Consumer complaint received 2017-06-11
Company: SELECT PORTFOLIO SERVICING, INC.
State: NC
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Struggling to pay mortgage

Complaint:
Since XX/XX/XXXX, my fiancee and I made application for Mortgage Assistance due to financial hardship. We were affected by the Crash of XX/XX/XXXX, as we are both XXXX. I am a XXXX XXXX XXXX, and my fiancee was in XXXX XXXX, both commission-based income. Our original mortgage was with XXXX XXXX and then switched over to XXXX XXXX. The first application for mortgage assistance was in XX/XX/XXXX. We continued making application since each time, we were told that the " owner '' had certain criteria that needed to be met and we were denied. At one point, the " owner '' or " noteholder '' was XXXX, then XXXX XXXX, and now with XXXX XXXX, a division of XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX. We were denied four times, despite our continued efforts to seek financial aid. In fact, I have 2 full banker boxes of every piece of correspondence, with no resolve whatsoever. Sometime in XX/XX/XXXX, I was notified that Select Portfolio Servicing was now the mortgage servicer and payments were to be submitted to them. I was informed that XXXX was transferring our application for Mortgage Assistance and to be assured that Select Portfolio would have all the paperwork. My fiancee had to file bankruptcy and did so in XX/XX/XXXX. Had we received the assistance we were hoping for with XXXX, we would have never been put in this position. XX/XX/XXXX approached and we were asked to complete an updated Application for Mortgage Assistance ( 5th application ), along with all the other information provided in the past as well as the updated information, i.e., P & L 's, Tax returns, bank statements, etc. This was submitted on XX/XX/XXXX. Went back and forth with more documentation, i.e. proof of residency since we use a P.O. Box address, proof of utilities, and whatever else would come up. We finally received a lien modification agreement in XX/XX/XXXX which reduced our payments by a mere {$3.00} per month. In addition, the modification included escrow of taxes and insurance and extended the term of our loan 17 more years to XX/XX/XXXX, with no reduction of interest whatsoever. I made a request that they waive the escrow of taxes and insurance since we were these items separately. It would have helped by reducing our monthly payments to {$2700.00} per month rather than the {$3400.00} - {$3.00} per month. I was instructed that I would be required to sign the Lien Modification Agreement first before they would consider waiving escrow of taxes and insurance. We were advised by legal counsel not to sign with no guaranty of the escrow of taxes and insurance being waived and felt we were being coerced into signing such an Agreement, which is a binding contract.
Againwe applied for mortgage assistance on XX/XX/XXXX ( 6th application ), and showed my fiancee as having no income. Again, requests for documentation continued and I complied. On XX/XX/XXXX, offering congratulations and informing us that we were qualified for a HAMP Tier 2 Trial Modification. It states that this program is intended to help avoid foreclosure or other legal action.
After reviewing the terms and conditions, the so-called loan modification is not helpful in anyway whatsoever, which falls under the Tier 2 Modification at 6 % My current interest rate is 5.75 %. The calculations for the monthly payments are reduced to {$130.00} per month. And, I would be paying .25 % more interest so that my taxes and insurance are in escrow, which shows a shortage of escrow at {$24.00}. Deduct that amount from the {$130.00} per month and my payments are now reduced to a super savings of {$100.00} per month.
The HAMP Tier 1 Modification is at 2.12500 %, which would greatly reduce my monthly payment. The banks would rather continue to collect the nearly {$30000.00} per year interest since we have done everything to keep up with the payments. I am now currently 3 months behind. Interest rates have been at their lowest since the crash of XX/XX/XXXX. Just going back to XX/XX/XXXX, are the figures that tell it like it is that only benefit the banks and not the homeowner suffering the hardship.
Interest Paid Principal Paid XX/XX/XXXX {$31000.00} {$10000.00} XX/XX/XXXX {$30000.00} {$11000.00} XX/XX/XXXX {$29000.00} {$11000.00} XX/XX/XXXX {$29000.00} {$12000.00} TOTAL {$120000.00} {$45000.00} Select  Portfolio Servicing states they are committed to offer assistance to customers who are experiencing temporary or permanent hardship. I do not agree with this whatsoever and feel they are acting fraudulently and not at all willing to reduce our payments. As stated, this process has been going on for nearly 8 years, while the bank continues to collect the high rate of interest and make themselves rich. Eight Years of submitting documentation and this is all they have to offer!

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