Consumer complaint received 2025-09-05 00:00:00
Product: Mortgage — VA mortgage
Issue: Struggling to pay mortgage — An existing modification, forbearance plan, short sale, or other loss mitigation relief
Company: Freedom Mortgage Company
State: TX

Complaint narrative:
XX/XX/year> - requested forbearance over the phone with Customer Care and Loss Mitigation department due to job loss and no income. Rep advised there would be no late payments reported, and that once we got close to the three month end date to contact them back for further options. Rep refused to discuss any other options besides forbearance available to us until the 3 months was over since forbearance was step 1. 

XX/XX/year> - approved forbearance for a 3 month time period. 

XX/XX/year>- contacted Freedom Mortgage over the phone to discuss next steps since we were still unemployed and needed more time. Rep advised she could process an extension for another 3 months. She processed the request all over the phone. At no point was there ever discussion or disclosure that this request was for a SECOND forbearance and what that meant. ( It was not until later in XXXX that we were told that the FIRST forbearance had to end for the extension to process, and therefore a payment was due at that time to avoid late payment reporting. ) At no point was payment discussed except for the rep to say I know the answer to this question but I have to ask - can you make a payment today? We both laughed. She then explained that we could pay at any time into an escrow-type account towards the accruing balance owed that would pay out once the balance matched the amount owed. Rep advised me to not make payments until we heard back on if the extension was approved or denied, and at that time we could discuss payments. She explained if it is denied, there are a lot of options like the VA repayment plan we can request and how amazing it was since it lets you pay back over XXXX years, and how great is that for veterans. These misrepresentations and lies are what created the foundation for the mess that follows. 

XX/XX/year>- we receive the approval for the forbearance extension for another 3 months. 

XX/XX/year> - I secure a new fulltime job and salary. 

XX/XX/year> - My husband calls freedom mortgage to discuss coming out of forbearance due to new income and requests the VA repayment plan review that was suggested to us at the end of XX/XX/year> by the freedom mortgage rep. At no point is he advised that if we do not pay the total amount right then that late payments will be submitted to credit bureaus. Rather, the rep told us NOT TO PAY ANYTHING while the VA repayment plan is under review. 

XX/XX/year> - I am alerted by my credit report monitoring that freedom mortgage has submitted late payments from XXXX to XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX 

XX/XX/XXXX - XXXXXXXX XXXX - We call Freedom mortgage multiple times to discuss what is going on. Each time, the rep can not explain clearly to my husband what the situation is or how anyone can help. I get on the phone as well, and it is still extremely unclear why this is happening. 

XX/XX/year> - Finally we speak to a supervisor named XXXX who says that there are TWO forebearances since the first one ended when the extension was processed. He explains we are late with the FIRST forbearance. At no point was this process of two forebearances or the implications of it explained to us either by a rep, online or in the letters sent to us. XXXX the supervisor agreed to review the call logs to confirm that the reps misrepresented the forbearance procedures. He said it would take XXXX business days. 

XX/XX/year> - we receive a letter in the mail offering a 40 year loan modification with a 7.125 % interest rate ( our current rate is 2.25 % ). This is clearly a mistake since we made the review request because we did have income change, and they flagged the VA repayment plan as ineligible due to no financial stability. 

XX/XX/year> - I call Freedom Mortgage to discuss why the repayment plan was deemed ineligible ( it noted that we were not fiscally able ) and found out the rep who submitted our request for repayment plan review on XX/XX/XXXX did not update our profile to indicate our new jobs and salaries which was the whole point of getting off of forbearance. This rep updates our application and re-submits. I ended up telling her about the supervisor XXXX who was reviewing our case, and she said that there are ZERO options that do not report as late to the credit bureaus besides forbearance and a loan modification. This is shocking to us because at NO point was this ever disclosed verbally or in writing through all of these interactions and letters. She advised there is a statement that says late payments are reported in letter correspondence, but this sentence says if applicable and is a blanket statement on all correspondence in loss mitigation. It in no way explains if it does apply to us or our case or to which option selected for loss mitigation. This is egregious misrepresentation. She connects me to XXXX who repeats his story of TWO forebearances and how there is nothing to be done about the reported late payments. I asked him if he reviewed the phone calls ( he said he reviewed our file ), and if he could identify that the reps did not disclose proper information and misrepresented these procedures and never told us about the repercussions of certain loss mitigation options. He said that it did not matter what the reps said or didnt say. He actually said it was my fault for not reading the form that I signed. Let me tell you - I saw no form nor signed anything since this was all done over the phone with reps of Freedom Mortgage. Clearly the reps falsified information and knowingly left out information and details that we could not know about on our own. I requested a copy of these said forms, a copy of anything I signed, and a copy of all Freedom Mortgage policies that pertain to how forbearance and loss mitigation options are processed. He said it would take 7-10 business days to get it in the mail.

WE TRUSTED Freedom Mortgage and their representatives to operate with truthfulness and integrity - and they have completely lied and misrepresented loan servicing laws and procedures to the point that we COULD NOT make appropriate decisions using complete information. IF WE HAD KNOWN THIS WOULD RESULT IN LATE PAYMENTS BEING REPORTED we would have RECONSIDERED forbearance and WOULD NOT have opted for forbearance extensions or repayment plans. IF IT HAD BEEN MADE CLEAR THAT THE ONLY WAY TO AVOID LATE PAYMENTS WAS TO PAY A FOREBEARANCE IN FULL at the time of exit, we would have found a way to do that and done it the right way PRIOR to requesting to get off of forbearance. Instead, we WERE ROBBED OF THAT CHOICE and HAVE SUFFERED IN OUR ABILITY TO SECURE LOANS AND OTHER FINANCIAL ELIGIBILITIES AND HAVE CREDIT SCORES LOWERED BY UPWARDS OF XXXX POINTS. 
In good faith, we have made payments for XX/XX/year> and XX/XX/year> and have resumed regular mortgage payments going forward. 
We have asked for the late payments be removed, but they continue to refuse stating that they feel it is accurate reporting regardless of the part they played in this fallout.

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