Consumer complaint received 2024-10-08
Product: Mortgage — Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Struggling to pay mortgage — An existing modification, forbearance plan, short sale, or other loss mitigation relief
Company: Shellpoint Partners, LLC (WA)

NOTES : -Mortage Loan is currently in foreclosure -Two complaints in this filing ; mortgage modification process failure and failure to pay homeowners insurance premiums -I will try to keep this narrative at a high level with minimal details due to space limitations ; I have multiple pages written with all the details for your review when appropriate. 

Beginning in early XXXX and spanning most of that year, my family began a series of XXXX episodes ( elderly mother, young daughter, and myself ). I was unable to make mortgage payments and applied for an HAF grant. It was taking longer than anticipated to work through that process so I applied for assistance through my mortgage company ( SLS ), who ultimately approved me for trial payments ( XXXX, XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX ) and a subsequent loan modification. My application for the HAF XXXX was approved and sent to underwriting at this time so I did not move forward with the lenders loan modification program. 

In early XXXX, HAF underwriting denied disbursement of the grant based on my original loan amount falling outside their threshold. I reached out to my mortgage company to discuss options and they advised that I could make the XXXX and XXXX payments by the end of XXXX and then the XXXX payment in XXXX and they would move forward with the modification. 

I prepared XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX for the funds to make the payments in XXXX. Just a couple of days before this transaction was to take place, my landlord broke into my business facility and stole EVERYTHING, valued at nearly {$1.00} XXXX. Much of the equipment and property that was stolen was my personal property that would be covered by my XXXX homeowners insurance policy ( discussed further, later in this document ). I then could not make the trial payments and reached out to SLS again, who advised that I submit a new hardship letter and application for loan modification. 

I immediately submitted these documents and was approved in XXXX for the modification program again, with XXXX, XXXX and XXXX trial payments and a requirement that I officially accept the terms of the offer by XX/XX/XXXX, which I did. SLS representative " XXXX '' took my XX/XX/XXXX phone call to accept the terms of the agreement, noted my file accordingly, and advised that I needed to make each trial payment in the month that it was due. I asked multiple times if this was acceptable and was reassured repeatedly by XXXX that everything was and would be fine, just make the XXXX payment by the end of the month. 

During this time, I attempted to file a claim with XXXX for the XX/XX/XXXX theft. This was a major claim, significantly exceeding {$100000.00}. XXXX advised me that they had cancelled my insurance about XXXX months earlier, in XXXX, for non-payment. This was a shock to me because my mortgage company ( SLS ) was supposed to be paying insurance and taxes out of an escrow account. Apparently XXXX had sent a bill to SLS followed by notices of intent to cancel if payment was not received but XXXX ultimately failed to make the payment and XXXX cancelled my insurance. However, SLS still showed my homeowners insurance policy as 'active ' on my account on their website, displaying the policy number, coverage limits, etc. There was no indication that my policy had been cancelled. SLS subsequently acquired 'lender-initiated ' coverage that does not provide for theft protection and called it a done deal. Meanwhile, I am out XXXX figures on the theft claim and XXXX 's quote for a new, identical policy to my original will cost XXXX times as much. This insurance issue is XXXX of the complaints herein. 

Back to the mortgage modification issue- After officially accepting the terms of the modification agreement and being advised to make each trial payment in the month that the payment is due, I called to make the first payment ( XX/XX/XXXX ). I spoke with my point of contact, XXXX, who told me she couldn't accept of process the payment because my account had been taken out of the modification program. She investigated but neither she nor her supervisor understood why it was taken out of the program. She said IT limitations prevented her from opening it back up but that I should just reapply to set it back up and they'd approve it. 

I reapplied but we were now in the middle of the transition from SLS to Newrez/Shellpoint. Customer service could not help as the company was in disarray. The service rep couldn't find documents or employees and proactively filed internal complaints. She told me to give them a couple of weeks to get things straightened out. They did not reach back out to me, so I began calling them. They didn't return messages and scheduled a call with a rep at their earliest convenience - the following week. This delayed the process by XXXX weeks and began a cycle of processing applications and then cancelling them before completing them. This cycle of opening and closing the modification process has happened probably more than 5 times since XXXX. 

During this XXXX months, Shellpoint has requested documents be sent to email addresses that don't exist ( I have the systems-generated rejected and returned emails ), has advised that I return calls during hours when they are not open, has blocked emails with requested attachments and not notified me that the email was blocked, has told me they simply acquired some loans and that SLS still exists, requested that I reach out to SLS reps that admitted they errored in terminating the XXXX trial payment plan to have them call Shellpoint reps, fails to call during scheduled 'meeting ' times, and has been pointing the finger at SLS all along, claiming that 'the past is the past, stop thinking about it ' and has told me if I am filing a complaint with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau / CFPB, then they can not help me with the mortgage modification process. Seems a bit retaliatory and illegal. 

This discussion of the mortgage modification missteps is the other complain herein. 

There is an awful lot of commotion and chaos to this situation. I hope I was able to provide a concise enough description for you to understand much to most of the issue. Again, please don't hesitate to reach out to me for more information. I have some contemporaneous notes too.