Consumer complaint received 2018-10-01
Company: Seterus, Inc.
State: PA
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint:
On XX/XX/XXXX, Seterus Inc sent me a notice that my mortgage had been transferred from XXXX XXXX XXXX to them. I was given a document that showed my original loan date and principal balance along with the interest rate. 
Based on several mortgage calculators from several different banks, the amount Seterus has been charging me monthly for principal and interest is very much higher than all loan calculators show. My original loan amount was {$100000.00} based on 30 years of 12 monthly payments with the loan start date as XX/XX/XXXX and end date of XX/XX/XXXX. The interest rate was a fixed rate of 6.5 %. When all this is enter into a mortgage calculator, the principal and interest on all bank calculator I have tested equals {$650.00}. 
My payments from Seterus have been {$720.00} which is {$74.00} higher. This has been going on since the loan was taken over by Seterus and they state that the payments were established by XXXX XXXX XXXX prior to the transfer. 
At some point when the information was entered into Seterus ' computer system, this error should have been caught. Over the course of just 1 year, this over-payment would amount to {$890.00} and it has been almost 4 years since they have had this mortgage so we are close to a {$3600.00} over-payment. 
A Seterus customer service rep would not ( actually said could not ) transfer me to someone who works with loan calculations. I was told I would have to submit a written letter to them disputing the mortgage payments. I did not think I would get a response or an actual justification without going through a consumer protection agency. 

Also, when the mortgage was transferred, Seterus claimed that XXXX XXXX XXXX had service charges that needed to be paid. A total of {$100.00} in late fees from both XXXX XXXX XXXX and Seterus combined. On XX/XX/XXXX, Seterus gave me the option to pay these fees at a 50 % discounted rate if paid by XX/XX/XXXX. I chose to do this. I paid Seterus {$54.00} which is half of what was due. I have the Seterus documentation verifying the payment as well as the date. My payment was deducted from the outstanding fee balance however, Seterus never removed the other 50 % from the balance.

Seterus has also been charging me late fees when in fact the payment has indeed been received within the 15 day grace period for mortgage payments. I have documentation showing when the payment was received at Seterus and signed for by someone at Seterus. However, Seterus chooses to use the date they process the payment instead of the date they Receive the payment. I submitted a complaint through consumer protection about this on one other occasion and Seterus corrected the errors. Seterus continues to use this practice so even though they receive my payment within the grace period, they charge a late fee if the payment was processed past the grace period date. I believe this is an unethical or possibly illegal procedure which Seterus refuses to correct or stop. I refuse to pay any of these fees because I've already shown that Seterus does not deduct them properly from the fee balance. 

This company is a very sly, unethical company and refuses to make any statements over the phone if advised they are being recorded. Once you mention that the call is being recorded, they hang up the phone. If they didn't have any illegal dealing or something to hide, why would they refuse to be recorded? We as consumers are always advised that our calls are being recorded whether we like it or not. Shouldn't companies like this also be recorded to show how corrupt they really are? 

I would like my mortgage reviewed and definitely would prefer it be transferred to a reputable mortgage holding bank. Seterus is a debt collection agency who does everything they can to hope for a default. I get calls within a day after the first of the month when the mortgage is due even though there is a 15 day grace period. They seem to be very quick in trying to get their payment but yet when you call them to question their practices, you never seem to get any answers. They will not transfer you to any person who has any true knowledge of home mortgages or loan calculations. They will not give you any answers on the phone and always require that you submit a letter which may never get a response. 

I would like CFPB to help me get this payment discrepancy resolved and hopefully help me get this loan out of their hands. This company should be investigated for the procedures they use and their corrupt business practices. 

Documentation and proof of all facts listed above has been verified by representatives at Seterus. Customer services rep have stated that they have copies of the letter I have referred to. I can supply copies of all documentation if needed to resolve this issue. I can also supply verification for each and every payment received by Seterus with a signature from a Seterus rep. One payment was sent back to me because of an address change which I was never notified about. Of course, Seterus applied a late fee even though the payment was delivered to the same address that had been used for several months but could not be delivered on one particular month. When they were contacted, I was informed that they had moved that office and I should not have been sending to that office in the first place because they were not a payment processing facility. However, several payments had been sent to that office prior to this and all payments were processed that were sent to that office. I was never told that this was not the proper address until the office was moved.

Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief