Consumer complaint received 2018-05-16
Company: NATIONSTAR MORTGAGE LLC
State: NY
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Struggling to pay mortgage

Complaint:
Beginning in early XX/XX/XXXX, I found myself struggling to pay the first and second mortgage on a property that was owned by my ex-husband and me, but it had become my responsibility to manage as part of the divorce agreement. My company had moved me away from the location where the property was located and, due to the property being valued approximately {$100000.00} below what was currently owed on both the first and second mortgages combined, the decision was made to keep the property and rent it until market conditions improved enough to sell it and be able to cover any losses. The rental rate for the market was not enough to cover the first and second mortgage, property taxes, condominium fees, and other related charges ; however, when I was transferred out of state in XXXX I was able to cover the $ XXXX/month deficit between what was owed and the incoming rent by way of my salary. 

Then, in XX/XX/XXXX, other financial problems began to squeeze cash flows so much that I found myself struggling to buy groceries, pay for gas, and make payments on debt, including the mortgages. I reached out to the realtor who managed the property for me and explained the situation. She immediately began working on finding a buyer interested in a short sell. After a few weeks, she reached out to me to say she had a buyer willing to pay cash for the property at approximately $ 65k under what was owed to both mortgage companies. She started the process and promised to keep me abreast of any and all developments. It all appeared to be coming to a somewhat happy ending where I could get control of my finances, both mortgage companies would obtain some of the residual money from the sale of the property if they agreed to a short sale, and we could avoid the foreclosure process altogether. 

A few weeks after she gave me the news of the buyer 's interest in the property, she called me to say that the first mortgage lender was refusing to communicate to her or the attorney she was working with on my behalf. They had no interest in any kind of negotiation and was very swiftly moving toward foreclosure. Up to this point I had received only one phone call from the first mortgage company where a man on the other end of the line politely told me that I was behind on my payments and asked if he could take the payment information over the phone then to bring the account up to date. After explaining my situation his only response was to continue to badger me on how bad it looks on my credit report to fall behind on the mortgage payments and that he must have my information right then to process a payment. I hung up, frustrated and ashamed. So when I learned about how the first mortgage company was responding it came as no surprise. She told me not to worry and that the attorney she was working with was still trying and that there were normally hiccups when piecing together a short sale, although she did say that she had never dealt with an institution that outrightly refused to work with the assisting attorney. Again, I felt a great deal of anxiety over the entire situation, but remained hopeful that we could come to some kind of a solution. 

After yet a few more weeks I received another phone call from my realtor. She had bad news. The first mortgage company was auctioning my property in less than 3 weeks and she and the attorney had exhausted everything to try to stop it and got nowhere. She said that there was one last chance that they were trying to pursue and that was to solicit support from a state representative and have that person try to stop the foreclosure and convince the first mortgage company to come to the negotiating table and try to work this out. That was on XX/XX/XXXX. Sadly, it was to no avail and the property was auctioned on XX/XX/XXXX, for {$140000.00}. My realtor stated that in all her years in the industry she had never seen such treatment exhibited by the first mortgage company. This was the worst treatment she had ever seen from a lender - and the attorney agreed. 

After a few months my first mortgage status changed on my credit report showing that the lien had been satisfied through foreclosure measures, but I was very confused as to what happened to the second mortgage. I had not heard from the company and nothing was stated in any of the short stack of communications I had tried to piece together from the first mortgage company. Then, in XX/XX/XXXX, I received a bill in the mail for the full amount of the second lien - approximately {$43000.00}. I called the company and they explained that it didn't matter what had happened regarding the foreclosure, no one had advised them of anything, and I was left holding the responsibility for the second mortgage with no property backing it. I hung up, bewildered, confused, angry, and disappointed. Why would a first mortgage company pass up an opportunity to short sell the property at {$180000.00} cash? Why was the second mortgage company not involved in the foreclosure process? Why had they absolutely refused to work with my realtor or her attorney? The property was listed for sale on XX/XX/XXXX and that's when the realtor began her attempts to set up a short sale with both mortgage companies. The only excuse the first mortgage company provided was that because they had already started with the foreclosure proceedings there was nothing they could do. 

After researching what information I could find on the internet ( because I had little to nothing from the mortgage company ) I learned that the property sold at auction for {$140000.00}. All the proceeds from the sale assumedly went to the first mortgage company to satisfy my obligation to them less what I was unable to pay. Had the short sale been approved, my understanding was that the buyer was willing to pay {$180000.00} in cash which would have been shared by both mortgage companies and I would be released from any further payments and would have to deal with the negative circumstances going forward with the damage I had done to my credit report. Did the first mortgage company somehow benefit by NOT entering a short sale? Something about this entire process seemed wrong. 

I have so many questions and very little answers. I can not afford paying over {$40000.00} to a lender on property that I no longer have an interest in. I am working as hard as I can now to pay the balances on my credit cards through XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, my medical bills when they come in, my car payment so I can work, and hoping that after that I can afford to eat and pay utilities. I have spoken with a bankruptcy attorney who basically laughed me out of his office because he said " I make too much money to file for bankruptcy. '' I have worked with my student loan servicer to place a forbearance on my payments there to provide me with a little more each month for the next year. I admittedly make a decent living. I am now single. I do not live extravagantly. I drive a reliable, but low-cost vehicle. I have always paid my obligations - ALWAYS. Until early XX/XX/XXXX I had never been late on any payments, had always satisfied my promises, and was proud of a credit score in the 800s. 

There is likely nothing you can do at this point - the onus is probably on me. You will inform the lender and they will respond that " they have done everything within their power to help me and there is nothing more they can do, '' after which you will flag this as closed with response. And I will still owe a large sum of money that I can not afford because I was treated unfairly by a large lender. My only hope in even filing this complaint is to have it on record for all to see. I am quite sure I am not the only person who has been mistreated by this mortgage servicer and I will absolutely not be the last. Many of those in my position will simply go about life thinking that's the way things go and you will never hear about it. Some may file a complaint and the same process of rinse and repeat will happen again and again. But someday I hope you have enough information, along with my little complaint I make today, to slap this deceptive and criminal corporation with a multi-million dollar consent order that hurts them in a way that they have done so many of us.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation