Consumer complaint received 2016-11-16
Product: Mortgage — Conventional fixed mortgage
Issue: Loan servicing, payments, escrow account — 
Company: Seterus, Inc. (OK)

I applied for and received a 30 year mortgage on my home, through XXXX XXXX in XXXX of XXXX. The loan was sold to XXXX shortly thereafter, I set up autopay through my bank and had a perfect payment history for roughly 5 years. I did not have an escrow account and paid my own taxes and insurance. 

In XXXX of XXXX, XXXX paid my property taxes in error and set up an escrow on my account. My autopay continued without disruption but the payments were not being credited as expected. I inquired as to the problem and was told the property taxes for XXXX had not been paid. I requested the local tax office to refund the duplicate taxes back to XXXX and they did so. Unfortunately, the escrow continued and the taxes were paid in duplicate again. Again, I requested that the duplicate taxes be refunded to XXXX and this was done also. I was unaware of this situation as an ongoing problem and understood that it had been corrected. 

On XXXX XXXX, XXXX my loan was transferred to Seterus. I was unaware of this until the bank paid and then returned my XXXX XXXX mortgage payment. At that point, I called XXXX and was told that the mortgage had been sold to XXXX and assigned to Seterus as a servicer. I asked them why and they said " It just happens sometimes. '' Seterus began calling me almost every day but I was rarely able to connect with a person. On one occasion I did speak with someone who told me I had an escrow on the account and that I just needed to send a letter asking that it be removed. I did so and was told that the escrow would not be removed. 

At this point, I began to investigate on my own and asked for a history of my account from XXXX. When I received the ledger, it did n't make sense to me so I called and asked for clarification. I was told that when the escrow had been applied, my payment amounts due had bounced around, sometimes more than two and a half times my normal payment. My usual mortgage payment had continued to be sent by my bank and I thought all was well but, in fact, XXXX had been putting my payments in a suspense account and letting them sit until the current monthly payment at the time was reached. When the total in the suspense account reached the amount XXXX was looking for, the payment was applied. This is where everything gets really crazy. It is difficult to go through the history and understand what is going on because the payment amounts jumped so drastically, so often and the regular payments were credited per XXXX expectations rather than mine. I finally gave up arguing about the actual monthly amounts and just asked them, " On the day that my loan was transferred, what was the status, and what was my balance? '' I was told that my principal balance was {$51000.00}, my escrow had a credit balance of {$1400.00} and that {$420.00} from regular payments would be transferred. A tax credit of {$1800.00} from duplicate payments was also refunded to Seterus. I was also told that my loan was current when it was transferred to XXXX XXXX Seterus. 

Since this time I have been trying to get my loan to make sense. Seterus is a horror to try to communicate with in any fashion. Most calls do not connect when picked up. The messages left as just dead air, no voices except occasional laughing. Every person I have reached at Seterus tells me a different story. The statements do n't agree with the loan history. In XXXX of XXXX I was served foreclosure papers and I learned two weeks ago that my home is scheduled to be sold tomorrow. I was able to get a hearing with the judge on XXXX XXXX, XXXX but have no assurances that I will not loose my home. Seterus tells me that I owe {$10000.00}. Their lawyers agree but tell me my balance is now {$57000.00}. Seterus lists my balance at {$50000.00}. My records show at least {$4600.00} not credited to the account. My usual payment was {$280.00}!