Flagstar Bank
Reviews and Complaints

After almost 2 yrs. trying to do a short sale with Flagstar because our mortgage was under water (fair market value less than what was owned) & with Flagstar constantly losing paperwork, hundreds of resending & turned down for a loan modification Flagstar was unwilling to accept a cash offer for what they determined to be the fair market value. Instead, Flagstar bought our house for $100.00 at the foreclosure auction & turned down the $309, 000 cash offer. The investor was willing to buy the house in the "as is" condition because it was literally falling apart (which Flagstar was aware of the poor condition with all the numerous hardship letters that they requested & received, including the poor health of the owner-cancer, brain tumor, etc.) I do not understand how Flagstar can get away with these tactics. I believe Flagstar wants people to foreclose in order for them to get the full loan through HUD. Why does a government organization like HUD let this Bank take advantage of a government organization. Is this common for a government organization to be blindsided by banks such as Flagstar? Is this the way HUD gets their housing-from honest hardworking people who face unexpected hardship such as illness & loss of a job? Then they sell these REO properties to real estate & meanwhile people are thrown out of their homes with their credit destroyed. A short sale has less of a negative impact than a foreclosure. I filed a complaint with the CFPB, although it is probably too late for them to help.

I feel that I have been fraudulently denied the ability to short sale my home or receive any assistance through their Loss Mitigation program.

In March of 2011, based on a host of medical issues and the very strong advice of my Doctor, I left my job. I was not able to draw unemployment so I had no income. At that time I contacted the Loss Mitigation department of Flagstar to pursue a Deed in Lieu of Foreclosure. Between March of 2011 and July of 2011 I had a total of 26 conversations with the Loss Mitigation department. The process requires providing a list of documentation. During this time period I faxed a total of 215 documents (the original number of required documents was 56). The reason this number is so high is because they repeatedly told me that they had either not received the documents, or that some portion of the documents were not legible. I was actually told that if a single word is not legible they will “throw out the document”. During this time they “closed” my file twice because they stated I had not “provided the required paperwork in a timely fashion”. If they continuously “lose” or “throw out” paperwork then it becomes impossible to provide it in a timely manner-even if I am faxing it to them repeatedly. Also-each time I contacted them I was placed on hold an average of 45 minutes…the longest being 69 minutes. In July I finally gave up out of frustration and decided to continue to try and sell the home (it has been on the market since Oct. 2009-the last year as a short sale).

In February of 2012 I received (my first) offer on the home. It would have to be a short sale, but wanted to pursue this option with Flagstar. I began the process with them again and gathered the required documents and faxed them in early February. It is now May 8th and it was only as of last week that they finally stated I had provided what they needed to move forward to make a determination if I was eligible for a short sale. My Realtor, has also had this same experience with them (placing him on hold for very long periods of time, claiming he has not faxed them required paperwork, etc).By the way-the house is due to go up for auction on May 11th. I can’t help but feel they are purposely delaying so they can move forward with the auction. In the last 12 weeks I faxed paperwork almost daily with the same responses….we have lost some of the paperwork, some of it was not legible, some of it they claimed they simply did not receive (I have copies of fax confirmations). Again, each phone call involved being placed on hold for 30-45 minutes. I had also provided my new mailing address and phone number a total of 5 times (they continued to send correspondence to my old address). Today I was finally told that the Loss Mitigation department cannot change my mailing address, only customer service can do that. I asked the person I was speaking with today why they did not tell me that weeks ago and she responded that they “had recently changed their system and perhaps the people I spoke with were not aware they could not make those changes”.

Likewise, when I called today to check the status of where things were, I was told that they had been “trying to contact me with no luck” to do a financial interview. This is because they had been trying to reach me on my old number ( again-I had provided my new number a total of 5 times). During the Financial Interview, when reviewing my yearly gross income, she stated, that according to their calculations, I made $28, 350 per year. I told her this was incorrect. I make $24, 960 per year. I had provided them with my offer letter from my employer that clearly states my hourly wage and hours per week that I work. She stated they use my paystubs to figure my yearly income. Up to this point I had provided 4 paystubs. Each varies due to the cut off dates of the pay periods (some will have 80 hours, some will have 88). The particular paystub they chose to use had 96 hours on it due to the fact that I had 8 extra hours on it because I had neglected to record a day on the previous pay cycle. My point is: out of 4 paystubs I provided they chose to use the one with the highest amount to figure my income. I clearly make $24, 960 per year. This is indisputable. Yet they are insisting I make $28, 340 per year. When I tried to explain my concern….basing a financial decision based on an incorrect income amount…she became very hostile. Told me that it was not “uncommon for people to be wrong about the amount of money they make per year” and that there was nothing she could do about it and was not going to discuss it with me any further.

Update as of this morning 5/9: I called them 5 times and was either disconnected or sent to the wrong department (and then disconnected again). I finally was able to speak with someone and was told I did not qualify for a short sale because I was no longer living in the home and that they would not delay the auction to discuss this further. She was rude and basically hung up on me when I tried to ask questions. In the (over year)I have been talking with the loss mitigation department not once did they EVER say anything to me about not qualifying to short sell due to not living in the house. They have been aware I have not lived there since last May (one, because I had another address and two, because I have told them repeatedly I do not live there, and they have even asked me several times).

I feel that Flagstar has adopted a policy of doing everything in their power to dissuade people from pursuing other options than foreclosure (they stop due to frustration or confusion). I feel they intentionally do things that impede the ability to move forward with the process, i.e. losing paperwork, throwing it out, claiming they never received it, closing the file and making you start over from scratch because they did not receive the paperwork in a timely way. Oh, and placing you on hold for extended periods of time (I cannot tell you how many minutes they have eaten up of my cell minutes). Their decision to erroneously and blatantly use an incorrect yearly gross income amount is nothing short of criminal and fraudulent. And again, denying me based on the fact I do not live in the home was never once discussed with me in the last year, in spite of the fact they clearly knew I was not living in the home.

Again, I feel that since the beginning Flagstar’s prime directive has been to foreclose on the home and I feel they have fraudulently denied me the opportunity to short sale the home.

My VA home loan was sold to Flagstar bank in Michigan or PA, I'm not sure which. And was called a 'dumb***" by one lady and basically told they couldn't help me by the others. Horrible customer service and I hope there's a way to get my loan to a bank that actually has good customer service... that would be awesome. Maybe a complaint to the VA department would help.

Flagstar increased my escrow monthly payment without notifying me last month. They called me late last month saying they put my last month's payment on hold because its short on escrow amount. I paid the escrow difference over the phone with additional $15 processing fee. They promised to apply both payments to my account and asked me to called back in 24-48 hours to waive the late fee. So I called back in 2 days, spoke with a lady named 'Carmen'. She confirmed that late fee was never charged and everything was fine. After 2 weeks, I received another call from Flagstar saying I didn't make this month's payment. I called back and spoke with a lady named 'Dee'. I tried to explain the situation to her and ask what's going on. But she is SUPER RUDE and would not allow me to talk at all. After 20 minutes struglle with her, I finally realized that Flagstar took part of my last month's payment and used it to pay for a $89 late fee. Therefore, my last month's payment was $89 short. When I called 2 weeks ago and spoke with Carmen, she misread my account information. When I complained to 'Dee' on they could misread account information being a bank professional, Dee said:'IT HAPPENS ALL THE TIME!' That is really scary to know that FLAGSTAR EMPLOYEES MISREAD CLIENTS' INFORMATION ALL THE TIME. When I expressed my concern over her comment, she again would not allow me to talk at all. CanNOT imagine how POOR and UNPROFESSIONAL their service is and how RUDE their employees are! Would NEVER want to deal with them again!

