Consumer complaint received 2017-10-12
Company: Seterus, Inc.
State: MI
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: FHA mortgage
Issue: Struggling to pay mortgage

Complaint:
I bought my home initially in XX/XX/XXXX. It had been abandoned for 7 years prior to my purchasing and not so much as even a working toilet in it at the time. Through XXXX via construction loans I updated everything and made it livable. 

InXX/XX/XXXX I received a {$240000.00} 30 yr fixed loan from XXXX XXXX XXXX, that would cover my property and construction costs. 

I had lost my job in XXXX at the absolute bottom of the housing and credit crisis and took out a home equity loan to pay off all my debt and give myself the money I would need for living expenses until I was on my feet again. 

By XXXX I had contacted XXXX perhaps 60 days past due on my mortgage. As part of the Government 's Bail Out package, I think it was referred to TARP, XXXX XXXX bought back my loan from XXXX. Soon after, XXXX XXXX had a loan Service Provider Debt Collections Company named XXXX XXXX XXXX handled all aspect of my loan. I began inquire as to the programs under the Help for Homeowners. In my initial calls to Seterus I was told that I was not delinquent enough yet for them to be able to offer my assistance. My 60 days past due would turn to 90 days and there I would be counseled that I needed to go to 120 days past due. As the weeks and months passed with constant inquiry and communication with XXXX XXXX I would eventually be told that I qualified for a loan modification and asked to be patient. In the meantime I was told to not make payments and not to worry as the process may be slow but will get done. 

In XX/XX/XXXX my loan modification was complete. I was disheartened to see that they were offering me a 40 year mortgage loan, but my home had gone so delinquent that if I did n't accept it, I would lose my home to foreclosure soon enough. Broken down were the initially lower payments with an increasing interest rate over time that would eventually remain fixed. I signed these documents and had them notarized and sent them back to Seterus. 

By XX/XX/XXXX I had gotten my first mortgage bill. On it there were some {$2600.00} in charges and fees on the bill that I did not understand why they were there. Over the next months I would repeatedly call, perhaps 6 or maybe 7 or more calls initially asking, then pleading for someone to call me back, then demanding to know what these charges were. Never once was a phone return or inquiry acknowledged. On one such call expressed vehemently I told the phone representative explicitly that not a penny or my mortgage payment should ever be taken from to be used to pay these previously undisclosed charges. I was assure that Seterus would not take from my mortgage payment once cent to pay these charges and that they would be applied at the back end of my mortgage and that no interest ever be charged nor added to them. 

Having tried as many as I could, Life would take over and new demands and priorities would insist on attention as they would for us all. 

Since signing the Loan Modification inXX/XX/XXXXI was never even so much as late for another payment. That is why when I received a bill I believe in XX/XX/XXXX and saw some {$480.00} in charges due in addition to my monthly payment that I did not recognize, I would once again call Seterus. The representative could not explain these charges other than to say " it looks like something we paid on your behalf. '' My property tax and homeowners insurance were escrowed so how can that be? She searched her system and said that they look to be charges from XX/XX/XXXX. I asked " For what? '' She could not answer. I asked " Why 2 1/2 years later is Seterus Billing me for something that they ca n't even explain? '' She could n't answer and told me that I would have to write into Seterus to get an answer. When I explained to her that I had done that before with the unknown charges above, no one so much as even acknowledge receipt of my letter, or calls, and multiple inquiries. Frustrated I end the call and wrote to Seterus for an explanation of these charges. 

Two weeks would pass between the date they received my inquiry and their response. They had sent me a boatload documents, far more than I had ever gotten from them. There within a breakdown of those initial {$2600.00} charges along with the words in their letter " Highlighted fees assessed after loan modification was generated ''. Blow away they had admitted as much in writing I thought this was a bad faith agreement, with them never disclosing these fees at signing. I continued on with the documents. There it became apparent that what Seterus had told me that " They would not and could not do '' they did. They had been taking money out of the mortgage payments I was making to reimburse themselves for these fees they never disclosed, and the {$480.00}, was the remaining out still owed. 

If only that were the worst. There in the documents I would see a loan amount of {$270000.00}! What! Somewhere in the pages of documents I would see something that referred to {$50000.00} being added on to the back end of my loan labeled in a term I did not recognize. Are you kidding me? 

In my mind I wondered how it was possible that someone could start with a {$240000.00} 30 yr fixed loan. Make 3 years worth of payments on it. Go perhaps 1 year without making any payments, and then make 6 1/2 more years worth of payments and have their mortgage increase. let alone so significantly! 

Seterus has never once return as much as a single phone call in the almost 7 yrs they acted as my mortgage service provider. Within one weeks times of receiving these above mentioned documents I would then receive a notice of a Servicing Transfer to a company called XXXX XXXX XXXX. My initial calls place to them in early XXXX I would find they had not yet received all of the details on my mortgage to answer the many questions I had. 

Today, XX/XX/XXXX I spoke with XXXX XXXX at XXXX XXXX at XXXX for an hour and agreed to have the conversation recorded. As we spoke I came to learn even more new things, like a charge for fees on the first statement I received from them totaling some {$420.00}. In his search XXXX told me these fees had transferred with the loan from Seterus and they were most likely the same very fees I inquired in writing about in XXXX. I expressed my deep reservations about making so much as another payment on a debt that I considered to be mortgage fraud. I also said that I not comfortable not making my mortgage payment as twice now in these recent inquiries I was being told that the original Seterus Rep should never had told me to not make payments on my then Chase mortgage that i could qualify for a loan modification agreement. I told XXXX I did not want a single penny taken out of any payment I may make with his company to pays these undisclosed and not agreed upon fees. He said " XXXX XXXX can not, does not and wo n't deduct from my mortgage payment to pay these fees. I responded by telling him that is exactly what the Seterus Rep had said to me somewhere in my many phone calls. 

I paid two mortgage payments today and am current and in good standing as I have been. 

I never ever would have agreed to this loan modification had these terms, fees, and back end {$50000.00} whatever term they want to call it were disclosed to me. Housing has rebounded and with my current total mortgage value now at {$250000.00} I can not refinance, and though I have tried repeatedly to do so under HARP, I was told that because I do not have a mortgage company, but merely a loan servicer provided, noone could help. 

I am hopeful someone at Consumer Financial Protection Bureau can. 


Sincerely, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX MI XXXX ph # XXXX SS # XXXX Seterus Loan # XXXX XXXX XXXX loan # XXXX

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation