Consumer complaint received 2018-05-04
Company: SELECT PORTFOLIO SERVICING, INC.
State: GA
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Struggling to pay mortgage

Complaint:
I applied for and was offered a mortgage modification by my second mortgage servicer, Select Portfolio Servicing Inc ( SPS ). 

After over 4 months of jumping through their hoops with paperwork, I received an offer for a " JPM Trial Modification ''. the letter states " Congratulations! You are qualified for and we are pleased to offer you a JPM Trial Modification. This program is intended to help you avoid foreclosure or other legal action ... .. '' This part of the letter would make someone hopeful, excited that they are finally being granted some help and relief. As if SPS is doing me a favor. HOWEVER, this is very misleading and devious.

Upon further review of the offer, I understood that SPS was proposing terms that would keep my interest rate the same ( 5 % ), add more money onto the principal of my loan, and increase the time I would have to pay on the loan over 20 years longer! Only to decrease my payment by {$40.00}! The modification they have proposed would make them almost {$50000.00} MORE over the life of this loan ( on a loan that began at {$32000.00} I would have paid well over {$100000.00} for ), which is certainly no help to me.

Although I know no one in their right mind would accept such an absurd offer, I realize they are preying on people who are experiencing hardship and desperate to reduce their payment. People may be so desperate to reduce their payments to keep their home, they might actually agree to these terms.

This is predatory and unethical in my opinion. People may or may not realize what is being proposed and actually sign up out of desperation to reduce their payment.

I have had 2 previous mortgage modifications ( with my first mortgage that XXXX XXXX ) and they have never proposed and insulting offer such as this. Their offers included a lowered interest rate, thus a lower payment. They worked with me to reduce my obligation with more reasonable terms and interest rate that reflects the present day interest rates and loans. 

I have tried to speak with SPS multiple times about this offer and the terms and their answer is " take it or leave it ''. They are not willing to offer more reasonable terms that doesn't simply make them more money.

One representative I spoke to blatantly lied and said what's written in my letter will not be there terms, and I need to just pay the 3 trial period payments of {$190.00} to even find out what the terms would be! THEY ARE LYING. 

I was also told that I could file an appeal based on my issue with the offer. I explained to the representative that I believed appeals were only if the information used to determine the offer was believed to be incorrect. She stated that was not the case and I could file an appeal on the grounds that I did not believe the offer was reasonable. They recently sent me an appeal denial because my " request did not provide any detail in regards to any specific error identified in the decision ''. 

Between their bogus offer to reduce my payment {$40.00} by adding 24 years to my loan, their signature page included in the offer if I'd rather a short sale, and their representatives that either blatantly lie or offer no help at all, it is apparent that this company is not at all willing to help me avoid foreclosure and bring my account current. It is further infuriating to read in every correspondence with me that they " are committed to home retention and offers many assistance options designed for customers who are experiences temporary or permanent hardship. '' That is abundantly misleading as they are doing nothing of the sort for me. 

This unethical company seems to think I'm a total XXXX, possibly because there are other people that are actually accepting these types of offers from SPS. These predators must be stopped. Since they aren't taking me seriously when I call, and they aren't willing to make a reasonable offer, I feel I have nowhere to turn to avoid losing my home.

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