Consumer complaint received 2018-07-27
Company: TCF FINANCIAL CORPORATION
State: OH
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint:
My name is XXXX XXXX. This complaint is in regards to a loan originally held with XXXX XXXX XXXX. The loan number is XXXX. The borrows are XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX. The note was signed XX/XX/XXXX. We have been fighting this loan amount for many years now and have dealt with multiple people over 3 different bank names ; XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX  and now XXXX XXXX. 
This bank is attempting to coerce us into making payments for this loan and refuses to file a lien release. 
The original loan amount was for {$25000.00}. We religiously paid on the loan for at least the minimum and in most cases, more, from XX/XX/XXXX through XX/XX/XXXX. We ran into a very difficult financial situation when I folded a company I had owned at the time and my wife lost her job at a warranty company that had failed. We were advised by a bankruptcy attorney that we should stop making our mortgage payments to assist with approval for a Chapter XXXX. The Chapter XXXX was filed XX/XX/XXXX and confirmed XX/XX/XXXX, meaning our payments starting for the statement cycle of XX/XX/XXXX would be during our Chapter XXXX. 
In mid XXXX we became concerned as we stopped receiving statements for our second mortgage. We contacted, at the time, XXXX XXXX XXXX, regarding this and spoke with a gentleman named XXXX. XXXX explained to us that the bank had " written off the loan since it was part of a Chapter XXXX and considered the loan a loss '' and that the bank " could no longer charge interest and any payments made would be considered PRINCIPAL ONLY as the bank is no longer legally allowed to charge interest on a defaulted loan ''. In addition he stated that " the bank is no longer allowed to obligate you to a monthly payment, so send us what you want when you want and we can not collect on this loan ''. We continued to send payment to the bank through XX/XX/XXXX, WELL after the note was set to expire in XX/XX/XXXX per the original loan note. 
In XXXX we attempted to refinance our home to lower the interest rate on our first mortgage, which should have been our ONLY mortgage at the time. When we pulled credit, the loan in question was showing as a collections item from XXXX XXXX. After investigating the situation, we found out that this was the second mortgage we had paid off. We contacted XXXX XXXX  and spoke with an XXXX XXXX, a Loan Service Specialist. We sent her the payment information as well as the Bankruptcy paperwork, and were told, in writing, that the issue was corrected and that they had not properly showed record of the Chapter XXXX. The loan now shows as PAID AS AGREED on our credit reports. We thought that was the end of it. 
Around this time my wife was diagnosed with a XXXX, XXXX  XXXX XXXX  that requires constant care and is extremely expensive. Due to the amount of time spent in doctor 's offices, we did not go through with the refinance in XXXX. 
Since we are now drowning in medical debt, we are attempting to refinance the house again so we have a mortgage payment we are comfortable with even with the medical debt XXXX is incurring. Again, during the title search for THIS application, the lien from XXXX showed up. I contacted the company showing the document that supported them telling us the loan was paid as agreed before and now they are claiming we owe them WELL OVER the original amount, and that they are charging us interest TO DATE even though the loan is satisfied. Since XXXX we have been dealing with a woman named XXXX XXXX, a Loan Recovery Administrator with XXXX XXXX. She is rude, unprofessional, and a very difficult human being to work with. When we spoke with her she threatened us by saying " I show no payment history on this loan and we should have foreclosed on this long ago, and in fact, should begin the process unless payment arrangements are made ''. We proved their payment records were incorrect and supplied evidence from bank statements showing the years of payments. They investigated and found the record of payment from XXXX through XXXX. She continues to threaten us with foreclosure. We felt backed into a corner and explained that we did not have XXXX and no way to get that to pay the bank. We even offered to come to a settlement for a smaller amount just to get them off of our back. They sent paperwork that we read over and decided not to follow up with at the time. We asked for a payoff for letter and were quoted a letter for a principal balance of {$19000.00}, with {$7000.00} interest through XX/XX/XXXX and an additional interest of {$2400.00} from XX/XX/XXXX-XX/XX/XXXX. When we asked for this, XXXX XXXX claimed " I have been calling you guys for MONTHS regarding the paperwork and have gotten nothing in return. '' We have received ZERO phone calls and nothing besides requested documents in the mail. When we asked the number she had called it is a number nobody in the family recognized. I have had the same phone number for well over 15 years. After the amount of contact we've had with them, they have no reason to have incorrect contact information. They have no right to charge us interest on a loan that was satisfied and certainly have no right to forcibly obligate us to a new loan term or payment without us seeing ANY paperwork for this random charge they feel is owed WELL after the loan has been done. After further researching our options though, we realize that XXXX XXXX 's practices are unethical and downright wrong. We are being treated as criminals and threatened with something they have no right the threaten us with to coerce us into making payment for a loan that is quoted as being " written off as a loss to the bank '', that they " can no longer charge interest on '' and is listed on credit reports as being " paid as agreed ''. Even with that information they REFUSE to file a lien release even when requested verbally or in writing and the company is not budging on their stance. 
Please see attached the payoff letter showing their unethical continued interest charges, the letter proving the loan written off, payment schedule proving they lied about applying anything after XX/XX/XXXX to principal, bankruptcy paperwork and the final decree showing our Chapter XXXX satisfied.

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 explanation