Consumer complaint received 2023-01-09
Company: Shellpoint Partners, LLC
State: MA
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Incorrect information on your report
Sub-issue: Account status incorrect

Complaint:
Im sorry this is a long summary but these last few years have been hard enough without the financial damage that Shellpoint mortgage has done to me and my family. lt will take a lifetime to claw our back so this is very important to me. I am a self employed tile setter whose business suffered greatly because of the pandemic. My wife lost her job at the start of the pandemic and our now XXXX old little boy was just a baby. When I learned of the forbearance plan that Shellpoint was offering, it felt like a blessing. Instead, it has turned into an absolute nightmare. For starters, I was told that by enrolling in the forbearance plan, I would be able to suspend my payments which would then be added to the end is the loan, simple as that. Once the forbearance ended, I was told that for 3 months I would be in a probationary period, but if I made those 3 payments on time, I could sign a new agreement and continue on with my loan. I did everything that Shellpoint instructed me to do then continued to make my monthly payments. Maybe 6 months after the " probationary '' period ended I started looking into refinancing since rates were around 3 % and mine is 5.65 % This is when I discovered that despite following shellpoint 's directions to a T and remaining up to date on all my payments, they reported to the credit companies that I hadn't made 6-9 payments ( differs with everyone I talk to ) After countless phone calls and hours on the phone I got nowhere. I opened investigations with XXXX, XXXX and XXXX XXXX. Two of these bureaus informed me they " investigated '' by calling shellpoint and asking them if I had delinquent payments to which they replied, yes- Mind boggling detective work. I then hired XXXX to try to help resolve this issue with no luck. I have yet to find anyone at shellpoint who has been able to help me in any way. I was told at one point that there was fine print in the new payment agreement the stated the shellpoint was not responsible for negative effects on my credit. I responded by saying I didn't think that applied to me since I did everything that you told me to do!

