Consumer complaint received 2019-02-12
Company: Specialized Loan Servicing Holdings LLC
State: AR
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint:
My existing mortgage loan on my personal residence originated on XX/XX/XXXX. At that time, it was properly disclosed to me that Private Mortgage Insurance ( PMI ) was required on this loan. The Private Mortgage Insurance Disclosure that I signed stated that I could request removal of this PMI on XX/XX/XXXX. Also in this disclosure under " Automatic Termination of PMI '' at the bottom of the page, the form says, " ... PMI will automatically terminate on the date the principal balance of your loan is first scheduled to reach 78 % of the original value of the property. This date is XX/XX/XXXX. '' This commitment to automatically terminate the PMI is the crux of my complaint since the mortgage holder is currently refusing to honor this term of the contract although I fully meet all qualifications. See attachment titled " PMI Disclosure XXXX. '' On XX/XX/XXXX, my mortgage loan was transferred to Specialized Loan Servicing ( SLS ) as evidenced by the attachment " Mortgage Transfer to SLS Letter XXXX. '' On XX/XX/XXXX, I submitted a written request to SLS for removal of the PMI. In error, I referenced the original account number assigned at loan closing instead of the new number given by SLS. SLS stamped, "  RECEIVED XX/XX/XXXX '' on the letter, crossed out the original loan number and wrote in the SLS loan number which indicates to me that they knew the loan to which I was referring. See attachment titled, " Original Request to Remove PMI XXXX. '' SLS responded to my XXXX request with a letter dated XXXX stating that SLS " no longer services the loan associated with this property. '' I believe that SLS knew this was not the case because they placed the correct loan number on their letter. To me, this was clearly an attempt by SLS to get me to drop the issue. See attachment titled " First Response to Request XXXX. '' I tried again on XXXX by submitting my second written request to remove the PMI. This time I listed the correct SLS loan number and included a copy of the Private Mortgage Insurance Disclosure given me at time of loan origination. See attachment titled " Second Request to Remove PMI XXXX. '' SLS responded to my XXXX request by sending me the attached letter named " Second Response to Request XXXX. '' In short, this correspondence says that they will only consider removing the PMI once a valuation is done on the home. These valuations are estimated in this letter to range in cost from $ XXXX {$800.00}. Considering that the PMI cost to me is {$54.00} per month AND knowing that my contract says that the PMI will automatically terminate on XX/XX/XXXX, I begrudgingly decided to not pursue the PMI termination before XXXX because it would cost me more than it would save. So, in other words, I decided to simply wait until XXXX at which time I believed the issue would resolve itself. 

When I received my statement from SLS for my XX/XX/XXXX payment, I noticed that the PMI figure of {$54.00} was still being billed. Thinking that surely this would be the last month that would happen due to the automatic termination on XXXX, I decided to not approach SLS at that time. 

Yesterday, XX/XX/XXXX, I received my XXXX billing from SLS which is attached titled, " SLS Current Billing for XXXX. '' In it, once again the {$54.00} for PMI was billed for the XX/XX/XXXX payment. I called SLS yet again last night and waited on hold for over 30 minutes. When I finally got through to a live person, they told me that PMI would not be removed until my loan balance reached 78 % of the original loan amount of {$250000.00} even though my loan documents say, " 78 % of the original value. '' If this were true - which it is not according to the PMI Disclosure - the PMI would continue to be build until I pay my loan down by {$21000.00}. At that point, my loan-to-value on my home would be at 70 % according to the appraisal completed in conjunction with this home loan refinance in XXXX of XXXX. A summary page from the appraisal is attached titled, " Appraisal Summary XXXX. '' My calculations show that continuing to pay SLS for PMI until I reach 78 % of the original loan balance ( not the property value ) would require me to make eighteen more payments of {$54.00} totaling {$970.00} more than I should have to pay. It should be noted that my loan with SLS has been, is and will remain completely current on all payments at all times. 

In summary, Specialized Loan Servicing has acted willfully to frustrate and ignore my efforts to remove the PMI requirement on my loan so that they may collect {$970.00} more from me than they are entitled. It would seem reasonable to assume that this company is successfully scamming many thousands of other unsuspecting consumers in this same manner. I hereby request the assistance of the CFPB to resolve this issue.

Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation