. Oh right because everyone who spends XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX more than what they had before.\nWe called back and were told that we have a letter in the online portal, which outlines my assigned representatives as XXXX XXXX XXXX  and that I should talk to them. Let it be noted that I called those phone numbers three times a week throughout the four months this went on, and NEVER once was able to get XXXX XXXX XXXX, who could be fictitious characters for all I know.\nWe were transferred back to the Modification department, which is what we were just talking to, and they said we no longer had a Modification in place only without explaining what they meant. Their verbatim response was: They closed out the plan, but the review is still in place. This tells us nothing; however, this rep did say that it looks like the account should be eligible for continued forbearance. We now have 3 or 4 reps who say there is no active modification, and 3 who say there is. No one can give us a definitive answer.\nWe called back and the NEXT representative said that my modification application (which I never requested or knew about) was closed out because I did not submit a mortgage assistance package (again because I did not request a modification and had no idea what they were talking about). My housing advocate at the time pointed out all of the inconsistencies with Pennymacs practices and the repeatedly incorrect information and lies we had been fed over the past two months.\nLater in XXXX  we called again, and got representative XXXX who stated that I was eligible for continued forbearance of two months, which would be XXXX XXXX XXXX restarting all payments XXXX XXXX.\nAt this point I was still not working as I needed XXXX XXXX  so I put the house up for sale because it seemed easier to sell it and be homeless than deal with Pennymacs blatant thievery, deceit, and illegal practices obviously intended to frustrate the consumers into giving up.\nShortly after that call I checked my statement (without any prompt from Pennymac because they still did not send any correspondence) and saw ADDITIONAL foreclosure fees.\nWe called in XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX  again who admitted that the extra foreclosure fees were in error and could be removed once we were out of the forbearance plan. XXXX  confirmed the account was still in forbearance through XXXX XXXX and only once it was out of forbearance, we had to call back and request to remove those fees since his department doesnt do that.\nWe then spoke with someone named XXXX  who said that they did not paint the full picture of forbearance when they coerced me into agreeing to it verbally over the phone without seeing any formal written explanations, as I requested repeatedly.\nPennymacs response letter page 2 paragraph 2 states that I spoke with the Loss Mitigation department XXXX XXXX and that agent did not update records accordingly, although I have already shown numerous times how MOST of the Pennymac agents DID NOT UPDATE RECORDS AT ALL. \nOn XXXX XXXX  I called Pennymac to request a payoff statement in order to sell the home. I spoke with XXXX who informed me the home was in foreclosure status, and also that payoff statements took 7-10 days to generate. Pennymacs response letter stating it was generated same-day is another blatant lie. I was forced to wait on hold again and request an expedited payoff.\nThe payoff documents again arrived with additional foreclosure fees, which the previous reps had already stated that could be waived since they were added in error. We called back so as to NOT have the incorrect payoff documents faxed to the attorney, as this could bias our sale. Pennymac faxed the incorrect documents to the attorney anyway, which did in fact cause a significant rift in the sale.\nOnly at this point XXXX XXXX XXXX did this representative suggest I could receive correspondence through email, since Pennymac had never actually mailed me any correspondence and repeatedly lied about doing so. They emailed me a verification link I had to click on to accept receipt of e-mail correspondence. I clicked on this link TWICE to complete the verification and received technical errors BOTH TIMES. Again, I feel Pennymac does this on purpose so that they can lie about the correspondence they never sent, which protects them from changing the terms of their programs without notice or reason, especially when they claim they record phone calls but refuse to go back through the audio or share the audio.\nThe rep told me to try again in 24 hours, which I did, and it still didnt work. I called back the following day only to be told that payoff documents cannot be expedited and take 7-10 days.\nXXXX XXXX XXXX we got 3 payoff statements, all 3 of which were incorrect. I had to call back and wait on hold for 2 hours 54 minutes to deal with this  I had to cancel a doctor followup because I was waiting on hold. This is absolute insanity for such a large company to be permitted to create such obstacles in this way.\nThis agent claimed that there was NO RECORD of any of my & the housing advocate\'s calls for the last two weeks. She said that the foreclosure was in error so those fees will be removed. They were not removed.\nWe spoke with XXXX who said they WERE in fact removed and it would take 24 hours for the new payoff document to reflect that. However we were supposed to close within 24 hours. She gave me an XXXX  number to call which is their separate foreclosure division because she was showing the house WAS in foreclosure. I called that number and it was not in service  it said no routes found and hung up.\nWe called Pennymac back and spoke with XXXX. By then, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX had said the fees had been removed but they were still showing up. She said she sent an email to the payoff department to remove those fees but there was no way to speak with them directlyXXXX XXXX again confirmed that the house was in foreclosure even though ALL the other reps had told us forbearance. She claimed she was in the modification department.\nThe housing advocate and I expressed frustration that we had already confirmed the property was in forbearance through XXXX XXXX multiple times, and that these foreclosure fees were in error, which was confirmed by multiple reps. XXXX stated, verbatim, I did confirm the forbearance is closed and youre under modification. They are telling you incorrectly.