Consumer complaint received 2023-01-03
Company: Specialized Loan Servicing Holdings LLC
State: CA
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Struggling to pay mortgage

Complaint:
We are writing seeking your intervention so that we can receive the proper assistance clarifying the status on our mortgage, which we believe has been incorrectly serviced and are now receiving letters from your company threatening us with foreclosure. 
For 10 years, your company did not communicate with us, sent us mortgage statements, status letters or informed us that there was an outstanding balance that needed to be paid. We were under the impression this was normal since we filed for bankruptcy a while back and did a modification on the first mortgage around the same time, which led us to believe the second mortgage, which you currently service, would be ( was ) either discharged or combined with the first mortgage. Only until not long ago, we were informed that there was a significant balance on our second mortgage past due that needed to be paid. Furthermore, the outstanding balance quoted to us was two times more than what our original principal balance was when we had filed for bankruptcy ( specifically, we were told that there was an interest balance of {$220000.00} when our original principal balance was only {$120000.00} ). We were in shock to learn of such amounts. The second mortgage was not reported in our credit reports either, nor was a mortgage with an outstanding balance showing, how would have known we needed to take action on our account? 
We asked for help getting clarity on the reason for why our balance had increased so dramatically and were told because we had not made payments. We explained we didnt make payments because we did not know we had to, but at that point were told only option was to either pay the balance or apply for a modification. We reluctantly agreed to look into a modification option but were then told that in order to be approved for XXXX, we would have to put a down payment of {$61000.00}. We declined the option given to us because we did not have that kind of money to pay up front. Many people we know have told us that they were able to obtain modifications with their banks and were not asked for a single dollar to get a trial modification and then a permanent one, so why would Specialized Loan Servicing ask us to pay such extraordinary amount of money? 
With the help of a family friend, we called recently into your service center to renew our efforts in straightening up our account. We brought up again the fact that we were not being sent mortgage statements and were told that there was some incorrect coding in the account that blocked the statements, but that it would be corrected. Shortly after, we started receiving letters, like the XXXX dated XX/XX/22 from XXXX XXXX, stating that we did not want to continue pursuing mortgage relief assistance which is completely false. On our most recent call, we asked for help applying for a modification hoping we would not be asked for a down payment again, but were told that it was not an option for us anymore. We asked what we could do next, and were told all we could do is wait until the account was referred to foreclosure, because at that point they would be able to apply other guidelines to then evaluate us for a modification. This did not make any sense to us whatsoever, why would we be asked to wait until the account reached such critical point which could put us closer to a foreclosure status. There was nothing else that was offered to us except to try to refinance our two mortgages so we could combine the balances and bring the second mortgage current. Again, we fell the burden of fixing the situation and only way to resolve was by us either paying money up front or using the equity in our property. Unfortunately, even if we wanted to pursue that option, with the second mortgage being so delinquent, we dont believe we would be able to qualify for a refinance. Our question is, why are there no options for us to help us prevent foreclosure that dont require us to put down payments or refinance our home? 
We have not missed a single payment on our first mortgage and are currently 100 % current. Would we have known a payment needed to be made separately on our second mortgage, we would have made it. The second mortgage you service was not reported to the credit bureaus and we did not receive statements or earlier communications that could have enabled us to take earlier action and prevent the account from falling so far behind. We feel that now that our property has gained a significant amount of equity, Specialized Loan Servicing is now seeing it worthwhile to pursue foreclosure action against us. We are not being given any reasonable or any options at all to bring our account to a current status and we need someone to help intervene on our behalf to clear out the situation and make things right. We are willing to start making normal payments on the account but need for the current balance and status to be resolved first. 
Please help us look into our account and situation, and to obtain a reasonable and fair solution that can help us bring our account current and into good standing. 

Respectfully, XXXX & XXXX XXXX

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