Consumer complaint received 2018-06-10
Company: Seterus, Inc.
State: NE
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: FHA mortgage
Issue: Struggling to pay mortgage

Complaint:
We have had many problems with communication with Seterus regarding our home mortgage. They do not send us regular statements that tell us the payment amount or how much we have paid. And at the start of every year they recalculate the escrow but do not send us a new statement telling us the new payment amount unless we call them. This change in payment has caused us to get behind as payments we sent to them came up short of the new amount. We recently got just 4 months behind. I had been calling them trying to work things out. They ended up refusing 2 payments that we sent them in XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX and instead put us into foreclosure. I am still trying to get the payment money back, but we made those payments in cash at XXXX and I am having difficulty getting them to return the money even though Seterus did not accept the electronic payments from XXXX. 

Something else that came out of my initial phone conversations was that we discovered that they had put force-placed home insurace on us. We were unaware of this. It turns out that the monthly payment for force-placed insurance is extra high and does not even provide coverage for our home 's contents! I think it's just a way for Seterus to try to make some extra money. We have gotten a quote for our own insurance and found it will save us about {$100.00} per month. If we can get a modifaction or something similar passed we will eliminate the force-place insurance and use our own better, cheaper insurance. 

Once I found out that they had moved it to foreclosure we began the process of trying to get a loan modification. They had approved us for a modification quite a few years ago, and told me on the phone we were a good canditate for a new modification. I submitted multiple documents online but never heard back from them if the modification review had begun. So I contacted them by phone and they told me they did not like some of the documents so I resubmitted new documents online and then had to contact them by phone several days later. When I reached them by phone they checked to see if they had received them and then told me that we were DECLINED for a modification. I was originally told there would be a 30-day review so I was really surprised that they would decline us so fast. When I asked why we were delcined the the person I spoke with was very vague about the reasons. There was no one else I could speak with to give me an exact reason. When I pressed her she said that the payment amount may have to be increased if a modification was approved and they didn't want to do that because they didn't know if we could handle an increased payment.

I explained that we had been in the house for 14 years and made some 168 payments and did not want to leave our home. We have XXXX children whom we have raised in this home and do not want our family to be forcibly relocated. We can continue to make payments, but what we really need is a reset and a chance to move forward with a clean slate. We can not pay 4 mortagages all at once, but with modification we can continue being a good customer. I have recently begun substitute work that pays at a higher rate than I had previously, and my husband has been driving for XXXX on the side to make extra money. Plus we will be saving $ XXXX/month with the new insurance. We will do whatever it takes to make this work, even if the payment is a little bit higher we have shown that we can afford it. 

After they told us by phone that they had declined our modification we went to a local government approved credit counseling service. They are trying to help us to get a new modification and we are very grateful for their help. But I am just not confidant that even they can get Seterus to take any action to help us. Just the other day we received an auction sale letter in the mail. It seems like Seterus really just wants to take ownership of the house and doesn't want to help us. I know they say it's a sellers market and it seems like they want to decline a modification and move this to an auction sale and cash in for a quick big profit.

If there is anything you can do to hold Seterus accountable and to encourage them to take an honest look at our modification request. We are open to any other options they may have to bring our mortgage to being current. Thank you very much for your help.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation