Consumer complaint received 2021-12-08
Company: Shellpoint Partners, LLC
State: GA
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Struggling to pay mortgage

Complaint:
We are writing because our consumer rights are being violated by the current servicer of our mortgage Shellpoint Mortgage Servicing. In early XXXX, we suffered severe financial hardship as a direct result of the Covid-19 pandemic. After the passage of the Federal CARES Act, we invoked our right to put our mortgage into Covid forbearance as afforded by the CARES Act. We achieved financial recovery during the latter part of the third quarter of XXXX and in the beginning of XX/XX/XXXX per the Covid forbearance wind down rules, we submitted a loan modification application package with all requested supporting documentation to our then servicer, XXXX XXXX. On XX/XX/XXXX we received a correspondence letter from XXXX XXXX that explicitly stated that our loan modification application had been received with all requisite documentation and that it was considered complete and under review. From that date forward, the servicer had a legal obligation under the Covid forbearance wind down rules to review our application and render a decision regarding loan modification options. The established rule stated that in order to have all federal wind down options considered, even for private investors, that our application had to be submitted and complete by XX/XX/XXXX, a guideline that we clearly satisfied as is evidenced by the XX/XX/XXXX letter from XXXX XXXX. Further, as part of the review, the servicer is obligated to consider all federally established wind down options and present them accordingly within 30 days of receipt of a completed modification application which would have been a XX/XX/XXXX deadline at the latest. If in the course of that review the servicer and investor deemed that we as consumers were ineligible for any of the loan modification options, they would have been required to provide a detailed explanation as to why we were deemed ineligible for any of those federally established modification options our mortgage is currently held in a private asset backed security. Shellpoint is committing a legal violation and is causing consumer harm by not providing us with our loan modification options. 
XXXX XXXX never rendered a decision, and on XX/XX/XXXX the loan was sold to a new investor group and the servicing was transferred from XXXX XXXX to Shellpoint. Prior to any introduction or notification to us regarding the transfer, Shellpoint sent out a property preservation company who deemed our home uninhabited and hung a sign on the door stating that we were at risk of our property being secured and re-keyed. We found this note when we got home from work that day and immediately contacted the preservation company. It was only then that we discovered that Shellpoint was our new servicer. They sent out a property preservation company despite the fact that we had been openly communicative with XXXX XXXXr over the several months that our loan was in Covid forbearance and that all file notes clearly indicated that we are still living in the home and have every intention to complete the loan modification and keep our home. We contacted Shellpoint immediately and have subsequently had at least a dozen conversations about our situation, occupancy status, and intentions. After multiple conversations over several weeks with contradicting information and advisement, we were finally put in contact with a manager at Shellpoint, XXXX XXXX, who advised that she is handling our case moving forward. 
Thus far, Shellpoint has not placed our loan into loan modification status and has not reviewed our application nor rendered a decision presenting us with modification options. They have repeatedly attempted to have us submit a new modification application to them which would effectively circumvent their legal obligation and duty of service to us as consumers as any new application would significantly post date the Covid forbearance loan modification application deadline of XX/XX/XXXX. Submission of a new application would effectively allow them to both flag our credit for delinquency as well as reject consideration of the federally established wind down options as the loan modification application would not satisfy the application deadline of XX/XX/XXXX. Shellpoint did not have servicing rights to our loan until XX/XX/XXXX. As of the date of servicing transfer, a full and completed loan modification application had already been submitted according to XXXX XXXX requirements and was under review. Shellpoint being the subsequent servicer having not gained the servicing contract until XX/XX/XXXX are legally obligated to review the completed loan modification application package that was submitted to XXXX XXXX and deemed complete as of XX/XX/XXXX. They can not legally insist on us completing a new application or submitting additional supporting documentation as they must honor the terms established by the prior servicer. There is no possibility that we could have submitted a loan modification package to Shellpoint as they did not exist as a legal entity in the servicing of our loan as of the requisite loan modification application deadline of XX/XX/XXXX a fact that they fully understand. XXXX XXXX established the contractual terms with us as to what constituted a complete loan modification application. According to the terms that XXXX XXXX established, we submitted our application with all requested supporting documentation and they accepted that application as complete and under review. Shellpoint is legally obligated and has no choice but to review the documentation and application as submitted to XXXX XXXX and present us with loan modification options. As of the date of submission of this complaint, they are currently 54 days late on presenting us with workout options as required by law. 
In the interim, XXXX XXXX has advised us to ignore the written correspondence which represents that we are in default, not in any sort of loan modification review, and at risk of foreclosure. We are still receiving these types of letters from Shellpoint to date. She has stated to us verbally on the Shellpoint recorded line that all of the written correspondence is coming through a different department and is not being cleared with her, but that we are not at risk and they are working on compilation of documents and review of our application. She also advised that since all documentation received from XXXX XXXX validated that we are still living in the home, that a property preservation company should not have been sent out and that that happened in error. We have affirmed and reaffirmed that we are living in the property and that there is absolutely no justification for a categorization that our home is vacant. Since then, Shellpoint has again sent out a property preservation company who once again stated that our home is vacant and that we are once again at risk of being re-keyed. This is an outrageous and egregious overstep in light of the situation and it is becoming abundantly clear to us that Shellpoint and the investor group are nefariously trying to foreclose on our property while circumventing their legal obligation to us. We have made nothing but every effort to openly communicate with Shellpoint through several stages of this process and they still keep overtly lying to us and trying get us to forfeit our rights as consumers. Every time that we get another letter in the mail or through our online portal that contradicts XXXX XXXX statements, we call in for clarification. We have been repeatedly told that we need to submit a new application if we want consideration for loan modification and that Shellpoint has not yet received all documentation from XXXX XXXX. That is a problem between Shellpoint and XXXX XXXX if that is in fact the case, but regardless, that does not afford the mortgage servicer the right to violate the terms of the XXXX forbearance wind down rules of a 30-day loan modification review and decision. As consumers, we are caught in the crosshairs between two corporate loan servicing conglomerates with no reasonable consideration for the fact that we are people on the other end of this loan that just want reasonable workout options presented so that we can move past the financial distress that the Covid-19 pandemic put on our family and we can resume making our mortgage payments in whatever manifestation that that looks like without injury to our credit, further threat of the loss of our home, or otherwise. This has crossed into the category of predatory conduct with little to no regard for the loan servicing rules that they are required to adhere to. 
We have repeated ad nauseum that we will not submit a new application which would effectively forfeit our consumer rights to a full Covid wind down loan modification review. We are repeatedly being lied to by representatives from Shellpoint and have yet to receive any loan modification options from them almost 2 months late at this point.

We demand that Shellpoint render a decision regarding our loan modification application that was submitted and deemed complete as of XX/XX/XXXX, post haste, and present us with the all variations of loan modification options that were established as part of the Covid forbearance wind down protocol as accepted by all XXXX and federal loan providers/insurers. We demand that Shellpoint stop maliciously attempting to seize our home through coercive and manipulative techniques that violate our consumer rights and deviate from their duty of service to us as the mortgagor. We demand that Shellpoint cease from sending out representatives to trespass on our property so as to threaten us with confiscation/foreclosure with no justification for such threats as we are in full and open communication with them since we discovered that they are now servicing our mortgage and have repeatedly affirmed that we are occupying the home. Further, we demand that neither Shellpoint nor the investors attempt in any regard to tarnish our credit history or rating as a result of their failure to render a loan modification decision in a timely manner. The CARES Act clearly established that invocation of the Covid forbearance could not be used to tarnish the creditworthiness of effected consumers. We have communicated and satisfied all legal framework requirements regarding the Covid forbearance program as well as the loan modification application deadline of XX/XX/XXXX for Covid forbearance wind down. At the same time, the loan servicer is in direct violation of our consumer rights and is utilizing manipulative semantics to try to coerce us into forfeiting those same consumer rights. If any such attempts are made to tarnish our credit or further the course of foreclosure while Shellpoint is in violation of their temporal requirement to present us with loan modification options, we will pursue civil recourse. If Shellpoint sends any more agents to trespass on our property with threats of confiscation while our Covid forbearance loan modification review is in process, we will pursue criminal prosecution against such agent for criminal trespass and will seek additional civil recourse against Shellpoint.

As the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, we hope that you will weigh the gravity of our concerns and use your enforcement authority to compel Shellpoint to bring our loan servicing back into legal compliance in the interest of protecting us from further abuse or risk of the loss of our home. We also request that our concerns be forwarded to the FTC for review and consideration in case this is determined to be pervasive conduct on the part of the loan servicer in the interest of protecting all consumers that may be suffering from this egregious mortgage servicing conduct. 
Thank you for your time and consideration. If you have any questions or concerns, or need any supporting documentation including but not limited to a detailed call log, please do not hesitate to reach out. We look forward to your response.

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