Consumer complaint received 2019-09-05
Company: Selene Finance LP
State: MD
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Mortgage debt
Issue: Took or threatened to take negative or legal action
Sub-issue: Seized or attempted to seize your property

Complaint:
This pertains to Selene Finance, the mortgage lender, and to XXXX XXXX, the foreclosure company. 

Selene Finance, XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX, TX XXXX, phone : XXXX, fax : XXXX, www.selenefinance.com XXXX XXXX, XXXX. XXXX XXXX, XXXX, MA XXXX, phone : XXXX, fax : XXXX, XXXX Please note that, although you do not want name, account number, address, etc. included, it does appear in the correspondence in the attachment. It does not appear, however, in this text below. 

I am the court appointed Personal Representative of my deceased brother 's Estate. My brother owned a condo for which he was paying the mortgage on a monthly basis. For a few months following my brother 's death, the monthly mortgage payment continued to be paid because it was automatically debited electronically from his checking account. That eventually stopped when the funds in my brother 's checking account were depleted. 

Since my brother 's death, I have been very proactive in contacting the mortgage lender and continually keeping them apprised of the status of things, including informing them that : the Estate will be going to probate where all of this will be resolved, I am actively working with an attorney on that process, I intend to keep the property, the mortgage will be paid when the Estate is probated, etc. However, the mortgage company ( Selene Finance ) and the foreclosure company ( XXXX XXXX ) nonetheless set a deadline for which the unpaid mortgage would have to be paid in full, plus penalties/interest/fees, or else it will be sold at a foreclosure auction. I told both of these companies that I don't want it to be sold at a foreclosure as I want to resolve this and am willing to pay the full amount of the fair and legitimate monthly mortgage payments due. However, regarding all of the additional fees, interests, penalties, etc. that the mortgage company and the foreclosure company added, I repeatedly requested explanation and justification for these charges. Despite my repeated requests, and the same requests from my attorney, the mortgage company and the foreclosure company never provided an answer. 

Finally, very late on the afternoon ( XXXX XXXX ) of the day prior ( Thursday, XX/XX/2019 ) to the scheduled ( Friday, XX/XX/2019 ) foreclosure auction sale, the attorney for XXXX XXXX, the foreclosure company, acknowledged that I am entitled to explanation and justification of fees, interest, penalty charges, etc., and since that information was not provided to me, they would postpone the foreclosure auction sale and in the meantime they would provide the requested explanation. 

However, they did not provide any explanation or justification, as promised, and instead they established a new foreclosure auction sale date of Monday, XX/XX/2019 ). Although I continued to repeatedly request the explanation and justification of these fees, penalty charges, interest, etc. the only explanation I received from the foreclosure company attorney was that there were multiple charges for the same specific line items because there were multiple foreclosures scheduled. That statement from the foreclosure company attorney is incorrect. There was only one foreclosure auction sale scheduled up to that point. Therefore the explanation that multiple charges for the same line items are due to multiple foreclosure dates means that there should be at most - if the specific charge is in fact justified - only one charge per each line item. 

After the postponement of the first scheduled foreclosure ( XX/XX/19 ), which the foreclosure company agreed was due to no fault of mine, and leading up to the rescheduled foreclosure auction sale date ( XX/XX/19 ), while I diligently continued to attempt to receive explanation/justification, the mortgage company and the foreclosure company continued to assess even more fees, penalties and interest charges. None of these should be assessed because the only reason this had not yet been resolved is because the mortgage company and foreclosure company had to postpone and reschedule it the first time, due to no fault of mine, as they acknowledged. 

Ultimately, the mortgage company and the foreclosure company said that if I don't pay all of the mortgage that is due, plus all of the interest, fees, penalties, etc. then it would proceed with the foreclosure auction on the rescheduled date of Monday, XX/XX/2019. Having no alternative to prevent the foreclosure auction sale, I reluctantly paid, on Friday, XX/XX/2019, the full amount of the mortgage owed ( which is a  legitimate charge ) along with the interest, fees, penalties, multiple duplicative unjustified charges and unexplained charges. I say reluctantly because I was forced to pay this full contested amount otherwise the property would have been sold at foreclosure auction on XX/XX/2019. I had no alternative. I was bullied and coerced into paying this full contested amount or else lose the condo. Therefore, I paid {$31000.00} on XX/XX/2019. Out of that {$31000.00} total, {$1800.00} must be refunded because charges in that amount were assessed after the first foreclosure sale date postponement and the foreclosure attorney acknowledged that the postponement was due to no fault of mine. Furthermore, out of that {$31000.00} total, an additional {$14000.00} must be refunded because that is the amount of the unexplained, unjustified, and/or duplicative charges, which must be refunded because the foreclosure attorney acknowledged that multiple duplicative charges would exist only if there were multiple foreclosures, but there were not multiple foreclosures. Rather, there was only one foreclosure which was postponed due to no fault of mine, and that statement from the attorney about multiple foreclosures was made even before the second foreclosure date ( which again, was because of no fault of mine ). 

After I paid the {$31000.00} on XX/XX/2019, this brought the mortgage balance owed to XXXX/current. I have since been making each monthly mortgage payment in full on time. Despite, that, I have been assessed even more charges from the mortgage company in the amount of {$710.00} on the XX/XX/19 mortgage statement and $ {$770.00} on the XX/XX/19 mortgage statement. This too must be refunded to me. It just never ends! 

# 1 - I should have never been charged all of these fees in the first place.

# 2 - If a fee is justified and explained ( none of which have been ), then at most there should be only one charge per line item. 

# 3 - All fees, charges, penalties, interest, etc. assessed after the date of the first scheduled foreclosure auction that was postponed due to no fault of mine, as acknowledged by the foreclosure company attorney, are completely illegitimate. 

# 4 - I should be reimbursed for all penalties, fees, charges, interest, etc. that is duplicative. I should be reimbursed for all penalties, fees, charges, interest, etc. that has never been explained/justified. I should be reimbursed for all penalties, fees, charges, interest, etc. that were assessed after the date of the first scheduled foreclosure auction sale date regardless of any factors because the mortgage company and foreclosure company acknowledged that the postponement occurred due to no fault of mine yet they kept assessing charges and still haven't stopped assessing charges even though I have paid everything in full. 

I have written to the foreclosure company. They responded that I need to address this with the mortgage company. They have evaded the issue. They do not directly answer my questions. They stonewalled me and my attorney throughout this entire process. When they finally responded, they provided a general answer but did not specifically address the issues that I've delineated in my numerous phone calls and written correspondence to them. They ignore my questions and provide only a vague, general response that is unsatisfactory. I have written to the mortgage company multiple times. You will see that correspondence attached. They too have evaded the issue. They do not directly answer my questions. They stonewalled me and my attorney throughout this entire process. When they finally responded, they provided a general answer but did not specifically address the issues that I've delineated in my numerous phone calls and written correspondence to them. They ignore my questions and provide only a vague, general response that is unsatisfactory. The response that I did receive referenced the original loan agreement terms. However, my issues are with the numerous, exorbitant, unexplained, unjustified, and/or duplicative charges, fees, interest and penalties assessed : # 1 - despite the foreclosure company attorney stating that there should only be one line item charge per foreclosure ( thus, just one charge for each item ) and # 2 - that all fees after the first foreclosure was postponed should not exist because, as the foreclosure company attorney acknowledged, it was postponed due to no fault of mine. All of this is noted in detail in the copies of the correspondence that I sent to the mortgage company, attached.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation