Consumer complaint received 2024-04-29
Product: Mortgage — Home equity loan or line of credit (HELOC)
Issue: Trouble during payment process — Fees charged
Company: SANTANDER HOLDINGS USA, INC. (CT)

The attorney fees and costs of {$5600.00} which Santander seeks to include in the amount of the debt to be repaid by me are not recoverable from me based on the law of the State of XXXX, or the terms of the mortgage contract. See attached Repayment Agreement XXXX. 

In the State of XXXX, only a Court can add attorney fees and associated expenses to the amount of the debt to be repaid and a Court has not done so. See XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX 

In the copy of the HELOC contract that Santander provided to me it states that under certain circumstances the borrower could be subject to charge of certain fees, with these circumstances outlined in the paragraph labeled Our Absolute Obligation to Make Advances which begins on Page XXXX. The section states that when your Account is in default, You agree to pay our court costs and collection fees we incur in the collection and enforcement of your Account, as well as our reasonable attorneys fees, to the extent permitted by law. See the contract image attached, on page 5 Paragraph 3. Santander outlines in the HELOC contract, as stated above, that it requires attorneys fees and expenses incurred to be reasonable and necessary. The amount of the default pursuant to which Santander initiated the foreclosure was {$550.00}. See attached the XXXX XXXX. The value of the subject property was ten times greater than the amount of the debt. Based on these facts it was not reasonable or necessary for Santander to initiate a foreclosure and to incur {$5600.00} in attorneys fees and costs as a result thereof. 

Additionally, the Affidavit Regarding Attorneys Fees ( hereinafter Affidavit, and copy provided ), filed in the foreclosure action is defective for many reasons including, but not necessarily limited to the following : - Upon information and belief, the Affidavit is a standard form used in all non-litigated foreclosure cases regardless of the complexity of the case or time actually spent prosecuting the case. 
- Upon information and belief, the affiant has no personal knowledge of the time spent by any employee of the firm regarding the prosecution of the foreclosure action as no record of time spent is maintained by the firms attorneys or staff. 
- No hourly fee rate appears to be included in the Affidavit regarding attorneys or staff members. 
- Upon information and belief, almost all of the tasks set forth in the Affidavit are performed by non-attorney staff, including but not necessarily limited to the following : - Client communications - PACER and SCRA searches - Drafting of all court documents- Filing of all documents with the Court - While the Affidavit does refer to tasks performed by employees of the Firm in Paragraph B., it is not appropriate to include time spent by non-attorney staff in an Affidavit Regarding Attorneys Fees. 
- The case was extremely simple as no defendants appeared besides myself and upon information and belief, the time estimates contained in the Affidavit are grossly inflated. 
- Some of the tasks set forth in the Affidavit were not performed in this case, including but not necessarily limited to the following : - communication with various parties regarding the action. See Paragraph 4 of the Affidavit. However, no party appeared in the case other than me and I did not communicate with XXXX and XXXX at all until XX/XX/2024. 
- Upon information belief none of the tasks set forth in XXXX XXXX. 

CC : The Office of the Attorney General XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, CT XXXX Office of the Governor XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX CT XXXX Office of the Lieutenant Governor XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, CT XXXX Office of the Secretary of State XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, Suite XXXX XXXX, CT XXXX U.S. Senator XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, CT XXXX U.S. Senator XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX XXXX, CT XXXX XXXX Representative XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX, CT XXXX U.S. Representative XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX XXXX, CT XXXX XXXX Representative XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, CT XXXX XXXX Representative XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX XXXX, CT XXXX U.S. Representative XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX, CT XXXX