Consumer complaint received 2023-07-11
Product: Mortgage — Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process — 
Company: Movement Mortgage LLC (MD)

This situation is unusual but, ultimately, the gross negligence of the lender and its agents were the source of monetary and emotional damages as to which the lender refuses to offer any consideration whatsoever. 

Our home sits across two separate legal and tax parcels, XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX. Accordingly, when we closed on the loan three years ago, we fully disclosed the nature of our land estate and we properly executed documentation that would provide the lender with a first lien right on BOTH parcels. 

Unbeknownst to us at closing, the lender 's title company only recorded the lien against XXXX XXXX. They completely and negligently forgot to file the lien against XXXX XXXX. 

On account of the title company 's negligence, when the loan servicer calculated the monthly escrow impounds for our loan, they only incorporated an allocation of the property taxes on XXXX XXXX. The taxes that would be due on XXXX XXXX were never included in the escrow calculation. 

In light of the foregoing, for three years, I made timely monthly payments of principal, interest and impounds without any idea that there was a problem with my loan servicing. Meanwhile, twice a year, the lender was tendering the property taxes due on XXXX without realizing that taxes were not being paid on the other half of their collateral, i.e. XXXX XXXX. 

For three years, nobody paid taxes on XXXX and XXXX XXXX never sent me or the lender a late notice or otherwise informed either of us that XXXX was in serious default. 

Finally, with property taxes on XXXX unpaid for three years, the County sold a tax lien on that parcel to an investor group from out of state. XXXX XXXX was scheduled for foreclosure. 

Only a few weeks prior to foreclosure was I notified for the first time that taxes were delinquent on half my property. Notice came to me in the form of a letter from the attorney representing the investor group and basically telling me to pack up and move out in anticipation of the imminent foreclosure. 

Upon reading this letter my wife and I were horrified. We were so confused and scared and shocked. We were completely ambushed by this letter and my wife experienced a severe emotional breakdown that XXXX her for more than a week. She was crying ; she was hysterical ; she blamed me for not paying our mortgage as and when due. I did not know what to tell her and I could not prove to her that I had done nothing wrong. 

Of course, I immediately reached out to Movement Mortgage and I told them that, if they did not immediately address this situation, they would lose their collateral, I would lose my home, we would have no means by which to repay our mortgage loan and the potential for a lawsuit was obvious to everyone. At the time, it was not clear that we had a redemption right, by law, but, fortunately, the investor group was happy to accept payment so long as we fully repaid their purchase amount, 100 % of their legal fees, and a component of profit for their investment. The County also imposed late fees and penalties for our late tax payments. 

To their credit, Movement did jump on this matter fast. And they did take full responsibility for any legal fees, late fees and past due penalties. However, they are asking me to pay 100 % of the taxes due on XXXX because, in their view, had the filing error never happened, I would have paid all of the XXXX taxes through my monthly escrow impounds. 

I understand their logic, and I am not unwilling to pay the bulk of the historic taxes ( so long as they are spread out for a year or two, in order to keep my monthly payment manageable ). HOWEVER, because of the lender 's gross negligence, my wife and I definitely incurred damages and we think it is outrageous that they should " value '' our damages at zero : 1. Our credit ratings have taken a big adverse hit because we were so tardy with our taxes. Now we will pay much more for any borrowings if we can even qualify for credit when the lender notices that we were deadbeats on our taxes for three years. 

2. We spent dozens of hours addressing this situation from the moment the attorney 's letter arrived and for many months thereafter. These many hours of work obviously had to be expended on an " emergency '' basis because we were on the cusp of foreclosure and forfeiture of our primary residence. Other matters had to be shoved aside while we attended to this one, suddenly paramount, item all because of our lender 's gross negligence. 

3. The whole episode was devastating emotionally to my wife. She still isn't over it. She was XXXX, depressed, scared, angry at me and Movement and could not easily get past this narrow escape from losing our home. 

I know it is not easy to put a number on our damages but, the number is not XXXX. My wife is still not over it. She is scared to pick-up the mail each day lest their be some letter from some lawyer informing us that our home is in foreclosure. 

All of this has been explained to Movement but, they finally sent me an email saying that they are not going to do anything about it. As far as they are concerned, disaster was averted and now they feel like they don't owe us anything.