Consumer complaint received 2023-02-13
Company: SELECT PORTFOLIO SERVICING, INC.
State: FL
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Struggling to pay mortgage

Complaint:
I am writing to complain of the unethical and deceptive practices in which my mortgage servicer, Select Portfolio Servicing , Inc., has engaged regarding the mortgage upon my one and only home. I recently filed a complaint with you on some of the topics covered in this message. Due to feeling all the pressure from the conflicting deadlines with which my servicer, Select Portfolio Servicing alias SPS, has hit me with in its letters, I hurriedly attempted to get something in to your office before it was too late. Kindly consider this more detailed letter, with its supporting evidence attached, to be my actual complaint. 

I am asking for your assistance because SPS has given me Notice of Default and impending foreclosure, and has ruled that I am not eligible for a loan modification due to my accounts delinquency, because I took the Covid-19 Forbearance program. They offered it to me, and they never said anything about default, foreclosure, or balloon payments! I took the Forbearance, and now I am in default, facing foreclosure, ruled ineligible for a loan modification, and labeled as delinquent based upon the payments I did not send in while I was in Forbearance. Select Portfolio Servicing is demanding a lump sum or balloon payment as part of the only other option they have given - - again, all to account for the payments I was excused from during my Forbearance. How is this possible? The way SPS is conducting the Forbearance is a trap, rather than a benefit to homeowners as it was intended. 

In either the last week of XXXX or the first week of XXXX, XXXX, an SPS representative called me, or I may have called them in response to their written invitation to call in to explore my options. Either way, by telephone at that time, the SPS rep, in a warm and hospitable tone of voice, extended to me an offer that, in retrospect, was too good to be true. She explained that I may want to take advantage of this opportunity during the limited time this program is going to be available. I could take a break from my mortgage payments, with no penalties. Why wouldnt I accept considering I work hard almost every day and I watch my expenditures carefully every day just to be able to pay my payments due on the first of each month? I am from XXXX, and English is not my first language. ( I asked an American friend to help me in writing this. ) The Biden administrations website for the forbearance program says that forbearance is designed specifically to extend mortgage relief to Americans, particularly those of XXXX and who are members of traditionally disadvantaged minorities. Thats me! I am also a first generation American, I am a hard worker, and I believe in the American Dream of home ownership. 

What SPS is doing and what the White House requires appear to be very different things. 

Here is a portion of the White House Press Release dated XX/XX/XXXX concerning Forbearance, explaining that the programs purpose is to :. 

" Provide immediate relief to homeowners across XXXX. XXXX actions directly benefit the XXXX XXXX homeowners currently in COVID forbearance and extend the availability of forbearance options for nearly XXXX XXXX government-backed mortgages nationwide. Communities large and small need this assistance. That is why the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Department of Veterans Affairs, and Department of Agriculture worked in concert to deliver across-the-board relief for urban, suburban, rural, and military homeowners, including seniors with reverse mortgages Extending forbearance policies will provide critical support to homeowners of XXXX, who make up a disproportionate share of borrowers with delinquent loans and loans in forbearance due to COVID-related hardship. On the first day of his Administration, President Biden committed to advancing XXXX equity across all government programs and policies. Today, agencies are stepping up with housing relief that will strengthen communities of XXXX and build the foundation for an equitable recovery. '' XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX SPS told me in a phone call on XX/XX/XXXX that the Forbearance was ending so now I needed to choose among my options, one of which was a loan modification. I would definitely be eligible for that so long as I sent in three months bank statements and filled out an application that they ( SPS ) would send me in the mail. That sounded good to me, so I said I would do it, just to send me the application. Because their website was giving me problems, they sent the application by traditional U.S. Mail, while their other correspondence is all transmitted to me instantaneously over the web on the SPS app or website. I did not receive the application until XX/XX/XXXX, at which time I promptly completed it and mailed it back to SPS with the required bank statements. They say they did not receive my application and bank statements until XX/XX/XXXX, but by then they had already sent me a getmail on XX/XX/XXXX, a copy of which is attached and uploaded with this complaint. It is titled NOTICE OF DEFAULT - RIGHT TO CURE. The XX/XX/XXXX XXXX Notice declares me in default on my payments and says that if I want to avoid foreclosure, I must pay a lump-sum of {$67000.00} by XX/XX/XXXX. I thought I was getting a loan modification! 

The reason SPS did not receive my application and bank statements prior to XX/XX/XXXX, the date they gave me the Notice of Default, are : ( 1 ) SPS sent me the application by snail mail and ( XXXX ) holiday delays with the postal service. I acted promptly upon receiving the application, and they told me I was eligible so long as I sent it in. I should not be penalized because they say they did not receive my application until XX/XX/XXXX. 

I have also attached and uploaded SPS getmail from XX/XX/XXXX. This XXXX letter gives me only XXXX options to cure my default. Either I can be foreclosed upon or I can agree to a repayment plan which greatly increases my monthly payment to {$5500.00} for the next XXXX months, and then in the twelfth month I am required to pay a lump sum of {$40000.00}. Your website clearly states that lump-sum payments are not permitted by law when a homeowner has been in forbearance. 

The reason I say the letters conflict is because in the XX/XX/XXXX letter SPS says that I have until XX/XX/XXXX to decide if I want to accept their impossible payment plan, yet their XX/XX/XXXX letter says that if I dont pay {$67000.00} by XX/XX/XXXX then I have officially defaulted and will be foreclosed upon. 

There is a pattern of conduct here which should trouble your agency greatly. SPS has twisted the forbearance program so that instead of protecting me from foreclosure it places me IN foreclosure. It has only been XXXX years since I went into the forbearance program, and since the White House issued the press release quoted above. While I am neither an attorney nor a politician, even I can see clearly that the forbearance plan is not supposed to cause homeowners to default on their mortgages only XXXX years later. 

To summarize, I believe that Select Portfolio Servicing is in violation of the law when it ( XXXX ) demands a lump sum of {$67000.00} to make up for payments covered by the forbearance ; ( XXXX ) demands a lump sum of {$40000.00} at the end of the XXXX repayment plan ; and ( XXXX ) gives me notice of default declaring that foreclosure will be initiated if I do not pay {$67000.00} by XX/XX/XXXX even though I have until XX/XX/XXXX to accept the repayment plan. 

I simply want to be able to resume paying a reasonable and sustainable monthly payment so that I do not lose my XXXX XXXX. Please, sir or madam, enforce the Presidents words and make Select Portfolio Servicing follow the law of this great country. I am trusting you to do so. Thank you.

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