\nIt is very clear that Pennymac has no idea what theyre doing and every rep just blames the previous reps for not doing something or telling consumers incorrectly. They admit in their response letter that one rep only made an error when it is clear it is many.\nTheir letter states that these extra fees were accurate when that is not true at all and many of their reps and letters state the opposite. \nThey also state there are XXXX fees for property inspections that occurred XXXX XXXX XXXX and XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX. This is also a lie. First, property inspections were not supposed to happen since the account was not delinquent, even though it was incorrectly reported as such. Second, there were numerous people at the home on both of those days and no such property inspections occurred. We have 12 security cameras as well, including facing the street since the home is hidden from the public road. No one came on the property, stopped at the property, knocked on the door, or came anywhere near the property those days, besides the people residing at the home.\nI have repeatedly shown that Pennymac is incorrect in its credit transmissions and the account was never delinquent, yet ended up in numerous statuses other than the correct status due to Pennymacs continued and blatant errors and blatant lies in many instances. The housing advocate and I have collected detailed notes and recordings that support my case. It is laughable that Pennymacs letter ends in a statement commiting to being accountable, reliable, and ethical given they have gone to extreme lengths to act on the complete opposite spectrum of these values.\nPennymac is a massive company and we as consumers have no control over when massive servicers like them purchase our loans from smaller companies, giving us XXXX choice in choosing to become a Pennymac customer. I for one would never have chosen such an unethical, disorganized, incompetent company to be in charge of my most valuable asset, which I no longer own  as a chronically ill disabled person  due to their incompetence and horrible practices. This has been incredibly frustrating to say the least and I have pointed out several instances in which they engaged in illegal behavior, which they are still denying and refusing to support with documentation  which begs my response to their supposedly enclosed documents in their response.\nAs I have already shown, these documents were either a) completely fabricated and never sent at all; b) the XXXX document was created XXXX XXXX XXXX and backdated to XXXX  after it was uploaded to the portal only, but NEVER generated and sent in any written form, as was requested at least 2 dozen times between XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX  c) the mortgage assistance application I was told to dive deep through random menus online in the Pennymac portal to access as it was never sent in any easy form to me to fill out, again because I never requested it and it was used as an afterthought to try to cover up Pennymacs wrongdoings; the property assistance questions, and questions on income, hardships, etc were included ONLY IN PENNYMACS RESPONSE TO THE ORIGINAL CFPB COMPLAINT AND NOWHERE ELSE IN OUR ENTIRE CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN XXXX AND XXXX XXXX The additional document Loan Modification Update with XXXX XXXX date was again seemingly fabricated just for the response and did not appear in any correspondence between myself and Pennymac at any time between XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX. The additional letter dated XXXX XXXX XXXX was not sent to me at any address, nor was it uploaded into my portal, and appears completely fabricated simply for the purpose of responding to this complaint. The forbearance letter dated XXXX XXXX was also not sent to me.\nMind you, during this time, I received ALL of my mail at the property address, with minimal mail losses during the hurricane; I also received ALL of my mail from every other banking institution, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX There were multiple other people at the property during the time XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX who also brought mail that was delivered there, and received all mail addressed to them that they were expecting. It is incredibly curious that somehow only Pennymacs correspondence on every matter never arrived, yet we had no other issues with mail.\nPennymac in its response provided NO PROOF of mailing any of these letters at the time they stated they did; simply computer-generated documents with whatever date they want to put on top. It should also be noted that the payoff instructions were never sent to me anyway.\nLastly, Pennymacs final and again incorrect payoff statement included interest for multiple weeks after close, as well as an overpayment of escrow fees. The law firm handling the closing insisted that Pennymac would send me a check for the return of any overpayment of fees. Unsurprisingly, Pennymac never did such a thing, again keeping my money. At this time, in XXXX XXXX Pennymac has still not corrected its inaccurate credit reporting either.\nI have a XXXX XXXX  and have worked my entire life and have purchased numerous properties in the past, without any issues. I have maintained a perfect credit score my entire adult life, which has aided me in many investments and business loans. Now Pennymac wants to come and destroy that, unjustly and incorrectly, after I have done everything right trying to resolve their errors with them and work with them diplomatically.\nAgain  I strongly urge the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to do its due diligence in auditing such unethical and illegal practices being engaged in by the nations largest mortgage servicers. They have given themselves unchecked authority to do what they will with customer accounts for what will be many of our biggest asset purchases in our lives, and they purposely place countless obstacles in the way of resolving these problems, then simply blame past representatives or computer errors and refuse to fix them. I will continue to fight against such unjust practices. I hope the CFPB will due its duty to investigate and put an end to this. No one should have to go through what I went through.'

Company response to consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief