Consumer complaint received 2024-10-24 00:00:00
Product: Mortgage — Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process — Escrow, taxes, or insurance
Company: Shellpoint Partners, LLC
State: TX

Complaint narrative:
Background and Complaint After the untimely passing of both of my parents in short order ( 69 days apart, XXXX XX/XX/XXXX, Mom XX/XX/XXXX ), their property ( my family home ) was transferred to me via Transfer On Death Deed. This property was encumbered by a mortgage. I attempted to make payments on several occasions, even when my mother was still alive and incapacitated in the hospital, they were refused. On XX/XX/XXXX, A fire occurred at the property, the property was not a total loss. The mortgage company then deemed the property abandoned ( which it was not ) and changed the locks, not once but twice before filing for foreclosure. The first instance took place before the 120 days required for a mortgage to be past due and without judicial filing ( XXXX XXXX ). The second instance took place on or about XX/XX/XXXX, with clear signage and contact information posted on the front door where the locks were to be changed again, stating that the Property Was NOT Abandoned, in addition to numerous emails from my attorney to further advise the status of the property. During these illegal possessions of the property by The Bank, the property was repeatedly looted and vandalized by agents of the property management company. This resulted in the loss of valuable and irreplaceable family heirlooms and further destruction of personal property as well as further destruction of the physical property. 

When foreclosure was filed XX/XX/XXXX, The Bank held the entirety of the Insurance Disbursement resulting from the fire damage to the property in the amount of {$160000.00} which The Bank had held since XX/XX/XXXX. On XX/XX/XXXX, an offer of short payoff based on an independent appraisal was submitted to XXXX for The Bank, over a month prior to the foreclosure filing by said XXXX. The foreclosure process was allowed to take place up to XX/XX/XXXX when The Bank took funds from the XXXX XXXX ( {$100000.00} ), without my or my attorney 's knowledge, to pay off the mortgage, dismiss the foreclosure and release the lien. This could be construed as " Dual Tracking '' because a specific answer to the short sale offer was never given up until this point and ongoing as of this complaint.

At the time of the dismissal of the foreclosure action in part, there was at that point {$28000.00} remaining from the Insurance Disbursement that The Bank still has yet to remit to me in excess of a YEAR later. RESPA 1024.34 explicitly prohibits this and states that they have 20 days to remit any funds under their control not including weekends and holidays. They were aware in emails with my attorney that they should remit said funds but have failed to do so. This act alone has prevented me from performing any necessary major further loss mitigation efforts or repairs to the property as well as prevented me from recovering {$78000.00} in recoverable depreciation from the insurance company. The Bank is currently denying that they still have the aforementioned funds in their possession. 

The Bank has at various times and in several ways completely and flagrantly denied my rights as successor in interest to the property. It can be construed through the ongoing state litigation of this matter that they are still to this day in denial of my rights under RESPA 1024.30.

The Bank, having over double the principal balance of the loan as it was at the time of my Mothers Passing ( {$81000.00} ), Forced me to pay for additional Hazard insurance on the already damaged by fire property for an insured amount ( {$240000.00} ) just shy of 3 times that of the outstanding principal. This occurred for over one year while the foreclosure was pending and then proceeding up until the Bank took the money and released the lien. This act is so unfathomable that there are not any specific laws regarding something like it. How is it legal for a lender to force place hazard insurance on a property in an amount nearly three times the outstanding principal, that is already damaged and their interests covered by that of a previous insurance policy while holding double the amount needed to protect their full interest if need be. I would call this constructive fraud if anything even comes close to it or at least applicable to RESPA 1024.35 ( b ) ( 5 ), but I am not an attorney.

In addition, two checks totaling a little over {$500.00} for escrow / unapplied funds refunds, that were issued in my parents names hence I could not deposit or cash them, were remitted back to the Bank via their attorney to be reissued in my name. That has yet to happen and the checks were mailed and acknowledged as received in XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX. 

Adding up all of these actions that are in direct violation of RESPA should result in major civil penalties. The question is will they? By my calculations and application of 12 U.S.C. 5565. Tier 3 penalties for Knowingly committing these violations should be at a ridiculous level as of the time of this complaint being filed. As of XXXX XXXX XXXX calculated at the adjusted inflation of the Tier XXXX penalty rate of up to {>= $1,000,000} per day, the RESPA 1024.34 violation of failure to remit the {$28000.00} to me alone, totals 268 days ( 401 calendar days ) at maximum penalty rate, over {$370.00} XXXX dollars and is ongoing daily. The failure to confirm and acknowledge my status as Successor In Interest to the property is 602 days ( XXXX calendar days ) from XX/XX/XXXX as of XX/XX/XXXX. 

There is absolutely no excuse that would have any shred of conceivable merit for actions like this to be allowed to happen when every lender has internal compliance offices that are tasked with making sure that the laws enacted under RESPA are followed exactingly. 

Please see attached document ( CFPB RESPA Violations Regulation X ) for a complete detailed list of Violations as I have found them to be applicable. 

I formally and adamantly request and expect the CFPB to initiate and levy a full investigation of the violations listed here and the subsequent violations against me immediately upon filing of this complaint.

Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation