Consumer complaint received 2018-02-01
Company: Moneytree Financial Services, Inc.
State: FL
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Other type of mortgage
Issue: Struggling to pay mortgage

Complaint:
I believe my lender is in violation of several parts of the Dodd-Frank Act and possibly the Truth in Lending/RESPA Acts. Please note that this information has been filed with both agencies and Congresswoman XXXX. I have outlined what I have been able to find as far as these Acts are defining as law/regulation and what my lender/servicer has done in my situation. I have been unable to find or pay an attorney ti help me so I am relying on the CFPB to research this further as to additional violations, possibly usury as my interest rate jumped to 18 % for the last 2 years and as a whole may be at a rate higher than the legal 18 % due to the fees that are also considered part of the interest in figuring the actual interest rate for usrary. I have a Private lender, who used a broker to find the loan and I did not previously know, and understand to being doing business as a mortgage lender, and I entered into a residential owner occupied mortgage on XX/XX/XXXX

120 Day Rule : I received a letter from my lender in on XX/XX/XXXXstating that my XX/XX/XXXX payment check had been ret unpd and that I needed to pay XXXX by XXXX XXXX   XX/XX/XXXX I was instructed that if I did not pay the amount due by the end of XX/XX/XXXXthat I would be in default and foreclosure would begin. On XXXX XXXX a complaint was filed and summons issued to start the foreclosure. By law my lender, also servicer as he receives payments, is required to wait 120 days to begin foreclosure. He did not. Had the foreclosure not began, the complaint filed, prior to the 120 days I certainly could and would have gotten caught up. I qualified for gov't funding that would pay my arrears and make 1 yrs pymts ( both with caps ) if my lender agreed to consider a loan mod at the end of a year ( not nec make one ) and he refused to take the money. I also qualified for it inXX/XX/XXXXand again he refused when contacted by the FL Hardest Hit Fund.

Responsibility to provide foreclosure options : He is also supposed to provide information in writing in regards to my options prior to or to prevent foreclosure. I believe within 45 days of default. He did not.

Required to be licensed ( servicer ) : I believe under the same law as a servicer and person that accepts payments he is required to be licensed. He is not.

Required to be lkcensed ( lender ) : i am a littlenunclearnif he falls in the category for this under Dodd-/frank, but from what I can deciminate, he does need a license due to the nature and status of occupancy ( re o/o ) of the loan. He is not, he was and it went inactive for onne adress and was revoked at anther address. It appears he had 2 locations but now operates out of his home.

Duty to provide accounting : As a servicer he is required to provide certain information within a specified period of time when requested in writing, he has failed to do so. I was not given a statement of interest pd forXX/XX/XXXX or XX/XX/XXXX XX/XX/XXXX statement was requested and not provided for almost 2 weeks.

i have never been provided with the amount of prinicipal and interest is in each payment.

XX/XX/XXXX I sent a letter via email to my lender and his attorney outling what I saw as some options. I asked him to please reconsider the FL Hardest hit fund money ; outline the parameters so he understood that he would not ever be required to modify my loan ( which he aditmently says he does not have to and will not do ), just agree to consider doing so. Then they can move forward with final approval and loan signing, which would give my lender a check for the arrears ( catch me up ) and make my payments for 1 year. In the same email, I also asked for a payoff amount to pay off before the sale and a new payment amount if I reinstate my mortgage and resumed payments as he had stopped the escrow account for taxes and insurance which i had been paying sinceXX/XX/XXXX. I had to send a second request onXX/XX/XXXX 14 days later, to which I received a reply the same day. I believe that response tonthe initial request should have happened in 5 days. For a reply, all I was sent was a response to one of my requests ; the minimum amt being accepted in the auction sale amt. No payment amt, nothing about resuming escrow/new payment amt monthly, and no response to anything else, my options I outlined. I believe by law he has a duty to provide a response and he did not.

Interest Rate ( includ fees ) no higher than 18 % : My loan is currently at an interest rate of 18 % due to default. That was not disclosed to me, except in the terms of the agreement I signed. I do not believe that most people read every word of every document in that paperwork and an interest rate like that should be clearly defined and stated, even separately in writing, which it was not.

Predatory Lending.

Initially I thought my lender was being very fair and I understand the need to move forward at some point to keep the process moving. However at several points throughout this process there were violations and blatant refusals of moneys that would have pulled my loan out of default. There were offers made by my lender that were not followed through on, correspondance that should have been acknowledged and responded to was not, and win win solutions were ignored. That seems predatory to me, to some attorneys I spoke to and most are outraged at the 18 %. I would ask that the CFPB look into that and determine as they feel necessary as to if it is or is not. An example of an offer made : I was given an agreement to stop the auctionXX/XX/XXXX and when I attempted to meet the conditions by securing a buyer and providing a purchase agreement offer for approval, along with securing an escrow account for a deposit, he responded with needing to consult his attorney in the am and then one of them would respond. No one responded and no one returned my many emails or phone calls and messages left beginning mid morning the next day when I hadn't heard anything from he or his attorney. I even sent a signed copy along with escrow funding information by mid afternoon. I heard nothing. The sale went thru. That sale was reversed due to a bankruptcy, and there is another sale date.

I was unaware of these things until the FL Hardest Hit Fund informed in early XX/XX/XXXX of this year after again contacting him about accepting the funding I qualified for, informed me he was unlicensed. I questioned the validity of my mortgage if he was unlicensed and a series of phone calls got me looking into some things online. After it appeared to me that there were some violations, I tried to find an atty who could verify this for me. Finding an attorney who knows the specific laws is difficult and finding one to speak to me due to the late nature of the case is next to impossible. I just 2 days ago spoke to an atty who indicated baes on his initial questions that had these things/violations been raised in XX/XX/XXXX orXX/XX/XXXX, there would have likely been a trial scheduled, rather than default judgement granted. I could not afford an attorney and was trying everything to remedy the situation but did not know about these laws. Hard as I tried and as many case or online files I scoured it took a while to put this all together and make sense of it then verify legally. I and the attorneys who have spoke to me agree there is a case to file civil and reverse the sale we are not sure we can file the information quick enuff to stop the sale, but could have if a little more time.

Point is these laws are in effect to protect me and even without the specific law numbers a lawyer would submit there are some laws that were not followed and I just want to be protected and not lose my home but remedy this instead. I can and will pay this mortgage off if this sale can be postponed. The new buyer and I have contacted the lender and asked or 10 days more to get paperwork done with pre-approval and documentation, maybe even escrow. He denies it. I understand his position but i have tried to remedy this in every way possible without much leeway or working with me from my lender and even disregard to my questions and suggestions or when seeking options. I just want to be protected by these laws if entitled, which it appears I am. I have a private residential owner occupied loan and those are governed by the Dodd-Frank Act, RESPA and the Truth In Lending Act. Even if noted in my mortgage document or note as something different than the law, it should not be legal to verbally or even in writing break that law and have the document be binding. I cant sign away my right to other laws, why would I be able to sign this one away. These violations should be looked into and enforced and I should be granted any action I am entitled to as a result of these violations if the CFPB determines there in fact are violations.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation