Consumer complaint received 2024-11-16 00:00:00
Product: Mortgage — FHA mortgage
Issue: Struggling to pay mortgage — Trying to communicate with the company to fix an issue related to modification, forbearance, short sale, deed-in-lieu, bankruptcy, or foreclosure
Company: Ocwen Financial Corporation
State: TX

Complaint narrative:
My mortgage company was changed on XX/XX/XXXX, transitioning from XXXX to PHH XXXX. Since the change, Ive had ongoing issues making payments through their system. At first, I was trying to pay through XXXX and then trying to setup with PHH. Despite numerous attempts, the payments kept failing. PHH  asked if I provided the correct account information, but I know the details were accurate because I can see when they attempted to withdraw the funds and when the payment was returned. ( I have this documented ) The issue seems ( its still happening ) to be that they delay processing the payment, allowing other transactions in my account to process first, resulting in insufficient funds when they finally attempt to collect. 

Out of frustration and to avoid further complications, I started holding the payment funds in a separate account until the situation could be resolved. Before doing this I called them and tried to tell them that the money was there and that they should not be charging us late fees etc for the process of them transferring companies. They told me that they would investigate the matter and please be advised that the research regarding the payment that was sent to the prior servicer is ongoing. 

Unfortunately, this wait and back and forth with them led to my mortgage going into foreclosure. Which I found out about when someone came to my home and told me! I immediately called them and asked for a reinstatement quote that was sent on XX/XX/XXXX that said I owed what's below and needed to pay by XX/XX/XXXX. 

Principal and Interest Payment {$9000.00}, Amount Escrow Payment {$6800.00}, Accrued Late Charge {$660.00} Property Inspection {$120.00} Miscellaneous {$2.00} Total Amount Due to Reinstate {$16000.00} I don't understand why XXXX to XXXX  months of principal and escrow would conveniently total {$15000.00} when my monthly mortgage payment was {$2500.00} before the transfer of lending companies. They told me my mortgage is not {$2700.00}. They gave me some excuse about escrow, which didn't make sense to me, but I wired them {$16000.00} anyway on XX/XX/XXXX to bring the account current and stop the foreclosure. They added extra fees later which have now grown to over {$4000.00}. For fees that I thought were in the {$16000.00}. They're telling me that I don't have to pay at this time, but I can pay over time or when I feel like paying. ( This seems very strange to me ) I feel the payment processing issues caused by the mortgage transition should have warranted some leniency, as these delays were outside my control and caused by how transactions were processed. I explained to them that I was holding the money until they could straighten things out, but the elected to put me in foreclosure and I think they are now still pushing toward auctioning my home. 

The reason I stated the above is because Im noticing a troubling pattern. Despite now keeping more than enough money in my account to cover payments ( even paying an extra month in advance ), PHH is still not withdrawing the funds. Ive called repeatedly, ( I've documented these conversations ) they claim payments can take up to XXXX business days to process, but I paid the XXXX payment on XX/XX/XXXX online. They returned it. I paid it again on XX/XX/XXXX and haven't seen any movement on my account yet. So, for good measure, as I said above, I paid the XXXX payment Meanwhile, I still havent received any official written confirmation that my foreclosure has been resolved. Adding to my frustration, I continue to receive foreclosure notices and even visits to my home daily regarding the foreclosure being active, which I thought had been cleared. And now when I call they either put me on hold for XXXX minutes or more at a time, tell me they will call me back and don't, or send me to a supervisor who promises to mail me explicit confirmation but does not or send me letters that give very vague explanation of the home not being in foreclosure with language like below. 

" As of the date of this letter, the account is due for the XX/XX/XXXX, payment. No foreclosure proceedings are active on the property. ''

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation