Consumer complaint received 2025-02-07 00:00:00
Product: Mortgage — VA mortgage
Issue: Struggling to pay mortgage — Applying for or obtaining a modification, forbearance plan, short sale, or deed-in-lieu
Company: EQUITY LOANS LLC
State: IL

Complaint narrative:
I am contacting you today about incorrect credit reporting and multiple other issues pertaining to a loan modification that I am trying to obtain from my mortgage lender, ( Equity Prime Mortgage ). 

I am a 90 % XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX I have been diagnosed with XXXX XXXX XXXX which has caused me to be unable to continue working. While I was off of work waiting on my approval for XXXX 's XXXX compensation and Social Security XXXX to start, I experienced hardship with my mortgage and was unable to pay it. I applied for separate forbearances which were approved within XXXX XXXX days. After the forbearances had expired, my mortgage company told me that I would be responsible for paying back all the arrears ( about $ XXXX at the time- which included XXXX they said I owed them back for their error when determining my eligibility for XXXX veteran property tax exemption ... they actually approved the property tax exemption which significantly lowered my mortgage in XX/XX/XXXX and then told me that I owed it all back XXXX months later XX/XX/XXXX because I was for the property tax exemption until I lived in the home for a year?? their people in their tax department should have known that I was ineligible for the exemption when I submitted the documentation to them (? ) This is the onset of how the Mortgage wound up getting behind in the first place! 

Anyhow, I was unable to make a {$35000.00} payment to catch the arrears up so I completed the loss mitigation documentation and requested a loan modification in XXXX XXXX, ( which is still in review waiting on Equity Prime Mortgage company 's underwriters to finalize the application as of today-Feb. XXXX, XXXX ) .... ( this is unacceptable as they told me it was delayed but should have only taken 45 days max to complete and give me a response back. 

I was assigned a personal ally named XXXX who followed up with me at least every other week ( and multiple other representatives ) who called to follow up with me to keep me updated and informed on the status of my loss mitigation application. I was told that it was taking longer than normal because they had multiple applications- however, they were waiting on VA to make the final decision and that is why the application wasn't approved yet. I was lied to for 5 months because all of the representatives told me that they had submitted my application to VA and they were waiting on VA to approve the application, but in actuality, the truth was that they were still waiting for their underwriters to approve the loss mitigation application on their end?!? I spoke to XXXX today, ( # XXXX ), she finally admitted that was the reason why my application had not been submitted to VA for mortgage assistance. 

I could not understand why they would lie, but I wind up calling my VA representative XXXX XXXX, and he stated that he had not received any documentation on my account and that the mortgage company was the ones who had to make the decision on the loan modification for my home because they were the lender and owned the mortgage- not VA XXXX 
I had been in contact at least once a week with the mortgage representatives and they told me that my account was safe from negative credit reporting since it was under the VA moratorium. I was never informed that negative credit reporting would restart after the moratorium was over because I still had a pending application that was waiting for them to approve and it was overdue. 
I also spoke to XXXX XXXX ( # CKI ) on XX/XX/XXXX, and she informed me that I was not even supposed to be making any mortgage payments because they could not accept payment for all accounts that we are under VA moratorium and waiting for approval for VA. I was so confused because all the previous representatives told me to continue making payments even though my account was in forbearance status??? Each representative says different things and no one is ever on the same page at XXXX. I would appreciate any help you could give me with this because my XXXXredit score has also dropped over XXXX points because they reported me late and I need to purchase a new vehicle and I can not secure auto financing because of these issues. I suffer from XXXX and this has caused me XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. Please help me.

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