Consumer complaint received 2023-11-10
Company: BSI Financial Holdings, Inc.
State: CT
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Closing on a mortgage
Sub-issue: Fees or costs after closing

Complaint:
Sold property XXXX  ( Closing ) 1. Original Pay Off requested included a charge for {$4800.00} for Foreclosure legal fees. This was submitted to me XXXX  - 10 days before closing. 

2. PO also included XXXX XXXX in interest and default interest to be refunded if close was prior to the closing date on the PO. It closed a day before PO closing date. 

3. Insurance refund was calculated with a XXXX  closing NOT XXXX  so 3 extra days of insurance were due that were not refunded. 

4. In XXXX, I received an invoice from BSI for {$2800.00} for XXXX interest due. THIS WAS AFTER THE HOUSE CLOSED AND WAS FULLY PAID OFF. I'm sure they get a lot of little old ladies with this practice. ( Statement attached here ) I requested an accounting and explanation of what this foreclosure legal fee was given that I had not been served with an official foreclose, only a warning of such. 

They sent a screenshot of 2 lines of text ( attached here ) breaking it down to {$2800.00} for " XXXX XXXX '' and {$2000.00} for " anticipated filing fees ''. 

I pointed out that as the house was under contract and closing in a few days, they were hardly likely to incur any filing fees for foreclosure let alone $ XXXX of them. I further demanded clarification of what the {$2800.00} was for. What had been done given this only materialized AFTER the house was under contract. I demanded a breakdown from their lawyer. 

On XX/XX/ ( 5 days before closing ) they sent a copy of their lawyer 's invoice for {$1400.00} dated that same day, with the action/charge ALSO dated that same day, with ZERO hours of work clearly attributed to the charge. ( invoice copy attached ) IMPORTANT NOTE : 1. This amount did not match their attempts to charge me {$4800.00} 2. The house was under contract and 5 days from closing when BSI supposedly sent this to their attorney for foreclosure .... obvious question is " why? '' at this point? 
3. This " charge '' /invoice was generated AFTER they tried to charge me {$4800.00} and I demanded proof/justification- they were clearly trying to cover their asses having been called out on their fraud attempt. 

The final Pay Off dated XXXX had a closing date of XXXX  - one day after it actually closed. They therefore owed {$240.00} in interest and default interest for that extra day that they withheld in the PO. ( PO attached here ) After closing I tried to contact BSI to get these matters resolved. They were completely unresponsive. I was forced to hire an attorney and file a claim with CFPB ( this is the 2nd one ). When I finally was connected to a XXXX XXXX, after the CFPB filing, who had been on the email string that I and my attorney had been using but he had failed to respond to, we went through my concerns. He acknowledged that the insurance was 3 days off but tried to justify it by saying they took 3 days to process my payment after receiving it. I made it clear that if they took 6 months to process it, that was their problem, not mine. Payment was received on the XXXX and thats when insurance should have been canceled and refund made from. He said he'd talk to the insurance people. On the matter of the interest not refunded for the extra day difference between closing date and PO date, he agreed and said he would talk to someone. On the legal he would not budge and when I mentioned that my lawyer had looked at it, he said he could no longer talk to me but only to my lawyer and to have her call. It should be noted that when I pointed out that I had filed a claim with you, the CFPB, XXXX XXXX was quick to claim you had no jurisdiction in this case. Obviously a lie. One of many. 

My lawyer called the next day and was given the run around and refused access to anyone to talk to including XXXX XXXX. 

I called back and someone kindly gave me XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX supervisor 's name and contact info, a XXXX XXXX XXXX. XXXX XXXX then sent me a release to authorize them to speak to my attorney which I did. 

My attorney and XXXX XXXX spoke and exchanged emails thereafter. 

XXXX XXXX AGREED that the insurance refund was INCORRECT and issued a new refund for the difference of 3 days. ( Note it took my hiring an attorney to get this. ) On the matter of the interest, XXXX XXXX pointed out that {$130.00} of regular interest had been refunded but denied responsibility for the {$110.00} of default interest that is clearly listed under the {$130.00} on the PO as daily accrued interest. His explanation as you will see in the attached emails is that prior to closing, prior to the generation of that last PO document, BSI had credited me some default interest. 

As we pointed out to XXXX XXXX ( also in the attached emails ) those credits were PRIOR to the PO and PRIOR to closing so had already been factored in at the time of the PO generation. The PO was the final document and as such, took into account any previous credits which were given because BSI had botched a previous sale a month prior by not responding to requests for a PO before the buyer 's offer expired. So bottom line is they still owe the {$110.00} for a day of default interest listed on the PO for the extra day from XXXX. 

With regards to the legal, several explanations were given the first being that it was a " referral '' fee to the lawyer which obviously makes no sense. My attorney contacted both the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX to ask whether this was a common practice and both unequivocally said " no '', that they had never heard of such a thing and that it was suspect of highly unethical practices. When confronted with this, XXXX XXXX returned days later with an explanation that under XXXX guidelines they are permitted to charge a milestone fee. 

1. This was not a XXXX loan. It is a hard money hedge fund financed loan. 
2. XXXX XXXX kindly clearly states that the foreclosure referral to their attorney did not occur until XXXX  - 5 days before closing and a week AFTER I demanded proof that they had incurred the legal fees they were trying to charge me. So ... at best extremely unethical and suspect behavior. Why would they initiate a foreclosure 5 days before closing while the house is under contract and only after I demand justification of legal fees they're trying to charge me? Remember the original amount they tried for was {$4800.00}! They are basically throwing spaghetti at the wall and seeing what sticks. 

XXXX XXXX sent my attorney an arcane document of accounting and invoices that made little sense including charges for foreclosure title searches initiated the day AFTER the property closed. ( attached here ) This was obviously to muddy the waters. 

Summary : Insurance : The admitted to owing an additional 3 days from what was refunded after the closing and made this payment satisfactorily after having to file with the CFPB and enlist an attorney. 

Interest refund for extra day in PO : They refunded the normal interest of {$130.00}, but still outstanding and owed to me is the one day of default interest as shown on the PO of {$110.00} Foreclosure legal withheld in escrow : For all the reasons explained above, the {$1400.00} that they withheld for services that were never rendered and for a file that was generated 5 days before closing and AFTER my demand of proof, this amount is owed in it's entirety as a refund to me. 

The XXXX statement invoicing me for {$2800.00} for interest AFTER the house was fully paid off, I made clear to them I wasn't going to pay this and will not. Again, I can't help to wonder how many people they con with this ploy. 

Lastly, as they were unresponsive to my attempts to communicate, I was forced to file a complaint with the CFPB and hire an attorney. My attorney 's fees totaled {$3700.00} ( invoice attached ) So currently outstanding and owed to me still by BSI : 1 day of default interest ( XX/XX/ ) refund = {$110.00} Foreclosure legal " referral '' fee = {$1400.00} My attorney 's fees in pursuing this = XXXX Total owed to me by BSI to date = {$5200.00}

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation