Consumer complaint received 2023-04-04
Product: Mortgage — Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Struggling to pay mortgage — 
Company: Specialized Loan Servicing Holdings LLC (MO)

My Wife and I purchased our home at XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX in XXXX of XXXX. OUr lender was XXXX XXXX. When we established our loan we set up auto payment. Our loan was always paid. 


In XX/XX/XXXX my wife and I separated. Our auto payment set up remained, with myself as the payer, and all the payments continued to be made. 


In either XXXX or XXXX of XXXX, due to COVID, I was offered a forebearance. Since my employer at the time was not entirely sure what would happen if things lasted for long, I chose to accept a 6 month forebearance and stopped my auto payments ( required to assume the forebearance ). 


When the 6 month period was over I signed on to the XXXX XXXX website to make my payment and set up my automatic payments again. I was not able to online. I called XXXX XXXX and asked why and they told me that they had extended my forebearance ( I did not request this ) for 3 months. I was told that my forebearance would be applied at the end of my loan so I chose to keep the extension. Once the extension was over, I got online, made my payment, and set up my auto payments. I continued to make all my payments as scheduled. 


I believe in XXXX of XXXX XXXX XXXX sold my loan to SLS ( Specialized Loan Servicing ). I am not sure exactly of the date as I was not made aware for several months. 


In XXXX of XXXX I lost my job. Because I worked close to 70 hours per week in my former job ( as an exempt employee so no overtime ) and often had to work weekends losing time with my children, I decided I was going to look at teaching starting the following school year. To help me financially until the start of the school year I withdrew from my retirement savings to support myself. Because I had a large sum of money and had experienced a lot of anxiety regarding my work ( including hospitalization in XXXX, XXXX ), I did not pay a lot of attention to my funds ; I knew things were being paid ( or at least I thought ). 


I believe it was XXXX of XXXX that I got a notice from SLS stating that I owed over {$15000.00}. When I contacted this company that I had never heard of I was told that I had not made a house payment in over a year. I argued that I did not know who they were and always made my payment. They told me they were going to take my house because their records show that I had not made my payments in over a year. I wired the required amount of money, which broke me. 


Without funds or a consistent form of income at the time, I could not set up auto payments. I started working at the start of the school year as planned, but because I had made this massive payment that I did not expect to make I was broke. 


Around XXXX time my situation was better and I was going to begin making payments and setting up my auto pay, but right before XXXX my identity was stolen. I was without any access to funds for some time and, though things were restored, this caused a problem. I decided that I would use my tax return to pay the back amount I owed and then finally set up my auto payments. 


On XX/XX/XXXX I noted my tax return in my checking account. On XX/XX/XXXX I was informed by XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX  ) that my home was being auctioned on XX/XX/XXXX. On XX/XX/XXXX I called my lender to attempt to make payment but was told that I could not. They said I needed a reinstatement quote, which would take 2-3 days, but they would expedite it. They explained that the reinstatement quote would be more than amount that was owed due to court fees. I asked if I could pay {$2000.00} over the amount that I owed and they said that if it was not enough it would do no good. They told me that if I sent them money they would send it back ( I repeated this back to the person to assure that that was indeed what they told me ). 


The auction happened and there were no bids. I was told that my home is now XXXX ( XXXX XXXX XXXX ). I have been attempting to contact the XXXX department but you can only leave messages or emails and they do not respond in return. 


I have been constantly trying to get someone to help me but no one will. I get sent to XXXX, they don't return my calls or emails. On Wednesday XX/XX/XXXX I called and was told ( accidentally I believe ) that I have a XX/XX/XXXX reinstatement quote but the guy could not get it. He told me to contact XXXX but gave me a number I had not gotten before. I thought this may be a direct line to speak to a person, but when I called it did not even ring. I tried three times that night. The next day I tried again several times and it was the same, no dial tone, nothing. 


I called and asked for my reinstatement quote on XX/XX/XXXX. The person that answered was supposed to be XXXX but was not and was going to send me to XXXX. I asked if the number that was given to me was for SLS and she said no, but it could be. 


I again tried to call and get my reinstatement quote and that person tried to help, but in the end gave me a number to the attorney I needed to contact XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX because they would have the form. I called that number and it rang, rang, and stopped ringing. I tried twice. While waiting for this number that never was going to connect to connect I looked up and found a correct number for XXXX. When I contacted them they said my case there was closed and they had no information about my reinstatement quote. They said I had to deal with the lender. 


Later that afternoon SLS called me ( I complained about the false phone number and asked to speak to a manager ). I told them I wanted my reinstatement quote, that twice I have been given wrong numbers and that I felt their company may not be legitimate based on what I have experienced. I also had called and left a message as well as a email to the XXXX department and as of XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX have not received a response. 


I believe first that XXXX XXXX sold my loan to SLS in error. Looking up information I have seen that a loan can not be sold due to it's forebearance and that is what XXXX XXXX did. 


Second, I believe that SLS knew that {$2000.00} would more than cover my fees that would be added but chose to deny me the ability to pay my bill. On XX/XX/XXXX I received my statement from SLS. It had the same past due amount that was online on the XXXX, and at the bottom of the statement were attorneys fees. Each attorney 's fee was {$180.00}. Even if the charge was more than that I was willing and able to pay more than 10 times the rate of the fees that were already applied. I believe telling me that they would return my payment was a way to keep me from paying so they can take my home. 


Third, I believe that SLS is in breach of their fiduciary responsibilities. I feel that sending me to a fake number is bad enough. Telling me " it could be '' a number is an attempt to cover something up. However SLS has topped that by giving me a fake number again. Since I have complained about this I have not been able to get any communication established between myself and SLS. As said before, their XXXX department is simply a message machine to nowhere. 


I have notes of my calls after the first fake number was given. When possible it has the name of the agent ( representative ) and their employee ID. I've recorded each number I called and what time I called. I have written my account of the conversation. All conversations are recorded and I am sure my notes will match anything that is said. I am also aware that they take notes when I call because one of the agents read the note to me ( the first guy that gave me the fake number ).