Consumer complaint received 2016-09-19
Product: Mortgage — Conventional fixed mortgage
Issue: Loan servicing, payments, escrow account — 
Company: Seterus, Inc. (GA)

I 've dealt with this horrible company for years, unfortunately. My mortgage was sold to them twice so I had no say in the matter. I really wish we could control what company services our mortgages because Seterus would definitely go out of business! They are basically incompetent on the phone, there is no email address on their website to contact them, and their statements are difficult to understand. 

First major error they made was years ago. My address is very long and their computer cut off my condo unit number on the letters they were trying to mail me so I missed several crucial documents for my loan modification. As a result, when I figured out what was going on, my loan modification had expired so I had to start the paperwork all over again ( and this paperwork took a long time to fill out ). This delayed my modification by months. That 's money I could have really used! 
Second major error just occurred. I refinanced my mortgage XX/XX/2016 with XXXX. XXXX, unfortunately, sold my new mortgage to Seterus. They sent me a letter about it XX/XX/XXXX or XX/XX/2016, I believe. I heard nothing from XXXX. XXXX slips by and before too long, it 's XX/XX/XXXX. I called both XXXX and Seterus to inquire about my XX/XX/XXXX payment but both said I did n't owe any payment. As a result, I went ahead and spent my mortgage money on something else. Then, Seterus pops up and wants the XX/XX/XXXX payment even though it 's well into XX/XX/XXXX at this point ( I usually pay beginning of the month ). I told them the money was gone and that I 'd pay my XX/XX/XXXX statement in XX/XX/XXXX, as planned. 
XX/XX/XXXX, I called back and they agreed to split my XX/XX/XXXX payment up into 2 payments, XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/2016. For those months, I 'd make a pay and a half to make up for it. I made my payment and a half XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX via paper check ( I always pay with a check with them ). However, without my permission ( written or verbal ) they went into my bank account and took my loan payment. They did this twice. I did n't know they had done this so that 's why I wrote XXXX checks to them. By this point it was XX/XX/XXXX and that 's when I started bouncing checks and was getting slapped with fees. Seterus got my checking account number and routing number off my paper check. They admitted on XX/XX/2016 that they should not have taken my money out via ACH ( and to top it all off, they charged me XXXX " pay by phone '' ACH fees of {$10.00} each! ) I even told them on the phone XX/XX/XXXX ( it 's on the recording, I 'm sure ) that I 'd rather my credit take a hit than allow Seterus to have access to my bank account. That 's how serious I was about them NOT getting into my account. And then they broke the law. 
I ended up making XXXX payments ( 5 months ' worth of payments, since I was making up the XX/XX/XXXX payment ) to them in the space of 2 months and I ca n't afford that! XXXX paper checks for a payment and half each and XXXX ACH automatic withdrawals that Seterus illegaly took, for XXXX total transactions. My entire checking and savings accounts are wiped out and I have XXXX money to my name until I get paid again at the end of the month. I am aghast at this " company ''. I wish I could escape from them!