Consumer complaint received 2018-06-08
Product: Mortgage — Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Closing on a mortgage — 
Company: COAST 2 COAST FUNDING GROUP (CA)

I recently took out a mortgage loan for my first home ( condo ) purchase. Escrow closed on XX/XX/XXXX. The original lender was XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX Upon closing, the loan was immediately sold/transferred to XXXX XXXX. Shortly after closing, I received a letter from XXXX XXXX, dated XX/XX/XXXX, stating that the loan had now been transferred from XXXX XXXX to XXXX XXXX. A few months later I qualified for lower interest rate and was able to successfully refinance my loan with XXXX XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX. 

A month later on XX/XX/XXXX, I received an email from XXXX XXXX of XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. alleging that I owed {$9900.00} to cover an " Early Payoff '' penalty that was served from XXXX to Coast 2 Coast. The email included a credit card authorization form, prompting me to provide my credit card information so that I may be charged the {$9900.00}. Skeptical that this was a scam, I waited for formal written notice via mail, as per the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. After 2 weeks, I still had not received any formal written notice or bill for this charge but continued to receive emails from XXXX XXXX about this alleged charge. At this point I initiated and sent a debt validation letter to XXXX XXXX/Coast 2 Coast via USPS Certified Mail. This letter was received by Coast 2 Coast on XX/XX/XXXX. 

On XX/XX/XXXX I received an email from XXXX XXXX of Coast 2 Coast notifying me that their firm had received my letter and that he was taking over as the " point of contact '' until XX/XX/XXXX, at which point this situation " will be referred out to [ their ] collection servicing firm and legal advisory team '' and that he hoped to " come to a resolution in the near future to avoid any complications or further expenditures. '' Fearing the threat of legal action and potentially further charges, I began researching at the local law library and online legal databases. I came across several important findings that will serve as the basis of my complaint. 

First finding comes from an article published XX/XX/XXXX in the XXXX XXXX which highlights that " prepayment '' penalties are often charged inappropriately. Lawyer XXXX XXXX, director of member legal services for the California Association of Realtors at the time, " wonder [ s ] how many instances have gone undetected '', because in the words of the author " Most homeowners don't check. They simply take their lender 's word for it. And as a result, some may be paying the penalty unnecessarily. '' The article goes on to state that if the loan " has been purchased by the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, or XXXX XXXX, for example, you don't have to pay the penalty. The same holds true for most 30-year, fixed-rate loans owned by the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, or XXXX XXXX. '' The article concludes " So there you have it. If yours is a standard 30-year loan written on standard XXXX documents that don't contain a prepayment penalty, you shouldn't have to pay it. '' My Mortgage Closing Disclosure and Mortgage Note, both on standard XXXX documents, explicitly state there is No Prepayment Penalty. Subsequent monthly Mortgage Statements from XXXX explicitly state No Prepayment Penalty. 

Second set of findings are what I believe to be explicit violations of the Law by XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, as outlined in the US Code and in the Code of Federal Regulations. My findings here are summarized in my second letter to Coast 2 Coast, sent via USPS Certified Mail and received by them on XX/XX/XXXX, as well as scanned PDF copy via email on XX/XX/XXXX. To briefly summarize, it is my belief that when XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. furnished my loan and discretely included a non-standard Early Loan Payoff Restriction agreement into my loan packet, they violated : 15 U.S.C. 1638, 15 U.S.C. 1639c, 12 C.F.R. 1026.19, 12 C.F.R. 1026.36, 12 C.F.R. 1026.41, and 12 C.F.R. 1026.43. 

Since sending this letter disputing the alleged debt, I have not received a formal written response from XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX, or any other representative from XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, addressing my concerns. I only received an immediate email response from XXXX XXXX acknowledging the receipt of the scanned PDF copy of my letter on XX/XX/XXXX. In that email response he wrote I will be sure this information gets forwarded to the collection servicing department on Monday. Regretfully this is being re-assigned to them a different firm on Monday. Things are out of my hands come then. In a subsequent email sent by XXXX XXXX later that day he wrote the firm is XXXX XXXX in XXXX, California just wanted to make you aware so that you didnt think it was a spammer or solicitor. This email did not include any contact information for the collection agency. Being that Coast 2 Coast was supposedly no longer involved in this matter, I waited patiently to be contacted by XXXX XXXX. 

10 days later on XX/XX/XXXX I was contacted again via email by XXXX XXXX, who wrote I just wanted to let you know that this debt was successfully transferred and sold to the collection firm. Again, XXXX XXXX did not provide me with any contact information for this collection agency, nor did he provide any transactional documentation confirming the sale of this alleged debt to XXXX XXXX. 

On XX/XX/XXXX ( 16 days after this supposed transfer of the alleged debt to XXXX ) I still had not been contacted by the collection firm. Therefore, I decided to initiate contact with XXXX. I called the phone number listed on their website, XXXX, and spoke to XXXX XXXX. He searched through their database to try to find this alleged transaction/debt. I provided my full name, my property address, as well as the name of the lender, Coast 2 Coast. XXXX confirmed that he was unable to find any record of this alleged debt. XXXX placed me on a brief hold to double check with his supervisor, and still they were unable to find anything. XXXX also kindly informed me that he and his supervisor had never heard of Coast 2 Coast and were unaware of ever doing business with them. Additionally, XXXX informed me that their collection firm does not buy debts but simply attempts to collect debts on the behalf of other companies, and then subsequently collects a percentage of that debt. This is contrary to what was written in XXXX XXXX email to me on XX/XX/XXXX. 

On the morning of XX/XX/XXXX I called XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX at XXXX. I wanted clarification on this alleged debt and to confirm that it was in fact sold to XXXX XXXX. I spoke to XXXX who was unfamiliar with the situation and unable to provide me with any information. She deferred to her superiors who she said were not in the office. When I asked if I could speak with either XXXX XXXX or XXXX XXXX, she informed me that they were both on vacation and unavailable to speak with me on the phone. 

It has now been close to 2 months since I was initially contacted by XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX about this alleged debt, and there is still no closure or resolution to the matter.