Consumer complaint received 2024-10-03
Product: Mortgage — Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process — Fees charged
Company: Fay Servicing, LLC (CA)

Violation of Regulation Z 12 CFR 1026.41 ( a ) ( 2 ) - Periodic statements for residential mortgage loans. 

Violation of The Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act ( E-Sign Act ) 15 U.S.C. 7001 ( c ) ( 1 ) Consumer Consent to Electronic Records. 

Request for assistance with removal of late fees resulting from servicing agent failure to obtain affirmative consent from borrower before delivering statements electronically. 

Fay Servicing is the mortgage servicing agent for thee of my investment property mortgage loans : On XX/XX/XXXX, while paying other bills, I realized that I hadnt received XXXX statements by mail for any of these mortgages. I proceeded to access the Fay Servicing online portal and discovered that my monthly mortgage statements had been switched to electronic delivery without my request or consent. Since XXXX payments for these mortgages were now several days late, Fay Servicing applied a late fee to each mortgage ( {$46.00}, {$44.00} and {$50.00} ). 

I immediately paid all XXXX mortgage payments via e-check through the Fay Servicing XXXX. Then I reset statement delivery preferences from electronic to US Mail delivery for all future statements. From there, I proceeded to call Fay Servicing at ( XXXX ) XXXX. The agent I spoke with identified himself as XXXX XXXX and confirmed that we were speaking on a recorded line The agent confirmed that Fay Servicing switched my statement delivery method from US Mail to email without my request or consent. When I asked if or how they notified borrowers about this change, he said that Fay Servicing sent a notification email a few months ago. I insisted that the agent confirm ( on a recorded line ) that each of my mortgage statement delivery preferences had been switched back to US mail delivery for all future statements. Then I requested the removal of XXXX late fees because Fay Servicing did not obtain my affirmative consent before delivering statements electronically. 

The agent denied my request to remove XXXX late fees, even though they unilaterally modified a statement delivery method Ive relied upon each month since XX/XX/XXXX. I told him I didnt think this was legal, and he proceeded to lecture me about my borrower obligations, regardless of if, when or how Fay Servicing sent monthly statements. After the agent confirmed that all statement delivery preferences were reset to US Mail, he said there was no guarantee that statements wouldnt be switched back to e-delivery in the future. He also added that he thought US Mail delivery was wasteful, and Fay Servicing needed to move forward with it its green initiatives. I thanked him for saying all of this on a recorded line for future reference. 

Although I paid all three of the above-mentioned XXXX mortgage payments on XX/XX/XXXX, I did not pay any of the XXXX late fees. As shown in the attached documentation, there is a statement above each late fee that says, Fees can not be modified once a payment is submitted. I declined to pay the fees so they can be removed. 

While preparing this memo, I discovered an e-mail message sent to me by Fay Servicing on XX/XX/XXXX that announces their plan to change statement delivery preferences without my affirmative consent.