Consumer complaint received 2021-10-25
Product: Mortgage — Home equity loan or line of credit (HELOC)
Issue: Trouble during payment process — 
Company: Specialized Loan Servicing Holdings LLC (NV)

I recently tried to refinance our loan with Specialized Loan Servicing, LLC ( SLS ), but SLS deficient loan servicing prevented us from being able to take advantage of refinancing. I spent the last six weeks working with the lender to help them understand how badly SLS has mishandled our account, but the SLS loan servicing history, failure to provide accurate information and general unwillingness to address these issues led to our refinancing being denied.

SLS Loan Servicing History SLS deficient loan servicing began immediately after SLS acquired two of our loans from XXXX  XXXX XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX. Payments made to XXXX  XXXX XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX for XX/XX/XXXX were not applied by SLS for months, even though the payments were in SLS system as of XX/XX/XXXX. We subsequently received a letter from SLS dated XX/XX/XXXX noting that our account was undergoing maintenance, during which time payments would not reflect on our account and our account would be inaccessible online, ( Attachment One ).

SLS kept our account in maintenance until XX/XX/XXXX. During this time, online access to the account was frequently unavailable and I was repeatedly told by SLS representatives that statements COULD NOT be generated, ( regardless of whether or not we had requested to receive statements ). After repeated phone calls and correspondence with SLS, SLS sent a notice that a new account was created on XX/XX/XXXX, ( Attachment Two ). 

From XX/XX/XXXX through XX/XX/XXXX, I called SLS to inquire on the account balance and made multiple payments at the instruction of SLS representatives. These calls and payments include : 1. Called SLS on XX/XX/XXXX. Made payment of {$900.00} on XX/XX/XXXX for XX/XX/XXXX per SLS representative to bring the account current. 
2. Called SLS on XX/XX/XXXX. Made payment of {$410.00} on XX/XX/XXXX per SLS representative to bring the account current. 
3. Called SLS on XX/XX/XXXX and was told by SLS representative that the account was a mess and showed an overage of {$650.00} on the payment due XX/XX/XXXX, so no payments would be due until the end of XXXX. 
4. Called SLS on XX/XX/XXXX and was told by XXXX representative that they could not tell me account details because the account was still in maintenance. 
5. Called SLS on XX/XX/XXXX and was told that XXXX  XXXX XXXX payments and two previous payments made to SLS were in SLS system, but no information was available on amount due because the account was still in maintenance.

6. Called SLS on XX/XX/XXXX. I was told that the account balance was approximately {$2000.00}, but that the account would be out of maintenance on XX/XX/XXXX. I would get a call with the balance due once the account was out of maintenance. Never received a call from SLS that account was out of maintenance.

7. Called SLS on XX/XX/XXXX. I was told that payments to SLS were applied to XXXX payment even though the XXXX payments were made to XXXX  XXXX XXXX. Made payment of {$1800.00} on XX/XX/XXXX per SLS representative to bring the account current. 
8. Called SLS on XX/XX/XXXX. Made a payment of {$1500.00} on XX/XX/XXXX per SLS representative to bring the account current. Still no online access. 
9. Called SLS on XX/XX/XXXX. Made payment of {$770.00} on XX/XX/XXXX per SLS representative to bring the loan current. Still no online access. I was told the loan was still in maintenance. 
10. Called SLS on XX/XX/XXXX. Made payment of {$520.00} on XX/XX/XXXX per SLS representative to bring the account current, consistent with statement dated XX/XX/XXXX. 
11. Called SLS on XX/XX/XXXX. SLS representative said, This is a mess, Accounts dont make any sense, and This is not right. A new account had been opened, but not all payments were transferred to the new account. The SLS representative requested payment research for both accounts, which I was told would take seven days. Made a payment on XX/XX/XXXX of {$1000.00} to bring the account current per SLS representative. 
12. Called SLS on XX/XX/XXXX. Made payment of {$2300.00} on XX/XX/XXXX per SLS representative, which included an additional payment that SLS representative said was necessary to bring the account current.

In the ten months listed, I made at least a dozen calls to SLS to find the payment required to keep the account current, ( Attachment Three ). I was told four times by SLS representatives that no information was available for my account. I made eight payments at the direction of SLS representatives, who represented each time that I was paying the amount necessary to keep the account current.

While we made the payments necessary to keep the account current as represented by SLS representatives, SLS verification of mortgage, ( Attachment Four ), continued to show three payments 15-30 days late despite previous correspondence from me asking for these late payments to be removed. I still do not know why SLS collected an extra payment on XX/XX/XXXX which is inconsistent with the statement provided by SLS on XX/XX/XXXX and the other payments made in that period, ( although I suspect that in reconciling the account, SLS realized that they had omitted billing and collecting a XX/XX/XXXX payment ). 

Refinancing Issues SLS deficient loan servicing created multiple issues with refinancing. I provided a copy of SLS verification of mortgage to the lender, but this verification includes the three late payments from the time the account was in maintenance that SLS has refused to adjust, ( Attachment Four ).

After I explained the issues I had with SLS verification of mortgage to the lender, the lender contacted SLS for loan verification and was incorrectly told that SLS did not start servicing the loan until XX/XX/XXXX, resulting in the lender requesting me to provide XXXX  XXXX XXXX payment history from XX/XX/XXXX to XX/XX/XXXX, ( during which time the loan was with SLS ). As there was no XXXX  XXXX XXXX payment history for the time our loan was with SLS, I provided a record of payments I had made to SLS during the previous 24 months, ( Attachment Three ). 

The lender questioned why the payment history I provided showed payments made on the loan from XX/XX/XXXX through XX/XX/XXXX varying in amount, with no payments one month and multiple payments in other months, ( which are the direct result of SLS having the loans in maintenance ). I again tried to explain to the lender that SLS kept the loans in maintenance for ten months, which required me to call and rely upon SLS representatives for the amount due.

The lender then requested that I provide the 24-month payment history from SLS. The document provided by SLS on XX/XX/XXXX shows NO PAYMENTS from XX/XX/XXXX through XX/XX/XXXX ( Attachment Five ). While the documents transaction dates start on XX/XX/XXXX, the first entries are two large adjustments on XX/XX/XXXX. The 24-month payment history provided by SLS is not only incorrect, it also doesnt seem to meet industry standards according to the lender, as it is simply a spreadsheet with our name, account, payments and adjustments. There is no SLS identification, date produced, signature of representative or ANY indication this payment history was produced by SLS.

With no information provided by SLS to account for the inconsistent payment history, the lender requested a letter from SLS explaining that they had serviced the loan since XX/XX/XXXX and that payments were made in a timely fashion per SLS representatives while it was in maintenance. I contacted SLS with this request on XX/XX/XXXX. I spent four days waiting to speak to a supervisor. SLS supervisors repeatedly tried to contact me using the wrong numbers on our account, requiring me to twice call and repeat my request to speak to a supervisor. When I finally spoke to a supervisor on XX/XX/XXXX, I was told the supervisor could not provide ANY additional explanation, documentation or notes that reflected my payment history while in maintenance. My only recourse was to mail a request to SLS.

I explained to the supervisor that, as we were nearly a month removed from the lender questioning SLS 24-month payment history and that SLS had complicated the matter by telling the lender that SLS was not the servicer of the loan prior to XX/XX/XXXX, time was of the essence. SLS previously took 34 days and 52 days to reply to my written correspondence. I simply could not wait that long again for SLS to provide an explanation of their serving history. The representative apologized but said that SLS would not accept any requests by email or fax. 

The lender unfortunately, was unable to wait any longer to process the loan. When I explained the situation to the lender in an email on XX/XX/XXXX, I was told that due to time constraints, they had to submit the loan for final review. On XX/XX/XXXX, we were denied refinancing due to the issues surrounding our payment history with SLS.