Consumer complaint received 2017-10-06
Product: Debt collection — Mortgage debt
Issue: Attempts to collect debt not owed — Debt is not yours
Company: Onity Group Inc. (AL)

Eight years ago my husband XXXX After his XXXX I called the mortgage company to let them know and to take over the house payments. The company said that they could not talk to me and proceeded to never discuss the home with me. I wrote them letters, and I called and never received a clear understanding of why they could/would not talk to me. I was legally married to my husband at the time of his XXXX and live in a state where this provides me a particular set of rights. 

Now, after almost nine years, I have not been able to resolve the issue with the house, which has been difficult for me. I have maintained the house, paid utility bills, home owners insurance, and property taxes. I am writing this complaint in hopes that I can resolve this issue and bring some closure to my husbands untimely XXXX. 

My issue is with Ocwen. Ocwen is a debt collector that is seeking to collect debt on the house. They have contacted me for several years attempting to foreclose the home, but they have not been successful. They constantly rotate between their predatory practices and authorize predatory practices with other companies ( probably companies they own ), XXXX and XXXX. After thwarting an illegal eviction by an XXXX vendor, who claims to have been authorized by Ocwen, I have been trying to work with Ocwen to complete a short sale of the property to settle the alleged debt. 

The short sale process has been difficult for many reasons. They initiated this short sale proposal, but it is challenging to communicate with them. I have been talking to an Ocwen employee who says his name is XXXX. He contacted me sometime in early XXXX. He proposed that I do a short sale to resolve this situation. At the time, I felt that it was a good proposal. I followed his instructions, which were to fax an authorization letter to them that would allow a real estate agent to talk with them in order to sell the house. I found a realtor and faxed a letter of authorization on XXXX XXXX, 2017. The realtor called them to start the process, and Ocwen said that they had no record of an authorization letter and could not talk to the realtor. I called XXXX, but he did not call me back until a couple of weeks later. When he called, he said that he had not seen an authorization letter, but he would investigate and get back with me. He also said that I needed to also have an authorization letter that proves that I am who I say I am in order to sell the house to resolve this situation. However, that is a very late request considering they have sent me pounds of paper without confirming my identity. 

This exchange of paperwork without a clear understanding of the process shows that Ocwen is continuing to privilege their predatory practices. If they want to complete the short sale ( with their offer of an 80/20 split on the sale to bring the alleged debt to a close ), I want to see the documentation and authorization from them that brings a legal closure to this long, grief-filled set of encounters with Ocwen, and presumably their subsidiaries or partners, XXXX and XXXX. 

I processed a complaint on XXXX, whose dishonest response tries to paint themselves as preservationists. It is believed they have placed the home on a black-market type site that asks that no one disturbs me as they run a buy-at-your-own-risk operation. They all work together to create what seems to be a black market that preys on homes that they believe belong to less educated American citizens with lower socioeconomic statuses. They represent what is wrong with the housing market in our American culture that cultivates an illusion of equitable access and protection for homeowners. 


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