Consumer complaint received 2018-02-22
Company: Seterus, Inc.
State: TX
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint:
We had an existing Mortgage loan through XXXX XXXX XXXX that originated in XX/XX/XXXX. It was purchased, to our knowledge, in XX/XX/XXXX. At that time, unknown to us, we were one month behind on our payments to XXXX due to a missed payment in XX/XX/XXXX due to an Illness. The payment was overlooked and we were never contacted by XXXX by letter, email or phone to be able to address the Issue and make the missed payment. We have since learned about the missed payment after hiring Council. Only then did Seterus inform us of the missed payment. We have since rectified the missed payment on XX/XX/XXXX for {$2600.00}. We also gave Seterus specific instructions in writing on the cashiers check that the money was to go to the XX/XX/XXXX missed payment or was not to be cashed. Seterus refused to abide by the instructions on the check and cashed the check anyway. When ask why, they explained that wasnt the way they did their accounting and the money was placed into a existing Suspense Account. 
In XX/XX/XXXX XXXX  notified us by letter that the loan had been purchased and we were to begin making our payments to Seterus in XX/XX/XXXX. We never received any correspondence from Seterus at that time. We didnt receive a new contract to sign so we assumed Seterus had adopted the same contract we had with XXXX XXXX XXXX. We complied with the letter from XXXX and set up an account on the Seterus Website and began making our payments on XX/XX/XXXX even though we hadnt received a statement from Seterus at the time. It wasnt until after we had made XXXX payment, that we received XXXX statement from Seterus. They had Immediately began charging us a late fee and demanded a {$7900.00} payment that was due XX/XX/XXXX. When we contacted them about the amount, their response was that we had missed our  XXXX payment and we also had to reimburse them for the Escrow disbursement of {$5900.00} and {$280.00}. We explained to them at that time, our payment had been made on-line to them on XX/XX/XXXX as we were instructed to do. We also explained that the Escrow payment should have come from our existing Escrow account with XXXX. Those explanations fell on deaf ears. We received our first of three statements for XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX showing we owed {$7900.00} for XXXX payment. This statement also included prior activity with Seterus, although we had never done business with before, showing a XXXX payment and XXXX payment of {$2600.00} respectively. The Statement also showed two Tax Disbursement made on XX/XX/XXXX for  {$5900.00} and {$280.00}. Money, we thought, should have come from funds in our Escrow account  with XXXX. After visiting our Tax Assessor about the Issue, the Tax Assessor explained to us that only two payments had been recorded to our account on XX/XX/XXXX. Both being by Seterus. Meaning that XXXX XXXX XXXX did not make our XX/XX/XXXX tax payment and were still in possession of account funds or Seterus was withholding Escrow funds and refusing to tell us and then demanding we pay them for the dispersed funds. Only after a Escrow Account statement showing a {$7800.00} surplus, did Seterus acknowledge the existence of the funds and after request from council, still refused to refund us our money until we had paid them what they said we owed them. Money that was never owed to them in the first place.

Seterus continues to engage in unscrupulous tactics to get us to pay money that is not owed to them. Seterus continually threatens to foreclose on our home every month and continually sends us unsolicited offers for a Loan Modification that we have never requested, wanting to lower our payments by extending our note to forty years. Seterus continues to harm our credit rating by reporting us late on our payments which has caused us unneeded expenses. We are unable to refinance our Mortgage at the present lower interest rate because of this also. They refuse to acknowledge our Attorney and our Accountant, that we have paid hundreds of dollars for, even after Seterus was sent documentation by our CPA verifying their mistake.

We respectfully request your help in rectifying this unfortunate issue as soon as possible so we may be able to go on with our lives without fear of having our home taken from us and our credit continually being ruined.

Please see attached documentation verifying our claims.

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 monetary relief