Consumer complaint received 2016-05-06
Product: Mortgage — FHA mortgage
Issue: Loan modification,collection,foreclosure — 
Company: Selene Finance LP (CT)

In late XXXX XXXX XXXX I heard on XXXX that the government had opened up help for homeowners with mortgages that are much larger than the current market value of their home. At the time we owed $ XXXX on a house that was only worth $ XXXX. We called our lender & requested a modification that would reduce our principal balance to more closely align with our market value. In XXXX XXXX we were assigned a single point of contact, XXXX XXXX, & he told us that in order to qualify for this modification, we had to be behind on payments. He suggested we allow our mortgage to get behind by at least 1 month ( current plus XXXX ) so we did. In late XXXX XXXX we requested the modification through XXXX & were mailed paperwork to begin the process. We provided everything & the process seemed to be moving along into a good place. Months went by & Selene got very difficult to deal with. Papers were lost, phone calls were not returned, requests made in writing were not answered, etc. I worked with the company by calling almost every day to check on the status of our account. In XXXX XXXX I received a phone call that our request for modification had been denied & the person I spoke with was very unprofessional. I made a complaint to CFPB at the time & the next day I got a phone call that a mathematical error had been made & our modification was moving forward. We were advised to make 3 trial payments & then our modification paperwork would be sent to us. We thought it was odd that we had to make the payments & then be told what our deal was but we did it anyways. In XXXX XXXX we got paperwork that said we needed to fill it out, have it notarized & return it by the end of XXXX XXXX. We were advised not to make any payments during this time due to the fact that they would go into suspense instead of be applied until our modification was completed. We thought it was weird that they 'd advise us not to make payments, so we continued to do so & watched them sit in suspense by viewing them on their website. We did as we were asked & submitted the necessary paper work on time. Apparently, when they scanned our notarized paperwork in, it flattened the seal made by the notary which made it so that they could not process our paperwork. They should have told us that ( they did not ) & they should have provided us with new paperwork that was exactly the same ( they did not ). Instead we had to call them in XXXX XXXX to find out what the holdup was. When we did so, we were informed that we had submitted bad paperwork & would have to start the whole process all over again. I refused & requested to speak to a manager which they escalated me to & I was promised the paperwork would be resent. They did not resend it until I called in several more times to ask for it. Finally in XXXX XXXX we got the paperwork, took it to a notary, had it done & were ready to send it back when we realized the paperwork was to simply refinance our mortgage into a new 30 year mortgage with a higher monthly payment & a higher interest rate. When I called in to inquire why it was like that, I was told I would need to submit my request in writing & wait 30 days to hear back from them. I advised this would put us outside of our window to send the paperwork back & they assured me that our account would be noted. I also asked for a payment detail that showed exactly what we 'd paid & how it 'd been aligned with payments owed. They did not provide the items so I requested them in writing via their website. I called in every day to check & they kept telling me I had to wait. We got notification in XXXX XXXX that our modification was declined. Then on XXXX/XXXX/XXXX we received 10 letters in the mail threatening foreclosure. It was 6 letters & 4 certified mail letters.