I have a home mortgage got sold to Flagstar Bank. When I sent in extra money by check for "Principal Payment" only, they always use that principal payment money to pay for my regular monthly mortgage payment. (Even though I marked my check clearly with "Principal ONLY"; and I have automatic monthly payments set up online). Every time, I have to call them to fix the problem. and they cannot tell me why they always do the same thing to my mailed in checks which marked clearly "Principal Payment Only" .
If I failed to double check and call in on their mistakes(deliberately made mistakes), they would rip me off by charging more interest on my home loan. This bank is disrespectful and never follow customer's clear request/instruction. I am very disappointed by this bank's behavior.
I have to waste so much time on calling them all the time, because it takes long time (30min) to reach a real person to talk to. No wonder people are not fond of banks in America.

I would like to complain about the lack of communication regarding transfers of my own money between my own accounts(checking and saving in the same bank). I don't see why I should be penalized for moving my own money between my accounts at will. It seems another gimmick for them to steal my hard earned money, and pay pennies for interest. I was an over the road truck driver, gone for weeks at a tie, and unable to even check my mail. I have lost plenty of money to this bank because they steal $10 per transaction for this, and I was not told about this fee at all, the only way I found out eventually was through a stack of fee notices I got in my mail box when I finally was able to get my mail after weeks on the 9 weeks on the road.

I requested a loan modification due to a divorce and my income being reduced by 60%. I couldn't refinance my loan because my property depreciated by 40, 000. I was told that I couldn't modify my loan unless I was 4 months behind on my payments. Once I was behind, my file was closed over and over again even though I sent in all the required documents. When I tried to send in payments I was told I had to send in the total amount in arrears. Next, I was served with foreclosure papers. FLAGSTAR IS ENCOURAGING FORECLOSURE BECAUSE THEY COLLECT ON THE MORTGAGE INSURANCE AND THEN SALE THE HOUSE FOR PROFIT WHILE HOMEOWNERS ARE LOSING THEIR HOMES DUE TO INCOME REDUCTION FROM JOB LOSS, DEATH OF A SPOUSE, OR DIVORCES. I'm filing a civil law suit so if this has happened to you email me at [protected]@gmail.com
with your name and phone number to put an end to Flagstar's corporate greed at the well being of homeowners experiencing a hardship.

This institution is the worst I have ever experienced. I got sold to them in 2002 and my problems began in 2003. However, I'm fast forwarding to Dec 2011.

In November of 2011 I received my escrow statement and it showed that it was short $495.90 and it gave me the option to either send in the entire amount (and my payments would remain lower) or to do nothing and began a new increase schedule beginning Jan 2012.

On Dec 6th, I sent a Western Union MO for t he $495.90, along with the enclosed return voucher to their PO Box. USPS states that because it is a PO Box they, by law and their USPS agreement, must sign or send back the mail. The money order arrives Dec 8th in Troy Michigan and just sits there, day after day. I check on Dec 16th with the USPS because I know that Flagstar has no ethical code of operation and are totally incompetent. I am notified that the pickup mail person from Flagstar refuses to sign, even though he is picking up tons of mail everyday from that PO Box. USPS states that if they do not pick up in 15 days it will be returned. It is past 15 days and it has not returned. It seems that they MAY have picked up and NO ONE at Flagstar can give me an answer as to where that money order is. Now, here is the strange part. I paid to for signature and return green card receipt. No one knows any thing at all. Not customer service, not the escrow dept. They are now telling me to re-send a new money order meanwhile I have to pay the increased amount, which I opted not to do, because if I send in the old amount I will be assessed a $500 late fee.

My frustration level is exhausted. All I can say is, my goal the early part of this year, is to get out. Management and upper management must be the dogs from hell to work for!

I just got off phone with Flagstar. I had called to inform them that my escrow analysis was incorrect as it had used the wrong insurance amount. I was told that since my insurance was only $135 less and not the $250 less they would do nothing and instead force me to pay and extra 10 - 20$ a month for the next year because they won't do another analysis. This error on their part is 4 months old and they just did the analysis last week but didn't update their info and ran it on bad numbers. I would never get another loan from them and will move this loan as soon as I can.

I should have just short sold it and let them eat the loss on the loan, but I was brought up differently. Terrible customer service avoid at all costs

Receiving a mortgage from Flagstar feels like I made a deal with the devil! It is one of the biggest mistakes I have ever made. They are unwilling to work with you, place you on hold forever their customer service is the worst! Their loan officer misled me in many ways. They demanded that I use their appraiser in order to get the loan. Flagstar’s appraiser charged me $400 even though already had an appraiser that would charge me $300. The appraiser from Flagstar overvalued my home comparing my 2 bedroom townhome to 4 bedroom townhomes. Due to this inflated value submitted by the Flagstar appraiser my property is underwater by $40, 000 in one year!

A year and a half ago, I applied for a loan modification from Flagstar Bank. (Two years prior, I had refinanced with them receiving favorable service, only to find out later that the bank officer who asited in this process was let go.) To continue, I was told that I had to be 3 months behind in payments, I was only two at the time, so "made" myself three so that I could qualify for the modification; had been sent paperwork and promptly completed it and faxed it in. I was also working full time at that point; teacher for 23 years. In June of 2010, I lost my teaching job due to budget cuts. Called Flagstar to apprise them of my new financial situation, I had to re-submit paperwork with new information, hardship letter, financial statement, etc. Faxed it in. Then I was really in a crisis, no money and without "making" myself behind, I was. Called them, sent in new package of paperwork; advised that I had to get a full time job, but they would see which, if any, program I could be fit into. Then I got a part time job, and several months another part time job. In he meantime, I had garage sales, selling all my teaching materials, furniture, supplies. I pawned jewelry, etc. to live. At one point I wanted to make two mortgage payments attempting to pay something and get the total months behind, now 7, and was told they would only accept 5 out 0f 7 payments. Couldn't do it. Long story short, I got foreclosure papers, notification from Flagstar's legal rep. law firm. I called one of those fly-by-night companies that were always contacting me by mail and email (word travels fast) and hired them for $1500.00 which was just under my regular mortgage payment amount so that they could help me 1) understand in layman's terms what was happening to me and my home; 2) be able to communicate to Flagstar and then to me; 3) assist in completing out any forms needed. To make matters worse, there were three changes in people dealing with my account and then the company sent me in the mail an announcement of their closing. It indeed did close, no longer able to phone, infact, no ability to contact them at all to find out where I was in this whole process. I did receive a card that they are under litigation, and that I am included in the group suit (?). At this point this is the least of my worries except of course for my $1500.00. Next to happen August of 2010 I was give a forbearance plan of paying my regular mortgage payment, Western Union Quick Collect on the first of each month. I notarized as directed and began the plan as instructed. The legal firm sent me a notice stating that the foreclosure was being rescinded. I called Flagstar to verify and they agreed. (I have followed their directions every time I was presented with a new set and re-sent in all forms, etc each time I was asked (total 6 times) although I'm not certain why so many times. January 2011 I was given a new forbearance plan, $798.00. I was thrilled, even though they told me on the phone that this was good for 5 months and then I would receive new paperwork with a new payment of $1, 598.35...$35.01 more than my regular (original) payment. I never received any paperwork advising me of the change; I called and informed them of this, thinking all the while that they should already be aware of their own processes and asked what to do. Was told to just continue to make the $798.00 amount and that I didn't have to send by Western Union and in fact that was only for the very first payment (January's) but could have been paid by check, etc. Not long after, I was called and told that I was finally under review for the modification. I asked then if this was god news. Was told that she couldn't tell me anything about the outcome, but that I was under review after such a long wait, and she felt this was a positive move forward.I have continued to do so. At the end of June, one of my parttime jobs ended due to gov't grand funding ending for the project for that school year; hopefully to be refunded and me picked up again in September. Through all this time, I had continued to apply for another teaching job. If you are aware of the TX Education crisis, ou know that it has been chaos; teachers layed off left and right. Because I was teaching for a Catholic private school, no unemployment. Had to go on food stamps, continued the second parttime job at $7.35 per hour. Just last week I got a teaching job for this academic year. I called Flagstar just a week ago last Wednesday to inform them. They told me to send or fax in my contract when ready as notification but no real use in terms of the modification. I get my first pay check on the last day of the month, September, since I started on the 24th of August and his last week will be added to that check. The woman said to send that in a copy of the stub when I get it. This will go to the modification analyst. Tis Thursday, the 25th at 8:30 a.a., I received a phone call on the way to work from Dasheeta (would not give her last name, nor transfer me to anyone else saying that she was assigned the call and she was the only Dasheeta n the Loss Mitigation Dept). She told me I was being foreclosed upon. I was shocked, she said that I could pay $181, 000 and this wojuld end, or I should short sale my huse. I told her about my job, that I had called, that I had to send in yet another app. package in June, what was going on. She said "What's going on is you're more than 30% something, something, something...which I didn't catch all of because I was crying so hard. Said to her that I had literally worked my _ _ _ off for the last year and a half to comply with all of their requirements..She interrupted me to say that "there is no reason for profanity, and please, lower your voice." I asked her to give me an approximate time line of this process so I could figure out what kind of time I had to sek help. She said she couldn't since she is "in Michigan, and not Texas and I don't know the TX Foreclosure laws. " I told her to transfer me to someone else who could tell me, she said no, and said the conversation was over and I would be geting papers in the mail sometime. (Sometime? and this concerns my home! that I have worked hard to keep in many adverse circumstances!) I called HUD, they told me to call FHA since Flagstar is an FHA lender. I gave ROSS the information he asked he gave me my "ticket number" told me he this would begin an investigation and that I should call them this Wednesday, the 31st. What do they do, what can they do, how closely are they aligned with FHA lenders, do they work for the homeowner in jeopardy of losing their home, what are my chances...I am a month away of improving my financial situation...where do I go and what do I do? Who cares?

I tried to submit a payment to Flagstar Bank for the balance of my 2nd mortgage through my credit union's bill pay. Flagstar rejected it saying the amount was too great and had to be submitted through certified funds or a wire transfer. I then tried to submit a wire transfer through my credit union for the payoff amount that Flagstar sent me plus extra interest. The wire transfer was rejected. My credit union resubmitted the wire transfer and it was rejected again with no explanation. My credit union called Flagstar and was told they needed to include the mortgage company name on the wire transfer. DUH! Flagstar Bank IS THE MORTGAGE company. As of today, I am still waiting for an explanation of why they keep rejecting my wire transfer. THIS BANK IS NOT TOO BIG TO FAIL AND SHOULD FAIL!

I've been trying for a home modifcation loan I lost ten percent of my pay and my wife is on disability. I paid legal helper $895.00 but didnt get no where then I went through this h.a.m.p program that charge me $700.00.In December 2010 Flag Star sent me a letter stating they were reviewing my file. I explained that i tried to refinance but couldn't because my house appraised $200, 000 and I owe $208, 000. The thing is because I'm just late on my home loan and haven't missed a payment they wont approve me.My wifes parents been paying my mortgage for seven months.My house three years ago was $285, 000 oh and my mortgage payment was $1, 436.00 and now its $1, 449.00 when I called flag star said property taxes went up. All my neighbors went down in property tax but mine went up and how when the housing market sucks.Right now I have a conventional loan and its 5.50% interest rate for thirty years.I even made a complaint to bbb but no help yet just keep sending the papers every month.

Flagstar claims that my homeowners insurance is insufficient to cover the cost of rebuilding if there's a total loss or the amount of my mortgage. My homeowners insurance guarantees replacement at 150% of the homes value which is much higher than my mortgage balance. I have called multiple times and cannot get a straight answer from them. They claim to have their own algorithm to determine how much coverage I would need. I think it's just a flat lie and an excuse to force an additional $700 charge against my account.

Our company specialized in short sales her in the DFW area, that is all we do. After closing over 100 last year with a variety of banks I want to let every borrower know Flagstar Bank is by far the worst we have dealt with. After submitting the short sale in July 2010 and month updating with bank, pay and financial information I was just informed their financial worksheet has changed and they will not be postponing the foreclosure set for one week from today since the wrong form has been returned for the month! This bank only deals with short sales once there is a schedules foreclosure sale date SO that give you only three weeks to get everything approved to move forward. Compared to other banks, even BOA, who deal with short sale offers as they come in and do put forth an effort to avoid foreclosure in most cases. Run as fast as you can from this lender!

We refinanced our condo with Flagstar 1/2010. In December 2010, after submitting insurance documentation many times, they force-placed flood insurance on our condo and added the premium to our monthly mortgage payment. If i do not pay the "additional premium" part of the payment, they send me to a collection agency, then send us information on foreclosure.

There are 76 condos in our building and every other mortgage company has accepted the HOA flood insurance coverage. Flagstar is the only bank that has not accepted the coverage. They are a total ripoff! They will not tell me what i need in writing, but insist that i call a toll free number. I get a different "receptionist" every time who has no idea what Flagstar is requesting. The president of our property management company and the insurance agent for the HOA flood policy have no idea why Flagstar will not accept our coverage either. I have also spoken with our regular bank staff and USAA insurance--no one understands why Flagstar will not accept our coverage.

My husband and I have been trying to get a mortgage modification since 2009. We call them and all they do is string you along. Month after month you send in the requested documents and they don't call you to acknowledge they have the documents. When you call them they say we will assign you an adjustor, but you never hear from an adjustor. Then the next thing is you call and they tell you that your property is in forclosure status. But they won't give you a foreclose sale date. The staff there are very rude and will not try to work with you. Like someone else stated, they know the economy is bad and most banks with some intelligence would want to work with their customers so that they can still get paid versus getting nothing. Flagstar should be shut completely down because anyone that provides the type of service they provide, which is a horror, can't be legally operating. Some one needs to go in their to do an audit of their records. It shouldn't take no customer over a year to settle with a mortgage modification. Please somone with authority, go to Flagstar, investigate these complaints. Flagstar Bank needs to be shaken up and put completely out of business. It should be legal how they operate.

I applied for a loan modification in September 2009 when my job was cutting back hours and I thought that would be a good temporary lifeline which I thought was available and I also thought the company would be willing to fix a minor problem. I was just told to send in the same paperwork every month without a response and when I would call they just would tell me it was getting sent to a modification specialist and to just keep sending in pay stubs and bank statements. Finally got an answer when I called on October 14th 2010, they told, me my modification was denied and house was being sold at auction on October 15th which if you didn't notice was the next day. Later was served paperwork that they had filed an unlawful detainer lawsuit against me for living in a house that I wasn't paying for which I had tried to give them money but they refused to take it. I was 3 payments behind and had 2 payments that I could pay and they said because I had filed for a modification I wasn't able to pay at this time. I think this bank is a joke and I recommend never doing business with. They set you up for failure telling you to be delinquent before they can help you and then refuse to take your payments until they come to the decision of denial for a program that the guidelines to qualify are your exact situation and now you are so far behind there is no way to catch up and they take your house. DON'T DEAL WITH THIS COMPANY

After seven months of application review, Flagstar denied refinance based on an inaccurate determination on residency. Despite more than 35 years of stellar credit, proven ability to repay credit - and a cost of $700 for appraisal and subordination fees (which have yet to be repaid) - and the fact that residency was not an issue, the loan application was not approved. One must wonder how federal stimulus funds are being used. If credit worthy consumers are denied loans based on unjustifiable reasons, then who is receiving the funds? Flagstar loan determination practices are at best questionable, and should be reviewed by appropriate authorities.