Consumer complaint received 2021-06-16
Company: Aura Mortgage Advisors LLC
State: MA
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint:
To Whom It May Concern ; Our current mortgage is with Aura Mortgage Advisors, LLC and was processed through XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ( supposedly a nonprofit organization ) who rescues homeowners who have lost their homes to Predatory Lenders. However, we have come to the realization that the practices of XXXX XXXX XXXX can also be considered Predatory. In XX/XX/2012, XXXX XXXX XXXX bought our house back from XXXX XXXX which was our mortgage company at the time for the amount of {$140.00} and sold it back to us for the amount of {$190000.00} at an interest rate of XXXX. We were so elated to be able to get our home back that although the interest rate was a bit inflated, we felt like that at least we and our young children would not be homeless. For the Closing, we inquired of XXXX if we would need to have a lawyer present to represent us and it was advised that we did not, since they would have a lawyer there to go over the paperwork and answer any questions. We came to " The Closing '' with our {$5000.00} certified cashier check and our enthusiasm. We were given page after page of the documents to be signed or after the attorney would briefly state I am writing you this email with a heavy heart as I am experiencing overwhelming stress with my mortgage situation with XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. Somehow they have turned what was supposed to be one of my familys greatest achievements in living our American dream, into one of our greatest nightmares due to their greedy antics and predatory like practices when issuing mortgages to underprivileged families. Never in our wildest dreams did my husband and I expect to find ourselves in a mortgage with another type of predatory lender after being relieved of the previous predatory lender ( XXXX XXXX ) by XXXX XXXX XXXX ( now renamed XXXX XXXX ). 
XXXX XXXX XXXX has robbed us of our ability to refinance and fix up our old house as we had initially planned to, to assist our children with college tuition but most of all to achieve a much better mortgage interest rate. When we sat down with XXXX XXXX XXXX in the initial phase of the process, they had promised that we could refinance after a year since they knew that the rate that they were approving us at was very high. They made it seem as though refinancing would not be a problem. However, in trying to refinance our current mortgage, we found that it is very difficult to do so and that we are stuck in our current situation because of the way that XXXX has structured the mortgage. They structured the mortgage where they are the lienholder on the mortgage due to the XXXX XXXX Mortgage that they have attached to the regular mortgage. In order for us to refinance we would need to give XXXX 54 % of the equity in our home after we have had to take funds from our retirement funds and use up the limits on our credit cards in order to fix up the fixer-upper that we bought for $ XXXX and have fixed it up to the point where XXXX has the estimated value now at $ XXXX. XXXX never gave us a dime towards fixing up this home but yet they are now entitled to 54 % of XXXX XXXX Mortgage along with an additional 25 % of what we put out to bring up the value of the home. This is predatory lending at its finest as they were not transparent with the full terms of the mortgage at the closing, but instead took advantage of mortgagees by deterring them from bringing their own attorneys at the point of closing to explain all of the details that were in fine print.

This mortgage company has brought such severe emotional pain and suffering to many homeowners and it has to STOP!!!!. As you are the Massachusetts Division of Banks we are reaching out to you to make you aware of this situation and to request any type of assistance that you can provide in putting a stop to this form of robbery from a Lender who made us a promise to get us back our homes but their intensions were dishonorable. I would appreciate it if you could get back to me regarding this matter, as there are several other homeowners who are facing the same injustice and would love to have a virtual meeting to voice our concerns. Looking forward to hearing from you sooner than later.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation