Consumer complaint received 2018-09-15
Company: Stewart Information Services
State: CA
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Reverse mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint:
My name is XXXX XXXX-XXXX, I am writing to you on behalf of my father, Mr. XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. of XXXX, CA. 
Mr. XXXX has been a homeowner in XXXX for over 50 years and lived the past 30 plus years at the above address. In XX/XX/XXXX he was introduced to the Reverse Mortgage program and soon to follow he was signed up for the program. At the time he received the Reverse Mortgage he was not eligible due to the amount of debt payment that was owed on the property. He was already paying {$1400.00} per month and the program that was to alleviate the monthly mortgage payment was never alleviated because the original lean holder, XXXX XXXX XXXX positioned themselves in third position on the property and caused him to still have a mortgage with the Reverse Mortgage in place. 
As a result of this transaction my father who was XXXX years of age at the time, was suffering from XXXX XXXX, XXXX and is a XXXX XXXX XXXX, was taken advantage of by the lean holder XXXX XXXX XXXX. It is yet still unclear how many of the parties involved were actually at fault and played a role in this injustice. 
Currently there are no cases on record that have dealt with this kind of predatory lending on a senior. I have been pursuing this issue on my fathers behalf since XX/XX/XXXX after him being harassed by XXXX XXXX XXXX to surrender the keys to his property and move out. The reason this request was made by them is, after my father was unable to pay any more monthly mortgage payments while he was still in a contract with XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX which is now currently XXXX XXXX. He has exhausted all of his {$70000.00} savings trying to pay the mortgage after being told that the Reverse Mortgage would solve his mortgage worries by taking advantage of the Reverse Mortgage Program. 
After numerous calls to XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX to find out why he was still being forced to pay a mortgage to XXXX XXXX XXXX and being told by them that I do not have a mortgage payment because I have a reverse mortgage. I explained to the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX that XXXX XXXX XXXX, who was the original lean holder has been sending notices for payment and threatening to foreclose on the property. The response from XXXX XXXX XXXX is, XXXX XXXX XXXX can not foreclose unless they buy the property from them, therefore they can not foreclose on the property at XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX, CA. 
My Father was then harassed on numerous occasions to move out of the house and leave the keys. There were numerous foreclosure notices placed on the front door of his home, people driving by and some even knocking on the door to inquire about the sale of the property. 
All of these actions that were taken has caused great stress on my father who is approaching his XXXX birthday in XXXX of this year. He has suffered a great deal because of the actions of these entities. Not only his health issues and being hospitalized for two weeks because of XXXX and XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXl and having XXXX XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX which resulted in a XXXX XXXX. He also had to go through a very heartbreaking divorce from his wife of 34 years because she could not endure the stress of losing their home so she just walked away from their marriage and left him all alone. 
I have been by my fathers side through this ordeal and have yet to see a resolve in his favor which leads me to the reason I am reaching out to you, XXXX XXXX. 
I have gone through the chain of command from my State of California by first going to the XXXX County District Attorneys office and filing a complaint against them for predatory lending and elderly abuse. I then wrote a letter to Congress Woman XXXX XXXX, Secretary of HUD XXXX XXXX, State Attorney XXXX XXXX, and Attorney General XXXX XXXX also to our President Barak Obama. 
I received answers from each person mentioned all with the same basic answer directing us to several different agencies that were designed to help seniors with modifications on the home mortgages. We were strongly directed to the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX located in XXXX. We were referred to speak with the Attorney that was assigned to that office and he was unable to help us because he had never hear of anyone having a Reverse Mortgage in place and then paying a mortgage to another lean holder at the same time. 
My last correspondence was sent to the newly appointed HUD Secretary XXXX XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX, I have not received a response to date. 
I was able to help my father with the Bankruptcy by doing it Pro Per because the first attorney we hired was so bad that he was ordered by the Bankruptcy Judge XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX of California to appear before him in person and he ordered him to return all of the funds that my father and I paid to him for services. The next attorney that we hired out of XXXX was constantly extorting money from us so we fired him and decided to do it on our own and by the grace of XXXX XXXX we were granted the bankruptcy. We are so grateful to Judge XXXX for his patience with us during that time, I did all of the filing of forms to the court myself without any law degree back ground. 
We hired an attorney in XX/XX/XXXXand he has been working with us to find a way to file the charge against XXXX XXXX XXXX and all parties involved. The issue that we are faced with is there are not any cases that we can find that have faced this kind of predatory lending. Every law firm that we have contacted regarding this claim, has never heard of anything being done like this. 
At the time of the settlement the equity that was pulled out of the house totaled {$110000.00}. When all of the transactions were made everyone at the table received money except my father. 
Just to give a brief summary ; there was a payoff to XXXX XXXX XXXX which was formerly XXXX XXXX XXXX, in the amount of {$69000.00} ; XXXX XXXX XXXX received a pay down to the amount of {$40000.00} ; Closing costs totaled {$8900.00}, My Father received XXXX. 
Before the signing my father was explained by my broker Mr. XXXX XXXX, that he would receive {$40000.00} and my father would receive monthly payments from XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX which would come from the equity out of the home. He was then contacted by phone by a counselor that asked him a few questions regarding his finances and next he received by facsimile forms to sign and the deal was enforced. 
After questioning Mr. XXXX XXXX, he explained to me that after the paperwork was signed, XXXX XXXX XXXX decided that they did not want to subordinate the remainder of the loan so they took the {$40000.00} that was designated to me and used it as a pay down according to the broker and positioned themselves in third position on the property with a {$23000.00} balance. The reason this process was allowed was because of a loophole that was allowed by XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX XXXX which Housing Urban and Development Department agreed was okay for my father. 
No one knows what this so called loophole is or how it was implemented in order to have my father in such a unprofitable position which has cause him nothing but heartache on too many levels including mental, physical, personal and most of all financially. 
My Father is now deceased and I am purchasing the property due to the guidelines stated in the Reverse Mortgage Contract and have been unsuccessful because of the title issues. The issue is the Subordination Agreement that stands between XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX who has positioned themselves in 3rd position on the property and blocks me as the heir from moving forward with the purchase of my dads home. 

We filed a complaint on XX/XX/XXXX the file # is XXXX-XXXX

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