Consumer complaint received 2022-03-29
Company: Tower Loan of Mississippi, Inc.
State: MS
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Other type of mortgage
Issue: Struggling to pay mortgage

Complaint:
We are victims of predatory lending and XXXX discrimination which has led to a wrongful foreclosure of our home. We were pushed and misled to enter into a high interest predatory loan by Tower Loan and were forced to provide a list of collateral of personal possessions that they could repossess if we defaulted on our loan. We were not aware of the fact that the title for our home which had been in my wife 's family for 50 years was the collateral -- why would they have us fill out that list if it was?? Also, their loan estimate lists the fees and payoffs and we should have netted $ XXXX from this loan but only received $ XXXX?? We were enticed into this loan under false pretenses and treated differently with additional conditions due to our race. When we began struggling with payments due to being laid off from my job Tower agents were condescending and aggressive in their language and tone and agents would come and beat on our door or just stand out in our front yard to intimidate us. We felt like we were dealing with the XXXX, not a licensed lender. We feel that we received this type of treatment because of our XXXX. 

My wife 's family has owned this property since XXXX and my wife XXXX took over the home in the XXXX 's and paid off the mortgage. In XXXX we needed to do some repairs and catch up on bills and began talking with Tower Loan. We did not understand that to borrow $ XXXX we would have to pay back $ XXXX, ( 118 % ) this was never fully explained to us. We did not understand that our home would be listed as the collateral for the loan because we were forced to fill out a list of our personal possessions for the collateral. We knew that there were fees and costs with the loan and that a few old tax debts needed to be paid off, but the loan paperwork said we would net $ XXXX and we only received $ XXXX. This was a horrible deal all around, if we clearly understood all of this we NEVER would have taken this loan. The agents were fast talkers and led us to believe this loan was the answer to all of our problems without fully explaining what we were getting into. 

9 months after taking the loan I was laid off from my security guard job and we began struggling to make payments. We contacted Tower to try and work things out, but they were immediately tough and would call me at work and threaten us and say they were going to take our home. Other times they would come and pound on our door and post a late notice or stand in our front yard. We resumed making payments when I found a new job but Tower had increased the monthly amount since we were behind and it seemed like the entire payment was going to interest ( 18 % ). Then Covid hit and I was working security for the state and we went on lockdown and I was again out of work. We struggled financially but Tower agents did not work with us or give us a break, even though we know there were multiple state and federal programs available to help people in our situation but they denied access to these programs. We were forced into bankruptcy but eventually could not afford the trustee payments.

We tried to work things out with Tower and resume making payments but they told us we had to pay them a lump sum of {$5000.00} or they would foreclose. They continued to threaten and intimidate and talk down to us and We feel this extreme treatment was because of our race. We tried to fix this and resume paying them monthly payments but they would not play fair. They foreclosed on our home XX/XX/XXXX and are telling us they want to evict us. We have evidence and paperwork to back up our claims and want you to understand how Tower Loan does business -- -putting good people into impossible situations, charging exorbitant fees with 118 % payback on a free and clear property and talking down to us and giving us terms to provide a list of our personal possessions for collateral on this loan, which we feel is XXXX  motivated and also confuses potential borrowers as to what the collateral is for the loan.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation