Consumer complaint received 2018-01-20
Product: Mortgage — Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Struggling to pay mortgage — 
Company: CARRINGTON MORTGAGE SERVICES, LLC (DE)

I have a complaint against the servicer of my mortgage loan Carrington. I ran afoul of the county code enforcement ( literally a local mafia ) and they began to fine me for various infractions ( some borderline legitimate and some fabricated ). I tried to fight them and push back but at one point in time they claimed that I owed them $ XXXX and they were able to attach these fines to my house. While I was in the middle of fighting this battle in court, Carrington PAID this for me and then told me I needed to pay them! Due to divorce a few years earlier I had no safety net or reserves, and I was in no position to come up with this $ XXXX. Due to their inclusion of this amount into my mortgage I defaulted because they insisted that I take care of this entire amount. I have tried repeatedly to be reviewed for a modification or a restructured loan but have made no progress and have been given the runaround. I was able to enter into the state mandated mediation with HUD and due to that Carrington appeared to take me seriously. They actually assigned an account manager to work with me. But after a few weeks it was the same thing all over again. Misplaced documents, conflicting accounts of status, hard to reach anyone, etc. This is beyond frustrating and it was all avoidable. I should not be in this position. I have the means to afford a reasonable mortgage payment. Due to borderline extortion by the  county I was hammered with unfair code enforcement fines and penalties that I was in the process of challenging in court. Then Carrington decided to pay these fines FOR ME and then demanded that I pay them. 

I work full time for XXXX XXXX and I make enough income to afford a reasonable mortgage payment. Things started to go sideways for me after my divorce in 2007after 30 years my marriage simply fell apart. At that time, the business at the courier company dramatically dropped due to the recession. This caused a lot of financial issues and I ended up liquidating all reserves and my safety net. A few years later the county code enforcement people began sniffing around my home and began hitting me with various code enforcement fines. It seemed like I was targetedthey charged me {$4800.00}, then hit me for having a sandbox in the wrong part of my yard, and then this just spiraled out of control. This is relevant because they ended up adding $ XXXX in fines and junk fees and this was tied to my property so Carrington decided to pay this and then billed me directly for this full amount which led to my default on this loan. 
At that time, I began trying to resolve this matter with Carrington. As described, I had the means to make a regular mortgage payment and things were fine until these code enforcement fines were added to my mortgage. However, it was very difficult to navigate the Carrington system and get anything done with them. I would send the same documents over and over. I would be transferred from department to department and could never get a status or make any progress on my request for assistance. After I filed for mediation Carrington gave my case some attention and assigned a point of contact, but after submitting my paperwork several times I am once again in limbo with no progress. I wanted to make your agency aware of the way that Carrington is conducting themselves and putting hardworking homeowners into foreclosure for no good reason.