The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB [1]) announced that servicemembers, veterans, and their families who complained to the bureau about financial products or services have recovered over $1 million. The report covers more than 14,000 complaints filed from July 21, 2011 through February 1, 2014.
Mortgage complaints made up approximately 4,700 of complaints filed by veterans and their families, which made up 33 percent of total complaints.
"The most common type of mortgage complaint concerns problems consumers face when they are unable to make payments, such as issues related to loan modifications, collections, or foreclosures (55 percent)," the report said.
The CFPB said that companies have already responded to approximately 3,700 or 91 percent of the complaints sent to them. The median monetary relief reported by military consumers was $470.
Consumers have disputed approximately 900 company responses to mortgage complaints.
"Military families make enormous sacrifices for our nation and deserve to be protected," said CFPB Director Richard Cordray. "I am pleased that the Bureau has assisted thousands in cutting through red tape when dealing with their financial institutions. However, the complaints show that many servicemembers, veterans, and their families are not getting the protections accorded to them by federal laws and that raises concern."
According to the report, a large concern for veterans is working with mortgage servicers after receiving Permanent Change of Station (PCS) orders.
"In particular, military consumers have reported frustration with mortgage servicers’ lack of knowledge about military-specific programs. Consumers report that servicers remain unaware of the permanent change of station guidance issued by the CFPB and other federal financial regulators as well as short-sale guidelines aimed at assisting servicemembers with PCS orders, such as the Federal Housing Financial Agency’s August 2012 Short Sale Guidelines [2] for Fannie and Freddie Loans," the report said.
Other common types of mortgage complaints were related to making payments, such as loan servicing, payments, or escrow accounts (26 percent), according to the CFPB's report.