Consumer complaint received 2015-04-27
Product: Mortgage — Conventional fixed mortgage
Issue: Loan servicing, payments, escrow account — 
Company: Seterus, Inc. (FL)

I 've had the unfortunate experience of dealing with this company for the past few years and the past few months have been a true nightmare and it does not seem to me that what they are doing are ethical or even legal. I 've tried to escalate my issue and the representatives on the phone consistently refuse to allow me to speak to a supervisor. I believe they should be sanctioned. 
It all started with a loan I received from my State, Florida from the Hardest Hit Fund. This loan is from the funds from the program in states that were most effected by the Housing meltdown and the program is designed to help home owners who are underwater with their mortgage who have been current on their mortgage payments for the last 24 months. I received a {$50000.00} loan from the State to be used toward my principal and it went directly to the mortgage company, Seterus. 
Funds were received on XXXX/XXXX/15 and Seterus placed the funds in a " suspense '' account. When I received my statement from Seterus and I saw that the funds were not used toward my principal, I called Seterus and the representative informed me that the funds were received and has not been processed but to rest assure that funds were going to be applied toward my principal and not to worry as I also informed them that I intended to send additional fund toward my principal. Days later, I received a XXXX package from Seterus with a letter indicating that I was over 30 days late in my mortgage payment and that I needed to go through a loan modification. I called Seterus right away to find out what was going on. At first the representative was trying to tell me that I am behind on my payments and needed to complete a loan modification packet then the representative eventually agreed that I was not late and that they are working on processing my funds from the State. 
For the past couple years, I 've had automatic payment ( ACH ) setup with Seterus for my monthly mortgage payment and I noticed that the money was not taken for the month of XX/XX/XXXX. When I called, the representative then they told me that the ACH has been turned off. The representative also told me that my XX/XX/XXXX payment was not received, after much review, the representative concluded that the payment was taken from my bank account and was place in the " suspense '' account along with the {$50000.00} however my mortgage account was showing as past due because these funds are in a suspense account. I had to make my XX/XX/XXXX mortgage payment over the phone with the representative because Seterus turned off my ACH and the rep also wanted to charge me for processing the payment over phone despite the fact that Seterus decided to turn off the ACH without any notice. At this point the rep informed me that I had to sign a " recap '' letter from Seterus so that they can process the {$50000.00}. The rep could not tell me when I would receive such letter and she added that I needed to continue to make my mortgage payments or I would be in jeopardy of losing the {$50000.00} that I received from the State and that late payment would be reported to the credit bureau. Rep stated that because my mortgage payment is current at this point, it would not negatively affect my credit. 
A few days after making my XX/XX/XXXX payment over the phone with the rep plus an additional payment of {$500.00} toward my principal, I checked my Seterus account, I saw that the XX/XX/XXXX payment was also placed in the " suspense '' account and my account was showing as late. Once again, I called Seterus, the rep informed me that because there is so much money in the " suspense '' account my mrotgage payments will not be processed and that until the " recap '' letter is signed, Seterus will not process the funds. Representative could not tell me when Seterus would send this letter. I 've check my credit report and Seterus has reported me as being 2 months behind.