Consumer complaint received 2022-11-01
Company: Ocwen Financial Corporation
State: OH
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint:
I am the victim of a bait-and-switch predatory mortgage loan scam by PHH Mortgage Services, XXXX XXXX  XXXX Trustee for the securities, ) XXXX Mortgage Solutions ( XXXX XXXX XXXX ) XXXX XXXX  XXXX XXXX XXXX the mortgage broker ), XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX  XXXX 's ( the ratings agencies ) and various investment banks. 

I applied for a regularly amortizing {$320000.00} mortgage that would allow me to purchase and own my home free and clear after making the fixed payments over the life of the loan. 

The broker, XXXX XXXX  XXXX XXXX, said I was approved for a 45 year regularly amortizing mortgage. 

I thought the 45 year term was odd but I trusted the broker to be acting in my best interest. 

But XXXX XXXX  switched the mortgage documents at the closing table from the regular 45 year mortgage to a 30 year mortgage with a massive $ XXXX balloon final payment equal to more than 72 % of the original loan balance. 

The XXXX XXXX  and XXXX could easily see from my application that there was little to no chance of me having that much money to make the final payment at age XXXX when the balloon payment was due. 

I later read that they targeted older, minority borrowers like me for this scam. 

The actual amount of the balloon was hidden in the fine print, and was not specified in the mortgage agreement or the mortgage note. 

The loan was structured for me to pay my loan for 30 years and lose my home to foreclosure in my old age. 

The broker, the lender, their business partners and their investors fraudulently enriched themselves at my expense for 30 years, and then snatch my home back. 

I did not apply for this kind of mortgage. 

The XXXX XXXX  knew my family and I had to move out of my apartment and into my new home the day the closing papers were signed, and that we would feel trapped into signing the switched loan papers. 

This scam mortgage loan was at a much higher rate and filled with excessive fees to unduly enrich the lender, the broker and their business partners. 

They placed in a trust with other scam loans, gave the trust a bogus XXXX rating and sold it to institutional investors as a high yield, low risk an asset backed security. 

Because of the higher interest rate and excessive fees, my monthly loan payments were the same amount as a regular, steadily amortizing mortgage. 

Instead of gradually reducing my principal to XXXX, almost all of my monthly loan payments have gone to the investors, the servicers, ( XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, then XXXX XXXX XXXX, and now PHH, ) the lender ( XXXX, ) the trustees ( formerly XXXX XXXX, then XXXX  XXXX XXXX and now XXXX XXXX  XXXX, and their various business partners. 

Two modifications followed. 

Never did I apply for a mortgage modification with a final balloon payment. 

Never was I told in advance that I would be getting a mortgage modification with a balloon payment. 

After approving me for the modifications and accepting my trial payments, the lender once again surprised me with loan papers that included a massive final balloon payment after 30 years of payments. 

It's my understanding that mortgage loans like these -- where there is zero probability that the borrower will be able to make the final balloon payment and repayment is likely from liquidation or foreclosure of their primary residence -- are considered unconscionable and are illegal. 

PHH used the courts paid for my the taxpayers to obtain a foreclosure decree. 

They fast tracked the sale of my home, but I stopped the sale by filing for protection from them in the bankruptcy court in XXXX, XXXX. 

But PHH has not applied any of my {$59000.00} in loan payments to them since then to the debts they claimed I owed. 

When I tried to refinance in XXXX, XXXX, PHH sent me a payoff quote that was almost the exact same amount they said I owed in XXXX when I filed my XXXX  XXXX petition. 

I asked them why I still owed virtually the exact same amount after paying them {$52000.00} over the three years. 

In PHH sent me a loan transaction history dated XXXX that showed {$0.00} ( zero ) of my loan payments since XXXX, XXXX. 

There were no transactions at all after XXXX, XXXX. 

I notified PHH of their error, sent them proof of payments from the XXXX  XXXX Trustee and asked PHH to update their transaction history, but PHH has refused to do so. 

Instead, PHH just keeps adding more fees and claiming I must pay them more money to refinance or sell my home.

I know PHH has loan accounting records that show running balances of how my payments were applied to the principal, interest, fees and escrow they claim I owe them, because they keep generating statements claiming I owe them higher and higher amounts. 

They just won't tell me how they arrived at those higher amounts. 

PHH sent me Reinstatement Quotes in XXXX, XXXX and XXXX, XXXX respectively, claiming I owed them {$110000.00}, then six months later {$130000.00} just to be current on the mortgage -- exclusive of over {$5000.00} in additional " fees. '' Why does PHH continue to refuse to send me a detailed accounting of how my payments were applied to the principal, interest, fees and escrow to arrive at these numbers? 

Why is PHH concealing my assets and attempting to extort money from me this way? 

I asked PHH to refinance the mortgage to one with a traditional, gradual amortization and NO BALLOON, but they completely ignored me. 

They also refused to modify the mortgage with a traditionally amortizing repayment structure. 

PHH has paid $ XXXX  in fines to government agencies and private parties for their fraudulent predatory lending practices, but they never fixed the underlying loans. 

Since PHH thwarted by effort to refinance in XXXX, XXXX, interest rates have risen from 3 % to over 7 %. 

The combination of the inflated payoff quote and the twice as high interest rate changes my loan to value ratios and loan payment to income ratios so much so that I no longer qualify to refinance. 

PHH 's fraudulent business practices force me to continue paying them and their investors while I can, but PHH knows that the amount I am forced to pay the bankruptcy Trustee to protect me from them is extremely high. 

PHH is attempting to collect an unlawful, fraudulent debt.

It's my understanding that PHH 's lien is nu
ll and void because it was obtained by fraudulent means. 

Would you please help me get PHH 's lien voided and released? 

Thank you so much in advance for your help!

Company public response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation