Consumer complaint received 2022-04-14
Company: Specialized Loan Servicing Holdings LLC
State: PA
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Struggling to pay mortgage

Complaint:
My mom passed away and left her home to me in the will. At the time she died she was on a covid deferral plan. She was told she could roll her deferred payments back into her mortgage however her sudden and unexpected death prevented this. 

I called the mortgage company ( SLS -Specialized Loan Servicing ) to notify them on XX/XX/22. They informed me that in order to speak with me they needed the will, death certificate and my ID ( I sent my passport ), which I sent. I repeatedly called them and was always told my documents were " under review ''. 

Sometimes they called me but left no message. If I called back no one seemed to be able to tell me why I had been called. One call I answered was a recording asking me to hold for important information. After holding for a while a recording stated no one was able to take my call and hung up. 

After about 3 weeks I was informed that my documentation was insufficient and what I actually needed to do was go to court and be appointed executor, which I did. ( The entire process took a few weeks. ) I received the executor documents over the weekend of XX/XX/XXXX while out of town. On XX/XX/XXXX upon returning I ( the estate ) received a notice of default and intent to foreclose via certified mail. I ( the estate ) also received a letter stating that we had failed to comply with terms of our agreement. 

I sent the certificate of letters showing that I was executor on XX/XX/XXXX then called on XX/XX/XXXX to discuss. I was told being appointed executor was not sufficient and they still could not discuss anything with me. 

I was told that now I needed to email them a recorded short-form quitclaim deed, the front and back of my driver 's license and the front and back of my social security card. Of course this makes absolutely no sense. An executor is not necessarily the owner of the decedent 's property and wouldn't always be the deed holder. And if they have my passport they shouldn't need my driver 's license. What if I did n't drive? The woman told me that " there is a lot of important information on the back of your driver 's license '', which is completely untrue. 

I am running out of time to take care of this issue and can not make payment arrangements with a company who refuses to speak to me. I have legal authority bestowed on me by a court of law to take care of my mom 's estate but am being told by a mortgage company that I do not. 

On XX/XX/XXXX I called them again with a friend who is an attorney. They told him they couldn't speak to him because he wasn't authorized on the account even though I ( the executor ) was present on the call. At first we were told they didn't have the executor documents. Then upon pressing them we were told they were being reviewed. We asked how long that would take and were told a couple of days. Upon pressing them for a date they said XX/XX/XXXX - which is a week from today, as well as the date they are threatening to accelerate the mortgage if I haven't made all past due payments ( totalling {$23000.00} ). 

The attorney asked at least XXXX times to speak to her XXXX, a supervisor or legal counsel or to have XXXX of those individuals call us back. The customer service representative flat out refused. She told us that because we were not authorized on the account we could not speak to anyone else and no one would call us. She simply repeated herself over and over. 

I want to make payment arrangements to avoid foreclosure. The company is without doubt employing stalling tactics so that I can not discuss my mother 's estate until it is too late. I have provided everything the mortgage company has requested only to be told there's more I need to do. No one can explain why I wasn't given accurate information on previous phone calls. No one seems to have any training regarding the legalities of this situation. I don't know how they can threaten to accelerate the note when there are laws in place specifically to protect people in this situation. I can't talk to them until they approve my documents yet they decide how long to take to approve those documents which leaves me helpless to do anything.

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