Date Received: 2018-03-20
Issue: Trouble during payment process
Subissue:
Consumer Complaint: In XXXX, our home mortgage was sold by XXXX XXXX XXXX to Freedom Mortgage. We have been trying to pay our mortgage for XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX since mid XXXX. During the transition of the sale of our mortgage, we received a letter, but no mortgage statement from Freedom. We immediately called the provided number on this letter and were told not to pay yet because our account information wasn't set up in their " system. '' On XX/XX/XXXX, my wife received a " welcome '' call from " XXXX '' ID # XXXX. She told him we had not yet received our mortgage statement. He said that our " welcome letter '' contained two mortgage coupons. After looking for the coupons in the letter, none were found. He provided no help other than saying he would mail new coupons. On XX/XX/XXXX, a week after speaking with " XXXX '' my wife called Freedom again and spoke with " XXXX '' ID # XXXX. He assured her that the payment coupons would be sent out that same day. On XX/XX/XXXX we received a call from Freedom Mortgage concerning our payments. My wife told the caller she was waiting for a mortgage statement. He checked with his supervisor, and then returned to the phone to say they don't send paper statements, because the escrow changes from day to day. When she asked to speak with his supervisor, she was told " my supervisor is too busy. '' On XX/XX/XXXX they generated a paper statement which arrived in our mail several days later. On XX/XX/XXXX we sent check # XXXX drawn from XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX in the amount of {$2300.00} for XXXX and XXXX payments for XX/XX/XXXX. On XX/XX/XXXX, we wanted to verify that the check had been processed, so I went online to check my XXXX XXXX account. The check still hadn't posted to my account, so we attempted to go online at Freedom Mortgage.com to monitor our account. Of course we had to first set up an account. After repeated attempts, and log-in failures, my wife called customer service and spoke with " XXXX '' ID # XXXX. He checked our account and told us Freedom hadn't received our payment. He suggested we put a stop payment on our check and re-submit our payment. We were told we had a 60-day grace period, ending XX/XX/XXXX. He wasn't able to help in any way with creating an online account for us ( as far as we got was the web page returned an " updating site, check back later '' message. XXXX couldn't even transfer us to Freedom 's Tech Support. On XX/XX/XXXX, my wife again called customer service for assistance with creating an online account. She spoke with " XXXX '' ID # XXXX. She was helpful setting up our online account, however, she was unable to track our check. The solution once again from her was to stop payment on the check. She said our grace period would end on XX/XX/XXXX. My wife asked for an extension, since they wouldn't even provide a timely method of sending a payment. Her solution was to either pay online or over the phone. We prefer not to pay that way, as we have always payed our mortgage bills through the US mail, and they have arrived on time and without problems or delays. We are now facing a potential stop payment fee, possible bad credit reporting from this less than XXXX XXXX institution, and no guarantee that this won't happen again. They have also made me keenly aware that they are not going to contact us and in short, can't be bothered with customer complaints, based on the lack of cooperation and flippant attitudes of people we have so far dealt with at Freedom Mortgage.
Company Response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
State: RI
Zip: 028XX
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2018-03-20
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2018-03-19
Issue: Trouble during payment process
Subissue:
Consumer Complaint: On XX/XX/XXXXa letter was sent ( received on XX/XX/XXXX ) to us from Freedom Mortgage stating that we are required to have wind and hail insurance for our property at XXXX XXXX XXXX We immediately complied and purchase a policy from XXXX. Then onXX/XX/XXXX a letter was sent ( received on XX/XX/XXXX ) to us from Freedom Mortgage stating that we needed to verify wind and hail coverage from XX/XX/XXXX-XX/XX/XXXX. If we were unable to verify coverage, Freedom Mortgage would buy a policy for us, paying for it via our escrow account. We do not see how it is possible to purchase a policy for last year and be charged for a non-service. We also deem it unnecessary considering the year has passed and we do not have any claims for that time period. Freedom Mortgage bought our loan from XXXX XXXX and up until receiving the first letter on XX/XX/XXXX we were unaware that we were required to have wind and hail insurance. Upon receiving the second letter on XX/XX/XXXX we contacted Freedom Mortgage about this issue. Freedom Mortgage admitted that it was their oversight that we did not have wind and hail coverage. We believe that it is unfair for us to pay for a mistake made by Freedom Mortgage. On XX/XX/XXXX Freedom Mortgage will purchase a wind and hail policy for XX/XX/XXXX-XX/XX/XXXX using our escrow. We are disputing this charge. It is unfair because we were never informed prior to XX/XX/XXXX that wind and hail insurance was required.
Company Response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
State: SC
Zip: 29412
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2018-03-19
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2018-03-19
Issue: Trouble during payment process
Subissue:
Consumer Complaint: I purchased a property with my ex, whom i was a co-borrower with, who filed for chapter XXXX bankruptcy in XX/XX/XXXX. He relinquished his rights to the property and I assumed responsibility of all payments. In XX/XX/XXXX I acquired the property via special warranty deed. Since XX/XX/XXXX, Freedom Mortgage has limited my access to my account and not provided me with statements. I have attached the extent of information provided on the site in the upload document section below. I have called monthly to obtain clarification and breakdowns of fee 's on my account and was told they were not able to provide me any information. As a result Freedoms lack of transparency on my account they allowed for XXXX homeowners policies to be paid out of my escrow ( XXXX policies taken out by a non owner of the property who filed bankruptcy in XX/XX/XXXX ), provided me with incorrect payment amounts, and are currently received payments and failed to apply to the account. This caused my pay off amount to be in excess of {$10000.00} due to months of un-applied payments.
Company Response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
State: PA
Zip: 19446
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2018-03-19
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2018-03-16
Issue: Struggling to pay mortgage
Subissue:
Consumer Complaint: I have a mortgage with Freedom Mortgage and back in XXXX I was going thru a custody battle with one of my child 's fathers in which I was court order to go to mediation. This required me to use a whole pay check ( had to bring cash ) to pay for it. XXXX dollars plus I incurred more lawyer fees which set me back and I have struggled to catch up. I called to make arrangements and explain my situation to the mortgage company. A friend of mine told me to ask for a modification. At no time did anyone tell me about FHA loans and the partial payment. I began sending the information they requested in XX/XX/2017. I continued to make payments as I was able to. I also took on a part time job in XXXX to help bring up my income. I sent in a letter of hardship and other documents and since then I feel as if they have been giving me the run around. There is always something missing and I swear I have filled out the XXXX form and sent at least 5 times. I now sent them a check for XXXX dollars as of XX/XX/XXXX I owed XXXX the XXXX was sent in XX/XX/XXXX and I called and told them the rest will be coming on my next pay day and they still have to cash my check and have now sent my loan to foreclosure. So now I am occurring attorney fees as well. I am a single mom of XXXX children and I very much want to stay in this home. I was going thru a hardship one that I think should of qualified for the fha partial claim money. I want to have this looked into as soon as you can. Thanks so much,
Company Response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
State: MN
Zip: 55303
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2018-03-16
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2018-03-14
Issue: Trouble during payment process
Subissue:
Consumer Complaint: I purchased primary resident via a VA Loan and closed XX/XX/XXXX, the original lender was XXXX XXXX, XXXX, CA NMLS ID XXXX. Within one month after closing, this Mortgage Company was changed or transferred from XXXX Lending to XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ; and then on XX/XX/XXXX my VA loan was again transferred to Freedom Mortgage. This is a total of three ( 3 ) transfers in one year. The monthly principal and interest ( P & I ) prior to the transfer from XXXX to Freedom including an Escrow Account for estimated property taxes and insurance amount of {$460.00} and P & I amount of {$2300.00}, for a total monthly payment of only {$2800.00}. Because XXXX overpaid the XXXX property tax of {$9700.00} whereas the highlighted and actual amount was only {$5100.00} allowing a 3 % discount if paid by XXXX XX/XX/XXXX and reflected an applied widow of a 100 % XXXX veteran for a {$20000.00} exemption which now has been corrected to read an exemption of {$24000.00}. The County Tax Office made a refund in the amount of {$4600.00} to XXXX, entered XXXX and then transferred my loan to Freedom showing that my monthly payment was still at the higher amount declared by XXXX ( I believe because the property taxes was overpaid ) and now the demanded monthly loan amount is as high as {$3300.00}. This is an increased amount of {$500.00} from the previous 12 months of {$2800.00}. I have made repeated request for Freedom to process an Escrow Analysis with all attempt to date failing. On one telephone call I made during this time, I was telephonically informed that Freedom will not do process an Escrow Analysis until XXXX XX/XX/XXXX. Meanwhile, I made a payment to Freedom in the amount of {$2800.00} for XX/XX/XXXX mortgage payment on XXXX XX/XX/XXXX. However, Freedom is demanding {$3300.00} per Freedoms letter dated XX/XX/XXXX. Here are the many threating and demanding letters received to date from Freedom with no accomplishment of the Escrow being a mess and Freedom is trying to straighten it out. No, not one accomplishment that I have repeated calls to both XXXX and Freedom and even emailed Freedom proof showing the County Tax Assessor office had in fact made a refund to XXXX because XXXX had overpaid the property tax liability for XXXX on my primary home of residence with a widow tax exemption. ( 1 ) Freedoms letter dated XX/XX/XXXX states my loan as one payment overdue with a total amount of {$6600.00} to be paid to cure the default on my account. How can I be one month late on XX/XX/XXXX when I paid Freedom {$2800.00} on XX/XX/XXXX through my bank account? Further, Freedoms letter stated this information may have been reported to the credit bureaus. Yet all along I have been informed there is a 60-day grace for any legal action would be taken because of the law when loans are transferred. Found nothing like this in any of Freedoms letter. A false sense that as a consumer I am being protected. ( 2 ) Freedoms First letter dated XX/XX/XXXX stated we have not received my mortgage payments for months of XX/XX/XXXX through XX/XX/XXXX and my account was in default. Freedom demand payment by XX/XX/XXXX in the amount of {$6600.00} showing Less Suspense amount of {$2800.00}. Further Freedoms letter informed me to avoid foreclosure that I " must '' pay the total amount due no later than XX/XX/XXXX and I would be responsible for all additional payments and fees that accumulate during this period. If I failed to do so, an immediate foreclosure proceedings would result in loss of my home. If payment is not accepted for any reason or if we accept your payment for less than the total amount due, this matter will not be resolved, and accepting payment for less than the total amount due does not constitute a waiver of Freedoms rights or claims under the terms of my loan documents. ( 3 ) Freedoms Second letter dated XX/XX/XXXX, outlining as a U. S. Military spouse of an active duty or active service such I was entitled to certain legal protections and debt relief pursuant to Servicemembers Civil Relief Act ( SCRA ) and enclosed a SCRA Notice Disclosure. I am a widow of a deceased 100 % XXXX veteran who served this country for more than 23 years. ( 4 ) Freedoms Third letter dated XX/XX/XXXX stated Freedom was unable to contact me in regards to my past due mortgage. Freedom has both my home number and email address. A HUD approved housing counselor was available at XXXX and I was encouraged to contact Freedom to discuss a knowledgeable Customer Care Representative possible to workout options that may be available to me. I have contacted Freedom and no one has provide any " option ( s ) '' to me. No option ( s ) have been made available to me during any time that I have spoken with any customer care representative. I have repeated my telephone conversations multiple times giving Freedom my contact information more than once. ( 5 ) Freedoms Letter dated XX/XX/XXXX once again a thank me for contacting Freedom Mortgages Customer Care Department. I was informed their records confirm the owner/trustee of my loan was XXXX XXXX ( XXXX ) and Freedom Mortgage XXXX was a servicer. An account history was included showing transaction types, fees, charges, payment activity XXXX including payments held in suspense ) and escrow activity. This letter reflected a total amount of {$3300.00} with an Escrow increased to {$980.00} and P & I amount of {$2300.00} - remain unchanged. ( 6 ) Freedoms Letter dated XX/XX/XXXX, this letter was another thank me for contacting Customer Care Department and acknowledge receipt of my written inquiry ( emailed Freedom on XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX AM PST with copies of County Tax Assessor Office proof of refund and property tax overpayment ). This letter provided me with information on a Request for Information/Notice of Error, Freedom Mortgage at XXXX. XXXX XXXX, XXXX, IN XXXX. The reason for my email to the Freedom XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX is this was exactly what I was informed to do when I was on the phone with Freedom earlier that same day ( XX/XX/XXXX ). On XX/XX/XXXX yet another telephone call was placed to Freedom Customer Care to discuss the missing information and why would my Escrow account increased from {$2800.00} to {$3300.00} ; plus why wasn't my XXXX payment being applied/reflected. The another reason or purpose of my telephone calls and email ( s ) were to point out to Freedom that XXXX received a refund amount of {$4600.00} and it is NOT being accounted for in the Escrow estimate nor is the monthly Escrow payment of {$980.00} in alignment with what would be called " actual amounts paid out in XXXX ''. Again on XX/XX/XXXX, I again spoke with Freedom Customer care to telephonically discuss the raised Escrow amount and requested to speak with a supervisor. I did in fact speak with # XXXX, and went over the details of my loan. I was informed a property tax review is scheduled for XX/XX/XXXX. When XXXX overpaid the property taxes, this carried a negative balance in my Escrow account when in addition if the correct property taxes were paid, my account with be in a positive balance. After this error in paying the incorrect property tax amount and the annual property insurance premium of {$1300.00}, for the calendar year XXXX, there should be a positive balance if my payment continued at {$2800.00} in lieu of the demanded increased amount of {$3300.00}. The XXXX property taxes overpayment has caused a FALSE Escrow increased amount. XXXX nor Freedom has updated the account to show the property taxes for my home is not {$9700.00} but only {$5100.00} and I have been informed by the County Tax Assessor Office will be lesser amount for XXXX. Freedom Mortgage Customer Care is over statement, no care being shown to the situation that I was being forced into. Yes, Freedom has acknowledged receipt of my email correspondences showing proof of the County Tax Office but no action as of the date of writing this complaint, only more letters from Freedom about default and foreclosure.
Company Response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
State: OR
Zip: 97267
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2018-03-14
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2018-03-14
Issue: Incorrect information on your report
Subissue: Account status incorrect
Consumer Complaint: On XX/XX/XXXX I filed for a chapter XXXX bankruptcy. This debt was not reaffirmed, yet we intend to keep paying on the mortgage. Freedom Mortgage would not mail out a reaffirmation agreement, despite numerous requests for them to do so. So, this debt was discharged. The issue is this debt continues to report on my credit report as well as my wife 's credit report. Since this debt was discharged, the trade line should reflect a {$0.00} balance for both XXXX and XXXX XXXX. It should also be noted that XXXX is a non-filing spouse, yet Washington state is a community property state, so the discharge on this debt extends to her as well. Furthermore, payment history should not be reported after XXXX, XXXX. Freedom Mortgage continues to report this debt on both my credit report as well as my wife 's. Numerous phone calls to them do not fix the problem. Another issue lies with XXXX 's payment. Freedom Mortgage reported XXXX 's payment as 30 days late, even though it was received on XX/XX/XXXX. They received this payment on XX/XX/XXXX but did not apply the payment until XXXX. This caused a 30 day late payment to report. The continued mismanaging on this account has caused my wife to suffer a closure on her XXXX XXXX XXXX credit card as well as a credit line reduction on her XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX credit cards. All three credit cards cite a mortgage late payment as a reason for the adverse action. And this was due to incorrect information reported by Freedom Mortgage. Previous CFPB complaint numbers are XXXX and XXXX.
Company Response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
State: WA
Zip: 982XX
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2018-03-14
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2018-03-13
Issue: Closing on a mortgage
Subissue:
Consumer Complaint: We wanted to pay off our loan in XX/XX/XXXX. In order to do so, we needed to have a payoff quote. Freedom mortgage charged us {$30.00} to get the payoff quote. Our loan was transferred to Freedom Mortgage in XX/XX/XXXX after our existing company, XXXX, sold our loan to them. To our knowledge, there was no payoff quote fee for XXXX, and therefore being a " new '' customer to Freedom Mortgage, we were asking that the {$30.00} fee be waived since our previous mortgage company did not charge us a fee. After speaking to several Customer Service Specialists, we were finally able to have the fee waived on XX/XX/XXXX. However, upon payoff of our loan, we were still charged {$30.00}. We called Freedom Mortgage 's customer service and the customer service rep did see that the fee should have been waived and advised us to write an email to XXXX to get this resolved. There is no way to speak to someone to resolve this by phone -only by email. An email was sent XX/XX/XXXX. Freedom Mortgage said it would take up to 30 days to resolve the issue. After the 30 days passed, we called Freedom Mortgage customer service on XX/XX/XXXX. The representative, XXXX ( # XXXX ) told us that she also saw that the fee should be waived but she was told we were denied because Freedom Mortgage can not refund the recording fee. I told her that this was not the recording fee, but rather a fee that Freedom Mortgage charges us just to payoff the loan, even though we were told there were no fees for paying off a loan. Since Freedom Mortgage considers this a closed matter, we decided to file a complaint as we feel they were intentionally misleading us and constantly changing their flimsy explanations.
Company Response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
State: TX
Zip: 75206
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2018-03-13
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2018-03-13
Issue: Applying for a mortgage or refinancing an existing mortgage
Subissue:
Consumer Complaint: My mortgage was with a company called XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX. On XX/XX/XXXX my mortgage was transferred to Freedom Mortgage. Sometime in XXXX Freedom Mortgage informed me that I now needed to buy hurricane insurance, which was not required before. I called them and they convinced me that I had no choice in the matter. I immediately called my insurance agent and she immediately added the required hurricane insurance. Today I received a letter dated XX/XX/XXXX telling me that they received the updated wind coverage, but they are going to charge me for wind coverage from XX/XX/XXXX to XXXX/XXXX/XXXX if I don't buy or prove coverage for that time frame. It is now XX/XX/XXXX. I should not have to pay for coverage for a time that has already passed. Nobody needs coverage for the past. They are going to charge me almost {$150.00} for something that can never be used. This is not right. They have already caused me an additional {$1000.00} a year and now they are just trying to rip me off. Please help! Thank you!
Company Response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
State: HI
Zip: 96720
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2018-03-19
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2018-03-12
Issue: Trouble during payment process
Subissue:
Consumer Complaint: On XX/XX/XXXX, I was received a letter from Freedom Mortgage stating that I was past due on my mortgage. I thought this to be some kind of mistake since I have the payments set up on auto-pay through my bank in. When I spoke to the representative, XXXX # XXXX, he explained that our mortgage payment had increased and as a result, the amount that I had auto-payed through my bank was short by {$50.00}. XXXX told me that since the payment was not in the full amount that the payment was put aside in an unassigned account until the full payment was made. He explained that the account went 30 days with out the payment ( even though they had my money ) and was then reported to the credit agencies. On XX/XX/XXXX, I wrote an email to Freedom Mortgage to request a reversal of the credit report made when they failed to apply our loan payment to our mortgage. At no time was I aware that the full payment had not been made. Freedom Mortgage never attempted to call and explain that I was short ( {$50.00} short on a nearly {$3000.00} payment ) on the payment. And instead of applying my payment to my account, they held the money in an unidentified account, not associated with my mortgage. I checked my bank statement and saw that the payment was made on time ( XXXX. XXXX ) and XXXX confirmed that they received the payment but since it was not in the full amount that the money never was applied to my loan. I can provide the statements to verify this if needed. I immediately paid the balance, including the late fee and additional {$50.00} for XXXX XXXX payment ( {$190.00} ), and explained that the XXXX auto-payment was already pending as per our bank. We have never been late on a payment and we had no intention of being late on this payment. I have the bank statements that show the funds had been paid on time, less the {$50.00} increase and the representative confirmed that the payment was made on time, only short the escrow increase.We have been late or missed a payment with this company in five years! I emailed the company, as directed by XXXX # XXXX, and requested a reversal of the credit report but have not had a response. I called back on two separate occasions ( XXXX, spoke to XXXX # XXXX and XXXX, spoke to XXXX # XXXX ) and was told that there was no one to talk to about the credit report dispute and that I would never have anyone to speak directly to about this problem. I could only wait for the customer care center to respond to my email request. I was told by the representative, XXXX, to contact the CFPB for help with Freedom Mortgage 's credit reporting practices and failures to apply mortgage payments to the loans.
Company Response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
State: AZ
Zip: 85018
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2018-03-13
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2018-03-10
Issue: Trouble during payment process
Subissue:
Consumer Complaint: I was approved for an FHA loan - 30 year, fixed, 3.5 % interest rate - originally through XXXX XXXX XXXX. Very soon afterwards, my mortgage was sold to Freedom Mortgage. Due to having some health issues, I had to take off some time from work and became late in my payments. During that time, I was generally about a month behind. The company would discuss loan modification with me, but then would generally comment that they would not recommend I do the loan modification and instead I should just try my best to catch up on payments. In the process of trying to get all that settled, I had several things happen which made me about two months behind. Just when I was getting caught up, I was notified that my mortgage was increasing from {$1000.00} to {$1600.00}. When I called about this significant increase, I was told that the company had completed an Escrow Analysis and determined that they were not having me pay enough to meet my property tax requirements. Initially my payment was broke down as follows : principal {$880.00}, escrow {$150.00}. They said that they had increased my escrow payments to {$510.00}. Additionally, they said that I had a deficit in my escrow and therefore, I would have to pay an additional {$290.00} per month towards that. When I asked why they had not recognized this issue from the get go, they told me that my house was a new development and therefore they did not have the tax information. However, my parents have had a house built in the same area that I live in and their escrow payment for taxes and insurance was assessed properly. I was a first time home buyer, no one explained caught this oversight during closing or any time before I closed. Although I was able to borrow the money to pay the deficit in the escrow, my payment has still increased significantly. I am afraid that I will lose my home. Are there any suggestions on how to address this? I have continued the loan modification process, although, every time I turn around there is something they need that they never said anything about before. I just would like help with guiding me through this process.
Company Response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
State: IA
Zip: 50023
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2018-03-10
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A