Consumer complaint received 2017-03-31
Company: CIT BANK, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: FL
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Reverse mortgage
Issue: Loan modification,collection,foreclosure

Complaint:
1 ) I recently submitted a Notice of Error under RESPA to my mortgage servicer, Financial Freedom, a division of CIT Bank. In response to my Notice of Error, my mortgage servicer indicated that there was no error. According to RESPA 12 CFR 1024.35 ( e ), " If the servicer determines after a reasonable investigation that no error occurred [ t ] he servicer must state that it determined that no error occurred, the reasons for its determination, and the borrower 's right to request documents relied upon by the servicer in reaching its determination and how the borrower can make such a request, " In the servicer 's response, they did not include a statement of my right to request documents relied upon by the servicer in reaching its determination and how I can make such a request as required by 12 CFR 1024.35 ( e ). Thus, because of Financial Freedom 's omission, I have no way to know how to request those documents as is my right under federal law. 

2 ) Furthermore, RESPA 12 CFR 1024.35 ( e ) also states that the servicer " provide contact information, including phone number, for further assistance. '' I informed Financial Freedom of the aforementioned issue via the contact email that they included in their response for further assistance. I informed them that because of their omission, I did not know how to request those documents. In the email itself, I informed them that if their email was the appropriate vehicle to request those documents that they should take my email as an official request. They have remained completely and utterly unresponsive and have not provided further assistance as is their obligation under federal law. 

3 ) I also recently submitted a Request for Information under RESPA to Financial Freedom. In response to my Request for Information, they did not fully comply with my request. They listed exceptions that might allow them not to comply with my request for information as follows : " Your letter also appears to be presented as a Qualified Written Reqeust ( QWR ) pursuant to RESPA. Please note that federal courts have determined that demanding a laundry list of information or making overbroad requests for documents does not constitute a QWR under RESPA, nor do demands for documents relating to the origination of a loan or challenging the validity of loan documents. { See XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX XXXX ( XXXX XX/XX/XXXX ) ( requests seeking documents to " audit '' a loan or challenging the validity of the loan are not QWRs ; also note that requests using almost identical information to the requests in your document, did not provide sufficient information for servicer ) ; XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX XXXX ( XXXX XXXX ) ( demand for a " laundry list of information '' ) was not a QWR, requests were not related to the servicing of the loan, but rather more generally to the allegations of predatory schemes in the mortgage industry ; overbroad categories of information ( e.g., complete life of loan history, etc ) did not assist the bank in identifying what to investigate and was not a proper QWR ]. '' According to RESPA 12 CFR 1024.36 ( f ), " [ i ] f a servicer determines that any of these five exceptions apply, it must provide written notice to the borrower within five days ... after making that determination, including the basis relied on. '' In Financial Freedom 's response, they list several possible exceptions to their obligation to comply with my request, but they never explicitly state which exception applied to my specific request, nor did they indicate the basis for their determination as required by 12 CFR 1024.36 ( f ). 

Unfortunately, it appears that because I submitted the Notice of Error and Request for Information by myself and not through a lawyer, Financial Freedom believes that they can take advantage of me and deny me certain rights under federal law under the guise of being compliant.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation