Consumer complaint received 2024-02-05 00:00:00
Product: Mortgage — Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Struggling to pay mortgage — Trying to communicate with the company to fix an issue related to modification, forbearance, short sale, deed-in-lieu, bankruptcy, or foreclosure
Company: SELECT PORTFOLIO SERVICING, INC.
State: OH

Complaint narrative:
I am contacting you to file a complaint against our mortgage company Select Portfolio Servicing. My husband and I are small business owners who had our entire industry decimated by XXXX which led to financial hardship on more than one occasion. Due to a claim of misplaced or lost documents or incompetence we are facing an unjustified foreclosure and no matter how hard we try to fix this problem we feel like we are drowning in bureaucracy at SPS. At first they worked with us on and provided access to a government plan forbearance which helped us survive the first phase. Nearly 2 years later we had another Covid related issue which wiped out income and led to two months of missed payments. SPS agreed to work with us a second time and sent us paperwork to sign relating to the deferment of these two payments. The paperwork was signed and returned well before the XX/XX/XXXX deadline but we were later told that it was never received and our account was blocked and we were unable to make a mortgage payment. Since that time we have tried repeatedly to resolve this matter but continually run into obstacles with SPS. We had a false impression that SPS was trying to help, but now all we see is red tape, corporate greed and foreclosure. This should not be happening ; we should not be losing our house because SPS claims they did not receive a piece of paper. 

My husband has worked doing wood refinishing for restaurants for the last 13 years and I work with him helping with office duties. When the pandemic first hit in XXXX our business was wiped out and we were both out of work for close to one year. We reached out to SPS and were approved for a CARES forbearance to help us get through the crisis. When we were back on our feet SPS recapitalized the missed payments into the balance and we resumed payments while we tried to rebuild the business. Even though it was difficult we paid every month on time until late XXXX. In the fall of XXXX I was taking care of my elderly mother then got sick with XXXX. Not long after my husband got sick also, and it became very serious and he was hospitalized due to breathing problems. As a result of these emergency health issues, we were not able to make the XXXX or XX/XX/XXXX payments. I called in and spoke with an agent at SPS and they agreed that they could defer the XXXX payments that we were behind and we could resume making our regular payment in XX/XX/XXXX. We received the paperwork and signed and immediately mailed back before XXXX ( the due date was XX/XX/XXXX. ) When I tried to log in to make the XXXX payment, the system would not allow me to do so. When I called in I was told that I had to pay the lump sum for all three months of payments. When I explained that we had a signed agreement the agent said they had no record of ever receiving the agreement, and we had to pay all three payments or reapply for help. Since that time we have been in SPS purgatory. We have applied for a modification multiple times, but we get a variety of excuses. You were already approved and did not accept, or you dont meet the criteria for modification or underwriting did not receive the documents etc. etc. Now we are being told we are going into foreclosure and need to come up with {$18000.00} payment to stop us from losing our house. 

We are grateful that we were able to get help through the government forbearance in the past. But it turns out the recent offer to help us with our XXXX hardship was not worth the paper it was written on, because despite our verbal acknowledgment of acceptance and our timely return of the signed documents we are still in foreclosure. We signed the paperwork and we sent it to SPS well before the deadline, and my husband and I would both sign a notarized declaration under oath that this is true

Company public response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation