CFPB Complaint August 2014

The following is the body of the first complaint I filed with Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in August 2014.

DearSirs,

     In 2006 my mother, Kathleen Kirkpatrick took a HECM reverse mortgage on her home through Financial Freedom aka One West Bank. 2900 Esperenza Crossing  Austin, Tx  78758.  The loan # is 3000029129. Mom passed away on Sept 15, 2013. I started contact with One West Bank prior to her death in an effort to be proactive and express my intent to retain my family home. One West Bank refused to talk to me at that time or offer any "salvage" options. They never explained the HUD Redemption Program process or the fact that there was an opportunity to retain the home built into the mortgage process.  Had this information been made available, I would have been prepared for this retention option. I feel that withholding this important information was the first of many stalling tactics employed by OneWest Bank to prevent me from retaining ownership of the home. Had I been given this information from the very beginning of this process I would have been better equipped to manage the purchase of the home. At the time of her death One West started foreclosure proceedings on the home and pursuant to the HUD Redemption process, sent an appraiser out to appraise the home. At the time of that appraisal and redemption offer I sent a letter of intent to purchase the property. I was granted a short sale approval letter and began the mortgage process to obtain financing for the purchase. Sadly the short sale approval letter is only valid for approximately 30 days and then it expires and the mortgage process is stopped, necessitating the filing of more documents to One West Bank. In addition to the mortgage process the house had to be probated and titled into my name as stated in mom's will. These things take more than 30 days.  I have been battling this company for over a year. To make a long story short, I am trying to obtain a third and final short sale approval letter so I can close on the home before the foreclosure sale date of Nov. 20th. The last approval letter expired on July 17, 2014. Prior to the expiration of this letter, I filed a third request for extension and provided a second pre approval letter from my lender. One West then requested an additional letter from my lender which included a closing date. This was provided to them as requested.  I am currently set to close on a 203K refinance mortgage to settle this matter. All I need is the approval letter from One West with enough time to get to closing. I have requested the expiration date of said letter to coincide with the foreclosure sale date of Nov 20th.  It is my feeling that One West is finding any way possible to stall this process in an effort to avoid honoring the HUD redemption purchase of this property. My family has lived in this house for over 50 years. It is my family homestead. I would like to be able to obtain a final Short Saole Approval letter from One West, with an expiration date that coincides with the Nov. 20, 2014 foreclosure sale date. This will allow me enough time to close on the pending mortgage and retain ownership of my family home.

Sincerely,

Mary Dambacher