Consumer complaint received 2025-01-16 00:00:00
Product: Mortgage — USDA mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process — Trying to communicate with the company to fix an issue while managing or servicing your loan
Company: PLANET HOME LENDING, LLC
State: AR

Complaint narrative:
Our home had a tornado on XX/XX/XXXX and all documents were sent on XX/XX/XXXX for processing. XXXX XXXX did not get posted until XX/XX/XXXX and then accepted fully XX/XX/XXXX. I have had XXXX calls with the loss department on the status of my claim. All of which explained that we would be receiving a {$40000.00} check to begin the repairs, even though we sent a {$53.00}, XXXX check. I asked on XX/XX/XXXX to pull all customer service rep calls recorded on my account to verify that this is what was communicated. No response to the email. No response on the calls either when I asked them to pull the calls to review. 

I checked the insurance portal on XX/XX/XXXX and it said that XXXX XXXX was only cutting a {$20000.00} check which is BARELY enough to pay our restoration company to simply get started on the project. Once it is time for drywall, they require another payment which would likely a month to process after waiting XXXX days for an inspector. The roofer is a totally separate vendor which required 25 % down payment before they can start. I sent those estimates and XXXX reports at the beginning of our claim process. Our mediation company had already completed the work and needed $ XXXX for those repairs. Our shed invoice, which we had to purchase ourselves, was sent to XXXX XXXX in an invoice and accepted on XX/XX/XXXX. That money gets paid to us directly since it was in the adjusters report and we had to purchase it per XXXX XXXX representative. The exact words were you can purchase from a XXXX or someone similar and submit a receipt and we would reimburse. They tried to tell on XX/XX/XXXX ( nearly 2 months post claim submission ) that a waiver of XXXX is required on a store bought shed which differed than what was expressed on the phone before and actually incorrect. 

On XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX XXXX I made a call and spoke with a gentleman who apologized for the delay and confusion on my account so far. He offered a prepaid label courtesy company for overnight shipping of the check. When I checked the status on the online portal, it was showing that the check is being sent by regular mail and will take XXXX days to get to me. My file is not being reviewed before someone is mailing out the check. 

XXXX XXXX has repeatedly failed me as a customer and I can not express how disheartening it has been to do business with them. I asked that they please begin the process to start issuing other checks so that multiple vendors can do their job and get paid. The inconsistency in the communication is unacceptable. What is being said and what is actually being done does not match up. I sent this in an email as well : For instance, if your team member tells me an approximate timeframe and dollar amount that we should expect, I make plans with those vendors based on what you are telling us. When the time passes, and checks are being issued, the money and the communication does not match. Please escalate this email to management to be reviewed. It was not escalated to management at that point. After a series of XXXX more calls, I asked to speak with a XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX. I learned that the inspection done on XX/XX/XXXX did not have a report loaded in the system when it should have been. I spoke with XXXX XXXX who ensured me that she was requesting down payment amounts from management and told me to load a materials list if I had XXXX. I had already loaded everything showing the break down of payments due to the restoration company. The down payment alone for them to get started is {$16000.00}. She also ensured me that she would personally reach out to me on XX/XX/XXXX. She did not call or update me. On XX/XX/XXXX she also sent me her personal email along with a customer service email box and told me to send her the roofing estimate because she wasnt able to open it completely in the documents. No one from the company informed me that there was any issue reading the documents provided as they were all submitted PDFs as requested. I did not receive a call back from her. On XX/XX/XXXX, I call to check on things and they still did not have an estimate for what was due on the inspection report nor did they have any word back from XXXX approved amounts. I continued to check the portal which is where they assured me I would find it in XXXX days. It was not there. On XX/XX/XXXX I spoke with a rep who told me that the inspection report came back and was considered to be at 14 % complete but no draft amount mentioned. The rep also explained that now the waivers of liens were required before an amount could be dispersed. In calls prior waivers of liens were required when work was about 95 % done. The work on our house hadnt even started and they were saying those were required. Inconsistent with every single rep call Ive had since XX/XX/XXXX. Every call turned into another delay, another item required before they could release anything. Their information changed from call to call & no one could explain why. Over the holidays we discovered that mice were getting into the home due to our roof still not being on which led to them destroying items in the kitchen and our childrens roofs ( areas of the home that didnt have any damage before ). Our insurance policy does not reimburse for an exterminator for rodent issues. The delay was not about the insurance company, providing the check, the delay is because planet home did not give us funds to put a roof on our house to avoid this problem timely. Their delays have caused major secondary issues to our home Which our insurance company is not responsible for reimbursing for. I made planet home lending aware of this situation, and there was no sense of urgency.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation