Consumer complaint received 2023-05-18
Company: Specialized Loan Servicing Holdings LLC
State: FL
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint:
I have been trying to settle my overdue mortgage payments withmy mortgage servicer, Specialized Loan Servicing LLC ( SLS ), since XX/XX/XXXX. The first time I was contacted by SLS and spoke to one of their representatives was XX/XX/XXXX. Apparently, my mortgagewas transferred to SLS in XX/XX/XXXX but they failed to communicate this to me. 

SLS referred me to their attorneys, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, for the settlement of all payments but their attorneys became unresponsive and did not provide a settlement agreement thatwould include a correction of their billing statement thatcontained unjustified and unexplained charges in the amount of {$4100.00} at the time.My calls and emails to SLS 's attorneys remained unanswered after they had promised to address my concerns and send anew settlement offer. 

I do not dispute that I currently owe past-due payments for mortgage, interest, and taxes to my loan company and I stated multiple times in writing and on the phone that I want to submit all overdue mortgage payments. I dispute that SLS has started foreclosure procedures instead of allowing me to reinstate my loan. SLS and their attorneys will only grant the reinstatement of my loan if, in addition to the regularmortgage, interest, and lawful Escrow charges, I will also pay their additionalfees/charge of currently {$7200.00} in " legal fees '' and an unitemized amount of $ XXXXfor " corporate advances '' that seems to include {$3300.00} in attorney 's fees. 

I requested itemizations and explanations for these amounts and asked for a deletion of the legal and attorney fees when they first occurredin XX/XX/XXXX but never received a response from SLS or their attorneys, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX to this request. 

Thereshould not havebeen any litigation and legal fees applied to my account tobegin with because my mortgage was under forbearancewhen it was transferred to SLS and furthermore, SLS did not send any notifications, billing statements, escrow statements, or notices to my correct mailing address ( same as the address of my residence ) .SLS did not inform me of the transfer and did not introduce themselves as the new mortgage servicer until eight months after transferring the loan. It turned out that SLS sent previous letters and notifications to the wrong address instead of my correct address.

My address has not changed in the years that my loan was active and the error in the address was SLS 's mistake. I have downloaded all previous correspondence that SLS sent to the wrong address from their portal and informed them about their mistake in XX/XX/XXXX when it first became clear after I researched what might have happened to the letters and notices. SLS is not admitting to any mistakesthey have, however, corrected my address in their system in the meantime and continue their foreclosure lawsuit against me. SLS startedcourt proceedings on XX/XX/XXXX, without previous communication with me and without trying to mediate, and without ruling out any mistakes on their side. 

In more detail : My mortgage was serviced by XXXX Bank XXXX XXXX and, following XXXX, I requested a forbearance on my loan in XX/XX/XXXX with Suntrust/Truist to allow me XXXX to recover financially from XXXX hardships. My mortgage was transferred to a new servicer, Specialized Loan Servicing LLC, in XX/XX/XXXX, without informing me. I was not notified by SLS about their servicing of my loan XXXX XXXX. 

Until I showed them and notified them about their mistake, SLS sent all letters and notifications to an address that is not mine. My address has not changed and the error originated with XXXX. 

SLS contacted me about my mortgage for the first time by phone on XX/XX/XXXX, and it turned out later that my forbearance was not transferred along with the loan. Untilthis day I had no knowledge of Specialized Loan Servicing. Specialized Loan Servicing e-filed for foreclosure on my home and denied my request for mortgage forbearance under theCARES Act because SLS had already started foreclosure proceedings. 

After many phone calls to try to explain that SLS had an error in their data system and kept sending their statements and notices to an address that is not mine, finally, they corrected my address but kept denying any knowledge or eligibility for forbearance. SLS offered me a loan modification instead, which, after review andlack of detail and clarity of terms andconditions, I declined.

The loan modification would have added 10 years to my mortgage term, the modification agreement showed charges that lackedan explanation, and there was no concise information/express statement on whether my agreeing to the loan modification would stop SLS 's foreclosure proceedings. I also requested that SLS would correct my credit reporting and requested that all negative reporting would stop and existing negative reporting would be corrected. I should have been under forbearance with no negative impact on my credit reporting. 

A hurricane was heading to my area and I called SLS on XX/XX/XXXX, to ensure that my insurance was in place. They emailed me a copy of a notification dated XX/XX/XXXX ( addressed to an address that was not mine ) to inform me that my insurance had expired. With an approaching hurricane, there was a moratorium in place for renewing/buying insurance. SLS had been negligent about my account and did not fulfill the insurance coverage in time and did not give me a chance to correct the payment in time. I submittedmy home insurance payment in full directly to my existing insurance provider as soon as the moratorium was lifted on XX/XX/XXXX and informed Specialized Loan Servingabout this payment on the same day. To date, SLS has not confirmed that my insurance and insurance payment was applied correctly to my account. 

I requested the reinstatement of my loan and agreed to submit all my overdue mortgage payments and lawful charges of interest and Escrow amounts to SLS in a lump sum and requested that they would let me know the total amount that I had to pay to reinstate the loan. SLS sent me a reinstatement agreement that showed the overdue payments but also includedadditional charges in the amount of {$3800.00} consisting of " legal fees '' and " corporate advances. '' I requested an itemization of the charges and asked that the legal fees would be reversed as SLS had failed to send any of their letters and notifications to my address and did not communicate with me until XX/XX/XXXX. 

After numerous phone calls and attempts to get clarification on the legal fees and charges that were applied to my account, SLS informed me that I had to address and inquire about the legal fees and charges with their attorney and come to an agreement with them. I called their attorney, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX XXXX XXXX PLLCimmediately and their representative, XXXX XXXX, stated that my foreclosure was now on hold and they would honor my request, they would send the request to SLS for approval, and I would receive a new settlement agreement.I called/emailed the attorney 's office to follow up and requested to settle the matter several times but they stopped responding. It became clear that my mortgage was not " on hold '' as XXXX XXXX tried to make me believe. I had a deadline to file my response and defenses to SLS 's foreclosure claim in court on XX/XX/XXXX. 

With SLS 's attorneys becoming unresponsive andthecase moving forward in court, I had to hire a legal representative of my own to try to negotiate with SLS and SLS 's attorneys and provide a settlement agreement that would hold up in court to stop foreclosure and would also request that my credit reporting would be corrected. I wanted to submit all overdue payments in a lump sump and was certainly willing to pay all lawful fees and charges but disputed their attorneys ' fees and litigation costs. 

In XXXX XXXX, XXXX 's attorneys sent a new settlement offer/agreement that demanded {$7100.00} inlitigation fees and {$3300.00} in attorneys fees. 

Most of the additional fees and charges could have been avoided if : A. Specialized Loan Servicing had done their due diligence and ensured to send their notices and letters to my correct address, XXXX SLS had accepted my payments and reviewed my valid concerns over their attorney 's fees, and accounting mistakes ( they had not applied my insurance payments to my account ) and also addressed my concernsabout credit reporting but instead, SLS referred me to their attorneys, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX SLS had provided concise information about charges to my account and Escrow statements. There are discrepancies in SLS 's statements and breakdown of charges in billing and settlement statements when compared to the breakdown of charges that their attorney 's office has sent me.

To date, I have not been given the opportunity to discuss my valid concerns with a qualified SLS representative. All my calls and requests for escalation of my case to a senior management team member or account specialist at SLS remained fruitless. Instead, SLS referred me to their attorney, and every time I try to settle my account with the attorney, they charge more litigation and attorney 's fees.

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