Fast forward 6 months and i was finally at a point where I had 12 consecutive months of online payments following shellpoints misreportings. I could start trying to refinance again. My credit score however, has not been repaired and with interest rates rising, refinancing now would yield an even higher rate than the one I'm currently locked into. It was at this time that I also discovered that the " deferment '' of payments to the end of my loan also included adding {$13000.00} to my loan principle and also somehow changed my loan to a 45 year loan while keeping the same monthly payment and same interest rate. I was halfway through my 30 year loan and to now learn that I have another 30 years left is devastating. First of all, when I signed up for the forbearance at the beginning of the pandemic it was explained to me that this a form of relief and that when the hardship was over, I would be able to defer the missed payments to the end my loan. If, for one second, I knew this would then allow the bank to add {$13000.00} to the {$120000.00} that I still owed, I would never have enrolled. What's more financially crippling is how Shellpoint kept my interest rate the same and kept my payment within a few dollars of what it was pre pandemic but restructured my entire loan by adding 15 years. Mathematically, this should be impossible. Like I said, if I had any idea of the repercussions of entering a forbearance agreement, I never would've entertained the idea. Once it was over, a shellpoint employee summarized to me over the phone, what the new agreement entailed which provided no indication of how costly this would be for an already struggling one ( self employed ) income family. By the time I got the agreement, I had only a short amount of time to get it notarized, turn around and send it back. Worth noting is that this agreement was my ONLY option other than losing our house. I knew I had to sign it and there were no red flags, since the i Im sorry this is a long summary but these last few years have been hard enough without the financial damage that Shellpoint mortgage has done to me and my family. lt will take a lifetime to claw our back so this is very important to me. I am a self employed tile setter whose business suffered greatly because of the pandemic. My wife lost her job at the start of the pandemic and our now XXXX old little boy was just a baby. When I learned of the forbearance plan that Shellpoint was offering, it felt like a blessing. Instead, it has turned into an absolute nightmare. For starters, I was told that by enrolling in the forbearance plan, I would be able to suspend my payments which would then be added to the end is the loan, simple as that. Once the forbearance ended, I was told that for 3 months I would be in a probationary period, but if I made those XXXX payments on time, I could sign a new agreement and continue on with my loan. I did everything that Shellpoint instructed me to do then continued to make my monthly payments. Maybe 6 months after the " probationary '' period ended I started looking into refinancing since rates were around 3 % and mine is 5.65 % This is when I discovered that despite following shellpoint 's directions to a T and remaining up to date on all my payments, they reported to the credit companies that I hadn't made XXXX payments ( differs with everyone I talk to ) After countless phone calls and hours on the phone I got nowhere. I opened investigations with XXXX, XXXX and XXXX XXXX. Two of these bureaus informed me they " investigated '' by calling shellpoint and asking them if I had delinquent payments to which they replied, yes- Mind boggling detective work. I then hired XXXX to try to help resolve this issue with no luck. I have yet to find anyone at shellpoint who has been able to help me in any way. I was told at one point that there was fine print in the new payment agreement the stated the shellpoint was not responsible for negative effects on my credit. I responded by saying I didn't think that applied to me since I did everything that you told me to do! 
Fast forward 6 months and i was finally at a point where I had 12 consecutive months of online payments following shellpoints misreportings. I could start trying to refinance again. My credit score however, has not been repaired and with interest rates rising, refinancing now would yield an even higher rate than the one I'm currently locked into. It was at this time that I also discovered that the " deferment '' of payments to the end of my loan also included adding {$13000.00} to my loan principle and also somehow changed my loan to a 45 year loan while keeping the same monthly payment and same interest rate. I was halfway through my 30 year loan and to now learn that I have another 30 years left is devastating. First of all, when I signed up for the forbearance at the beginning of the pandemic it was explained to me that this a form of relief and that when the hardship was over, I would be able to defer the missed payments to the end my loan. If, for one second, I knew this would then allow the bank to add {$13000.00} to the {$120000.00} that I still owed, I would never have enrolled. What's more financially crippling is how Shellpoint kept my interest rate the same and kept my payment within a few dollars of what it was pre pandemic but restructured my entire loan by adding 15 years. Mathematically, this should be impossible. Like I said, if I had any idea of the repercussions of entering a forbearance agreement, I never would've entertained the idea. Once it was over, a shellpoint employee summarized to me over the phone, what the new agreement entailed which provided no indication of how costly this would be for an already struggling one ( self employed ) income family. By the time I got the agreement, I had only a short amount of time to get it notarized, turn around and send it back. Worth noting is that this agreement was my ONLY option other than losing our house. I knew I had to sign it and there were no red flags, since the interest rate was the same and my monthly payment was the same. In hindsight, there are so many questions I wish that I'd asked.

I also now realize I should've had a lawyer read my new payment agreement in order to make sense of the garbled, non sensical language that was purposely used in the new payment agreement. I've tried reaching out to shellpoint several times which only leads to more frustration. It seems there is no one I can talk to who can, first, explain how any of this is even mathematically possible and more importantly, how anyone could lure in people in need only to secretly destroy them financially. Offering " help '' in times of need only to force these same people into an agreement, they would otherwise never agree to, is absolutely cruel and in this case, criminal. I am absolutely devastated and truly would appreciate any help you could provide me and my family. Thank you nterest rate was the same and my monthly payment was the same. In hindsight, there are so many questions I wish that I'd asked.

I also now realize I should've had a lawyer read my new payment agreement in order to make sense of the garbled, non sensical language that was purposely used in the new payment agreement. I've tried reaching out to shellpoint several times which only leads to more frustration. It seems there is no one I can talk to who can, first, explain how any of this is even mathematically possible and more importantly, how anyone could lure in people in need only to secretly destroy them financially. Offering " help '' in times of need only to force these same people into an agreement, they would otherwise never agree to, is absolutely cruel and in this case, criminal. I am absolutely devastated and truly would appreciate any help you could provide me and my family. Thank you

Company public response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation