Consumer complaint received 2017-05-16
Product: Mortgage — Reverse mortgage
Issue: Struggling to pay mortgage — 
Company: Liberty Home Equity Solutions, Inc. (MA)

My parents ( now deceased ) took out a Reverse Mortgage wit h Genworth  which is  nor Liberty Home Equity Solutions ( Liberty HES ) i n  XXXX . At that time they were supposed to have the required HECM HUD Mortgage Counseling which I believe they did not have and I have evidence to prove that they did not. At that time their mortgage on the house had been fully paid off for years, there was substantial equity in the property and they had excellent retirement income and excellent credit. I believe they were misled and deceived about the risks and the nature of the loan and were not shown other less risky alternatives. From  XXXX  to   XXXX   XXXX   my mother was handling all of the finances my father had become legally  XXXX  and when she became ill and hospitalized in  XXXX  my father appointed me as his Power or Attorney.Then I discovered numerous documents with many serious discrepancies and I began requesting documents from  Liberty HES and reviewing their bank account information. My mother died in   XXXX   XXXX   and my fa ther in   XXXX   XXXX  , after which I was appointed as the Estate Personal Representative (  XXXX  ) and as sole heir, I continued to request documents from  Liberty HES a nd they would not cooperate even requiring each time I send their death certificates and my personal representative documents without receiving the documents. There were very significant discrepancies of amounts due for the payoff and a lack of accounting for charges in excess of {$80000.00} . Six wee ks after my father 's   XXXX    Liberty HES  started sending collection letters. As sole heir from   XXXX   to  XXXX , I made several offers which  Liberty HES re jected. My husband and I were approved for a mortgage in    XXXX   XXXX    and were to sign and pass papers in approx. a week when he unexpectedly suddenly   XXXX   on the way to his work of a massive  XXXX   XXXX . Shortly after  Liberty HES s ent notices of foreclosure.  Liberty HES  has failed to negotiate and has not provided requested documents. I have an  XXXX  mortgage counseling original form signed by th e counselor but  unsigned by my parents that have their names typed in with my mother 's name misspelled. As I lived our home and took care of them and I had the only vehicle I would have had to make any appointments for them and take them for any counseling sessions which did not occur. In only some of the documents I have requested, I recently received a photocopy of the counseling form which has my parents alleged signatures on it but my father 's signature, in particular, does not appear authentic ( in both my sister and my opinion ). Therefore, I contacted the  XXXX  Counseling agency and was told that the agency can not provide a copy of the counseling certificate signed by my parents. Further, on the mortgage documents fro m Genworth, it stat es the counseling fees were waived. Among documents I have found there are pages that state certain conditions and aspects of the Reverse Mortgage which are simply not true of the Mortgage agreement they signed and I believe these text pages were used to deceive my parents about the nature of the loan. Many pages of the mortgage document initial agree ment, Loan docume nts are missing required signatures and or initialing or have initialing in particular by my father that do not appear authentic in that he always wrote in cursive and the letter shapes do not appear typical of his writing. Further, the signing of the mortgage itself was done at our home and involved onl y two men from Genworth being  there, my son and myself were home at that time, no one else came or went from the house here in Massachusetts. Yet in the mortgage documents a specific female person who went before a  Notary Republic in   XXXX  California to swear and attest that she witnessed the signing of the Mortgage loan documents and verified the identification of the signing mortgages and that she submitted proof of this. No female person came to the house during that day at all before during or after the signing of the documents and there was no photocopy machine in our home so no copies of picture ID driver 's licenses could have been made in any case. Therefore, the  Notarized witnessi ng is fraudulent and why was it done in California not here in Massachusetts where the alleged signing occurred and where the property is located? There are numerous missing signatures and or seals that were required on documents in copies I have found or received. An FHA required signature and seal is blank i n one document. There is a loan   document that states the total loan amount as {$530000.00}. when the house was appraised at {$330000.00}. at that time in  XXXX , and which we believe that appraisal was highly inflated as the housing market had crashed. In fact, the current   XXXX   XXXX   appraisal is the same {$330000.00}. amount as that. The original purpose of the loan was to replace the furnace, hot water heater, repair replace the chimney, repair the roof, and put in thermal energy efficient windows. A second mortgage or home improvement loan could have been easily obtained based on the equity their finances and their excellent credit ratings rather than a variable interest Reverse Mortgage high-risk loan that had administrative fees and interest costs of approx. $  XXXX . I do not believe my father the principle owner would have agreed to this predatory loan if he had had the required HECM counseling. Our home ( now my home ) was built in  XXXX  by my grandfather and my father was born in this home, I have lived in my home for the majority of my life having once moved out but returned to help my parents as they became older and developed some increasing medical problems. Myself I am  XXXX  as determined by  U.S. SSA and  now have a limited income under their  XXXX  Widow 's benefit. I have contacted every free legal aid clinic, agency organization known to man and thus far have not been able to obtain any help.  In   XXXX   XXXX   Liberty HES attempted a   foreclosure auction for which I had to file a personal bankruptcy to stop, however, due to inclement weather and my  XXXX  and an illness I suffered at that time I did could not obtain my mail and missed a required documents filing deadline so that bankruptcy was dismissed. Following the   XXXX   XXXX   property assessment,  Liberty HES  sent letters of non-adjudicated foreclosure and impending foreclosure auction of   XXXX   XXXX   XXXX  . On Thursday,   XXXX   XXXX   XXXX   through advice and help of a friend I filed a petition request pleading for the MA  XXXX   Superior Court to issue  a court injunction stay of the foreclosure /auction, however, the judge said there was not enough evidence and that  Liberty HES had to r eceive notification so he set another court date for Monday,   XXXX   XXXX   at   XXXX   XXXX   the day before the auction. Based upon that I found it necessary to re-file a chapter  XXXX  bankruptcy in  XXXX  on the next day Friday,   XXXX   XXXX   XXXX  . On Monday the  Liberty HES attorney had the  court remove the injunction hearing due to the bankruptcy. In the meantime, I have met with a local state representative who urged me to file a complaint with the MA Attorney  Generals Office CARD division which I have  done yesterday   XXXX   XXXX   XXXX  , and they have provided the names of some legal aid agencies to contact and I am in process of doing so today although, I have previously contacted these entities without getting any help prior. Additionally, through the bankruptcy filing, I have filed a subpoena  to Liberty HES for true c opies of the Reverse Mortgage and all related documents. Through the same bankruptcy court, I have requested that the accounting of the mortgage debt amount be performed and I am requesting that the court help me to obtain legal representation. My ultimate goal is to have the courts determine the validity of any and all debt and to assist or require that a payment plan that is affordable be put into place for repayment of any amount if any that is truly due so that I can keep my lifetime home. Debt Collection harassment : In addition to numerous mailed documents the  Debt collection activities started only 6 weeks after my father 's death when I believe there was supposed to be a 3-month delay to allow the heir to obtain financing to keep the home. Further in the latest threatening letter from the Liberty HES it alleges the loan amount was {$530000.00}. and that they would sue me for any deficiency after the auction. As far as I can determine my parents only received approximately {$200000.00}. and that there are about {$90000.00} to {$100000.00} of unspecified administrative and interest fees added on. The Reverse Mortgage states that the mortgagee 's and or their heirs are not to be charged for to have any attempt at collecting a deficiency. As this is a FHA loan Liberty HES would receive FDA insurnace payment for any difference between the auction sale amount and the full appraised value. This and other occurrences amount to harassment by the Lender and their attorney collection agencies.