Consumer complaint received 2025-03-30 00:00:00
Product: Mortgage — VA mortgage
Issue: Problem with a company's investigation into an existing problem — Their investigation did not fix an error on your report
Company: CARRINGTON MORTGAGE SERVICES, LLC
State: IA

Complaint narrative:
In XX/XX/XXXX I was involved in a motor vehicle accident and was not able to work for approximately XXXX months due to my injuries. I informed Carrington Mortgage and was still able to make my payments until the funds started to run low in XX/XX/XXXX. I had called Carrington time and time again, informing them of my situation in good faith and to try and stay current on my mortgage despite my health and financial difficulties. I made a call in XX/XX/XXXX to inform them that my husband was laid off on XX/XX/XXXX, due to the company he worked for was acquired by another company and all but XXXX employees were let go. I had already made a payment on XX/XX/XXXX, but wanted to let them know my new situation because I knew I would be having more difficulty making my next payments. According to Carrington Mortgage they " do not have a record '' of any calls made in XXXX and XXXX. My next payment was made on XX/XX/XXXX. On XX/XX/XXXX, I called back into Carrington and was told that one of my previous month 's payments was returned for insufficient funds and I was behind a payment. I never got a letter or any notification that my payment was returned, and I had no clue that at this time I was late for my mortgage. The representative told me that my mortgage was placed on a moratorium and I would have until XX/XX/XXXX, to become current with my mortgage, and Carrington would not report the late payment ( XXXX ) to the credit bureau. On XX/XX/XXXX, I made payments towards the past due amount. Carrington gave me a printout of my payments made that was extremely confusing to understand. I made several payments since then, on XX/XX/XXXX, on XX/XX/XXXX, and on XX/XX/XXXX. As of XX/XX/XXXX, Carrington told me I was current on my mortgage payment and have been current since then. 

My complaint is that I was never told the whole scope of what the moratorium meant and how it applied to my loan. All I was told was that I was not going to get reported on the credit bureau reports as late during the moratorium. I never got a letter or notice in the mail about what the moratorium entailed so to my knowledge as long as I made payments on my mortgage and became current, I would be fine. I was reported late in XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX in XX/XX/XXXX. I feel that my rights were violated because they did not give me the proper information in writing about the moratorium until AFTER I mailed in a dispute for reporting those late payments. In my resolution letter they sited VA XXXX XXXX and the FCRA ( Fair Credit Reporting Act ) saying they were in their right to report my late payments. They stated that on XX/XX/XXXX, they confirmed that the information about the moratorium and the protections provided were properly discussed. If that was true and it was properly discussed, then I would have made every effort to make my mortgage status current immediately to avoid the late payment status for XXXX and XXXX. Because I was not informed that I had a returned payment, I was under the assumption that my payments were current. But when I was told I was behind a payment I made every effort to make my account current. And since I was told I had until XX/XX/XXXX, to make my account current I was posted as late again in XXXX. I do not dispute that I owe a debt. I dispute the way Carrington withheld information from me leaving me uninformed and causing me to believe that I had until XX/XX/XXXX, to make my loan current. 

This leads me to my situation now. The two late payments have damaged my credit score and my credit worthiness. My husband and I are both XXXX veterans and our health has declined over the last year. My husband is now immobile and can not go up and down stairs. We live in a two-story home with a full basement. His XXXX accessible bathroom is in the basement. Over the last year I have had paramedics come out to the house to assist whenever he fell and to take him to the hospital. He is currently admitted to the VA hospital and can not come home until we have reasonable accommodations made for him so he can access his XXXX bathroom which means putting in a stair lift in the home so he can get up and down the stairs. I have paid for and arranged for the installation of a stair lift for XX/XX/XXXX. After the lift has been installed, I can inform the VA and arrange for his discharge home. I was told by both the VA doctors and the paramedics that we need to consider moving to a home that is a single level home. I have been looking for a home but when I had my credit pulled for the pre-approval, I found the two late payments reported by Carrington last year. This is why I am so upset and how I found out that Carrington lied to me! I want Carrington to remove the late payment for XXXX due to the fact that they did not notify me that my previous payment was returned, and I was behind a payment until XXXX 's conversation and the fact that they never fully explained the moratorium to me so I could understand what was going on with my loan. I called recently to discuss the resolution letter and was told that the department that handles this does not accept phone calls and is only a mail to department. All communication is via fax or mail only. The representative 's words to me were that the department doesn't have a phone. If that's the case, how do internal employees contact them? The representative also said that their word if final and that I can not dispute it. I can try but it would most likely not be looked at, discarded, and/or denied. I talked to the banks, and they said that for any mortgage loan, I can have XXXX late payment in a XXXX period but not XXXX. If I have XXXX, I will have to wait XXXX year before I can apply for a mortgage. I can't wait XXXX more months until XX/XX/XXXX and I can not afford to move out and rent another place while I have this house to maintain as well. Plus, we have pets, and I have a large service dog. Most places won't even consider renting to us or if they do, they will charge a large premium to have the pets. I have followed everything Carrington told me to get my mortgage current. They need to own up to not fully informing me and rectify this situation.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation