Consumer complaint received 2025-05-23 00:00:00
Product: Mortgage — Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Struggling to pay mortgage — Applying for or obtaining a modification, forbearance plan, short sale, or deed-in-lieu
Company: Ocwen Financial Corporation
State: CA

Complaint narrative:
I requested relief on XX/XX/XXXX via phone call, due to financial hardship, expecting that PHH Mortgage could place the account in forebearance or deferment, as is commonplace with most mortgage lenders. PHH stated that they could not put me in a program via phone call and that they would send documents for me to complete and return. Received document via email and returned the same day XX/XX/XXXX. PHH did not immediately respond with confirmation that I had been granted a deferment or forebearance. On XX/XX/XXXX, PHH sent a letter stating that my request for assistance had been received, but no decision regarding whether or not that had been granted. I made a follow up phone call on XX/XX/XXXX to check the status of the request, but got no useful information from customer service. They set up an appointment with what they called an mortgage specialist to call me and review and hopefully provide an update for XX/XX/XXXX. No one from PHH called. I called to see what happened and they scheduled another appointment for another mortgage specialist to call me on XX/XX/XXXX. I reminded them that this date was after the time when I could make an on-time payment without penalty. They were unmoved and offered no alternate appointment time. On XX/XX/XXXX, the " mortgage specialist '' called at the agreed upon time and provided no information but to say that they required more documentation from me. After protesting vehemently, that they were stringing me along, and not taking any meaningful action regarding my account, I finally gave in and furnished the additional documentation that they were requesting. This amounted to creating a document that contained a single sentence worded precisely as instructed by the " mortgage specialist ''. Upon submitting that document, PHH informed me that they would make a decision on my account 's eligibility for forebearance/deferment in 30 days. Again, I protested, reminding them that if they took that long to respond, this would be well beyond the time which my account would become 30 days delinquent and report negatively to my personal credit. They offered nothing but an additional scheduled appointment with the " mortgage specialist '' on XX/XX/XXXX. ( I neglected some other bills due in XXXX and figured out a way to pay the account to avoid becoming delinquent. ) The call on XX/XX/XXXX was another useless call where the mortgage specialist provided no useful information, stating only that they had until XX/XX/XXXX to make a decision on the account. They offered to schedule another call with the " mortgage specialist '' for XX/XX/XXXX. Optimistic that this call would provide my desired result, I agreed to that appointment. On XX/XX/XXXX, the PHH mortgage specialist called and once again provided no useful information, saying only that no decision had been made yet. Again they reminded me that they could provide their decision by XX/XX/XXXX. XX/XX/XXXX came and went and there was no response from PHH. On XX/XX/XXXX, I received a document in the online portal stating that I had been offered a " Flex XXXX Modification ''. This program offered me to opt-in to paying MORE per month than I currently pay ( {$290.00} more! ). Furthermore, it stated that the term of the loan would be extended by 120 payments, nearly doubling the total balance currently owed!!! In what universe does this qualify as a " relief '' program? This is an account that is current and has never been late for the entire life of the loan to date ( nearly 5 years ). When I pushed back on this with the " mortgage specialist '' on the phone when I called on XX/XX/XXXX, they only offered that they could have this reviewed and respond to me within 7-10 business days. This conduct by PHH is unacceptable and seems to border upon being predatory.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation