Consumer complaint received 2015-11-24
Company: McCalla Raymer Leibert Pierce, LLC
State: FL
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional adjustable mortgage (ARM)
Issue: Loan modification,collection,foreclosure

Complaint:
In XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX and their attorneys at McCalla- Raymer , LLC XXXX sold our home of 23 years on the courthouse steps in XXXX XXXX GA. This was the first and only mortgage on the home, i.e., there were no second mortgages or other leins on the property, and we only had 7 years left on that same 30 year mortgage. We were six months behind on our mortgage ... the same six months that followed our attendance at a " save your home '' seminar at the Georgia XXXX sponsored by XXXX XXXX. The only option we were given [ several months later ] was to double our mortgage payments for 6 or 7 months, and then we would be " caught up '', which we could not possibly afford since I was unemployed and my wife had taken a job in another State to provide for our basic needs. 

The issue we are facing now, over five years since the foreclosure, is that while the house sold for approximately {$90000.00} [ vs. the roughly {$60000.00} we owed after they tacked on another {$7000.00} in legal fees ], leaving a little over {$30000.00} in excess proceeds. After over three years of trying to get them to release these excess funds, we were able to get approximately {$19000.00} of those funds released to us. The other approx. XXXX was held because back in the early nineties, we had my wife 's mother added to the title so she would agree to move in with us, as she was XXXX. She had no other assets when she died XX/XX/XXXX, so there was never a need for probating her will ( or so we thought at the time ). Recently, we received hold harmless, " no administration needed '' form, and some other agreement to sign in order to receive the remaining $ XXXX in excess proceeds ... except that the amount they would release was only {$6100.00}! When I called to ask the reason for the nearly {$5000.00} in additional charges on funds that they have owed to us for over FIVE YEARS, they claimed that they needed to do research to prove [ to themselves ] that my wife was the correct heir to those funds ( she was an only child ), while these charges were in fact for research that only served to protect THEM! 

XXXX XXXX and their agents, McCalla-Raymer, held {$30000.00} of our money for well over three years ... begrudgingly releasing {$19000.00} at that point after many, many phone calls, and they have held the remaining {$11000.00} for over five years now. Considering that we were only six months late on a total of about {$6000.00}, I feel we are justifiably outraged at the actions of these individuals and their corporate veils. FYI, three months after the foreclosure in XXXX, the new owners sold our former house, for which they paid {$90000.00} ... for {$160000.00}!! We had paid {$110000.00} in XXXX, and had planned to never sell the house. 

We feel we should at the very least be able to receive the entire {$11000.00} in excess proceeds from the sale of the foreclosure, assuming they are legally, if not morally, required to pay us interest on the money they have held for the last 5+ years. We honestly feel that if we had not repeatedly requested information on these funds, this money would have simply been kept, as there was never ANY accounting for anything that transpired from the foreclosure or anything thereafter. I 'm sure we would have heard from them if the house had sold for less than what we owed! I only discovered how much the house sold for when I met with the new owners to retrieve some personal property from the house. Several thousand dollars worth of personal property went missing the week before the foreclosure because someone showing the house to potential buyers had apparently left the door unlocked. 

This has been a recurring nightmare over much of the last five years! Can you help us?

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation