Consumer complaint received 2017-12-05
Company: CARRINGTON MORTGAGE SERVICES, LLC
State: CA
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Struggling to pay mortgage

Complaint:
Hi I have very bad problem. Please make this a rush I have a sale scheduled for my property on XXXX/XXXX/XXXX. 
I found out just yesterday that my loan was transferred to another servicer called CARRINGTON MORTGAGE SERVICES. I never received any goodbye letters from XXXX XXXX, XXXX ( my previous servicer ) nor any welcome letters from Carrington Mortgage Services. 
I have some very bad issues going on right now with my new servicer CARRINGTON MORTGAGE SERVICES. I 'm having a very hard time dealing and working with this new servicer. I only found out about this new servicer when I called XXXX to see the status of my loan modification review that I was working with them on. I put in my loan XXXX. and the automated line said that this loan was transferred and to please call this number XXXX. 
It did not tell me who it was nor when and it did not even give me an option to speak with a representative at XXXX to confirm or at least get some information about this and why they transferred me right in the middle of when I was in the loan modification review process. 
Once called that telephone number I found out who the company was, it was CARRINGTON MORTGAGE SERVICES. Got a representative on the line, I did not have a XXXX number to provide to them as I was not aware of it. They could not look up my account by my address they only found me by my XXXX XXXX   number. They had a totally different address on file then my address. 
I explained to them that I have never received any welcome letters from XXXX MORTGAGE XXXX and that I would like to work with them in attempting to get a loan modification but they were very rude and disrespectful, they did not care all they said was yeah you are behind, you are behind, what did you expect and so forth. I was shocked to hear this from a professional company. All I want to do is to work with them. If I knew they were the new servicers before I would of right away started a loan modification packet and would of started to work with CARRINGTON MORTGAGE SERVICES. 

So now as I was in a loan modification review with XXXX XXXX, XXXX they transferred my loan to CARRINGTON MORTGAGE XXXX and all of that work Ive done and worked for is all gone and id have to start all over with CARRINGTON MORTGAGE SERVICES and on top of that I have a foreclosure sale scheduled for XXXX/XXXX/XXXX. 
They really have put me and my family in distress both companies. 
If they proceed with the sale they will be in violation of the XXXX HOMEOWNERS BILL OF RIGHTS and other laws as well. 
As part of the bailout, on XXXX XXXX, XXXX, the United States XXXX took over XXXX XXXX and pumped billions, which in XXXX XXXX, then XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX said as much as {$200.00} XXXX would be pumped into XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX, each, which was separate from the {$700.00} in XXXX  funds given out to other lenders. 

XXXX. The guidelines issued by the United States XXXX  set forth a detailed process whereby a participating servicer, either action or not acting through its subsidiary, must : a. identify loans that are subject to modification under the XXXX program, both through its own review and in response to requests for modification from individual homeowners ; b. collect financial and other personal information from the homeowners to evaluate whether the homeowner is eligible for a loan modification under XXXX ; c. institute a modified loan with a reduced payment amount as per a mandated formula, that is effective for a three-month trial period for borrowers that are eligible for a modification ; and d. provide a permanently modified loan to those homeowners who comply with the requirements during the trial period. Whether the homeowner qualifies for a modification or not, participating servicers are also required to provide written notices to every mortgage borrower that has been evaluated for a loan modification, whether or not the borrower has been found eligible. 


XXXX and its associated directives also set prohibitions against certain conduct including demanding upfront payments in order to be evaluated for a loan modification, instituting or continuing foreclosures while a borrower is being evaluated for a loan modification, assigning a single point of contact, maintaining an adequate level communication with borrowers, maintaining proper caseload to ensure XXXX  objections are met, and restrictions on the way a servicer may report the borrower to credit reporting agencies. 

All servicers have systematically failed to comply with the terms of the XXXX directives and has regularly and repeatedly violated several of its prohibitions. Now that XXXX is over and expired due to servicers prolonging these modifications they are now proceeding with other alternatives. 
Under XXXX, the federal government incentivizes participating servicers to make adjustments to existing mortgage obligations in order to make the monthly payments more affordable. Servicers receive at least {$1000.00} for each XXXX modification. However, this incentive is countered by a number of financial factors that make it more profitable for a mortgage servicer avoid modification and to continue to keep a mortgage in a state of default or distress and to push loans toward foreclosure. This is especially true in cases where the mortgage is owned by a third-party investor and is merely serviced by the servicer. However, this incentive is countered by a number of financial factors that make it more profitable for a mortgage servicer such as CARRINGTON MORTGAGE SERVICES to avoid modification and to continue to keep a mortgage in a state of default or distress and to push loans toward foreclosure. This is especially true in cases where the mortgage is owned by a third-party investor and is merely serviced by Service companies because Service companies do not carry a significant risk of loss in the event of foreclosure. 

XXXX Business and Professions Code XXXX et seq., also known as the XXXX Unfair Competition Law ( UCL ), prohibits acts of unfair competition, including any unlawful, unfair, or deceptive business act or practice as well as unfair, deceptive, untrue or misleading advertising. CARRINGTON MORTGAGE SERVICES and all other previous servicers and their Investors conduct was unlawful in that : They illegally began and prosecuted the non-judicial foreclosure based on the lien to the XXXX Deed of Trust, despite i was not in breach of payments on said lien ; They engaged in the uniform practice of requesting unnecessary documentation, seeking repetitive submissions of the same documents, and never rendering a decision, and in doing so, such activity provides the basis for an unfair inquiry and could deceive the public because it places burdensome requirements on me that served no purpose but to provide a basis for either engaging in Dual Tracking by placing sale on my home. They failed to properly consider loan modification applications before trying to sell my home. 

XXXX. On information and belief, CARRINGTON MORTGAGE SERVICES does not own a significant majority of the loans on which it functions as servicer. 

XXXX. Economic Factors that discourage CARRINGTON MORTGAGE SERVICES from meeting its obligations under XXXX by facilitating loan modifications include the following : a. CARRINGTON MORTGAGE SERVICES may be required to repurchase loans from the investor in order to permanently modify the loan. This presents a substantial cost and loss of revenue that can be avoided by keeping the loan in a state of temporary modification or lingering default. 

b. The monthly service fee that CARRINGTON MORTGAGE SERVICES, as the servicer, collects as to each loan it services in a pool of loans, is calculated as a fixed percentage of the unpaid principal balance of the loans in the pool. Consequently, the modifying of a loan to reduce the principal balance results in a lower monthly fee to the servicer. 


XXXX Fees that CARRINGTON MORTGAGE SERVICES charges borrowers that are in default constitute a significant source of revenue to it. Aside from income CARRINGTON MORTGAGE SERVICES directly receives, late fees and process management fees are often added to the principal loan amount thereby increasing the unpaid balance in a pool of loans and increasing the amount of the servicers monthly service fee. 

XXXX Entering into a permanent modification will often delay a servicers ability to recover advances it is required to make to investors of the unpaid principal and interest payment of a non-performing loan. The servicers right to recover expenses from an investor in a loan modification, rather than a foreclosure, is often less clear and less generous. 


XXXX XXXX overhead costs involved in successfully performing loan modifications involve up-front costs to the servicer for additional staffing, physical infrastructure, and expenses such as property valuation, credit reports and financing costs. 

XXXX. Rather than allocating adequate resources and working diligently to reduce the number of loans in danger of default by establishing permanent modifications, CARRINGTON MORTGAGE SERVICES has serially strung out, delayed, and otherwise hindered the modification processes that it contractually undertook to facilitate when it accepted billions of dollars from the United States. CARRINGTON MORTGAGE SERVICES delay and obstruction tactics have taken various forms with the common result that my loan serviced by CARRINGTON MORTGAGE SERVICES, in which im eligible for permanent loan modifications, and have met the requirements for participation in Loan Modification, have not received permanent loan modifications to which XXXX entitled.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation