About Mortgages

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau released its monthly complaints report Tuesday, which focuses on consumer grievances about various financial products. This month's spotlight was on mortgages, and the CFPB says more than a quarter of borrowers (27%) complain about them, which makes home loans the financial products that are complained about the most.

"Despite strong protections that have been put in place to protect homeowners, this month's complaint report shows consumers are still having problems when dealing with their mortgages, " Richard Cordray, CFPB's director, says in a statement.

Payment problems abound

Slightly more than half of the mortgage complaints submitted were about problems homeowners face when they struggle with affording their payments and apply for a loan modification to make their mortgage less costly. Some consumers reported delays and ambiguity in the application process and others said they weren't considered for every option available to them in order to keep their home.

Another common complaint was related to making payments in general. Borrowers reported difficulty understanding where to send payments, that they weren't properly notified about their mortgage switching servicers and that payments unexpectedly increase. There were also complaints about servicers not accepting payments less than the amount owed and not applying payments the way the borrower requested.

Rounding out the top 5 mortgage complaints are:

• Applying for a mortgage.
• Signing the agreement.
• Receiving a credit offer.

As of Sept. 1, the CFPB has handled 702, 900 complaints. The federal watchdog sends those complaints to their respective company and publishes them on ConsumerFinance.gov after 15 days or once the company responds, whichever occurs first.