Consumer complaint received 2018-09-19
Product: Mortgage — Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Struggling to pay mortgage — 
Company: Seterus, Inc. (CA)

I have owned my home for 35 years and face foreclosure auction on XX/XX/XXXX. My mortgage servicer Seterus refuses to consider my application for homeowner assistance programs even though I have had a recent change in my financial circumstances. I have a XXXX XXXX loan backed by the government and I know that there are new government programs available to help people in my situation. I was in a plan with Seterus but due to several default accounts from clients I was in a financial struggle. I called in and thought I had things worked out with them to make the next payment a couple of weeks late, but I was suddenly blindsided with a Notice of Default. Since that time all negotiations have stopped, even though I took action to dramatically increase my income so that I could save my home. However, XXXXeterus is not even bothering to consider this information and has now told me the only option is full reinstatement or they will sell my home. My mother and I bought this house in XXXX and I have put so much money into this place and I don't know what I would do. I need this matter to be investigated, because I know there are options available to fix this problem such as modification, forbearance or repayment plan that Seterus is denying access to. 

My mother and I bought this home back in XXXX. I have owned and operated my own business XXXX XXXX XXXX ( XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX for 30 years and have made a good living. I entered this loan through XXXX in XXXX -- I had done a loan with them in the past and their agents contacted me and pitched and prodded me to refinance again to take advantage of the equity and the fact that they would not require any income documentation, and that the loan would be their fast and easy program. I did not realize that the adjustable rate would make my payment gradually increase over the years until it became difficult to afford. After the loan was transferred to Seterus I  ended up applying for and was approved for a loan modification. About a year ago I had some issues with clients who did not pay me for the services rendered. It is tough when you are a woman and a small business because some people feel they can take advantage and not pay in full for services rendered because they know you will not take them to court. This caused me to default on my modification. 

I contacted Seterus and worked out a repayment plan where I would pay {$2200.00} a month ( instead of regular payment of {$1500.00} a month ) to catch up on the delinquent payments over time. I was to make 6 of these payments. I made the first three with no problem then I ran into financial troubles again. I called in and asked if I could make the payment late, and they accepted the phone payment. I explained that I would be late again the following month because I was still not caught up and was told that would be fine. However, the following month before I could make my payment I received a Notice of Default and then Seterus refused to accept a single payment from me and began telling me that I needed to reinstate the full past due balance. I began frantically trying to get documents in for review for a new modification but have been given various excusesall documents not received, not eligible because I had a modification before, unable to lower payment because of current rate. I then provided proof of a change in financial circumstances due to adding a boarder and rental income several months ago, but their underwriters refuse to review this information. I believe the statement by Seterus that there is nothing that can be done is false. I have the means to make a reasonable payment and had been in a repayment plan. There are programs and plans that could be presented to avoid foreclosure but instead of reviewing my current and correct financial information Seterus wants to auction my home.