Consumer complaint received 2017-09-27 00:00:00
Product: Mortgage — Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Struggling to pay mortgage — 
Company: SELECT PORTFOLIO SERVICING, INC.
State: CA

Complaint narrative:
Many years ago my husband and I purchased our dream home. It was only 8 years old at the time and we put down our entire life savings, 30 % for this XXXX home. This was in XXXX, the height of the Real Estate Boom. Life was great for us, we were self employed and our business was very lucrative, shortly after XXXX when the market crashed- so did our business. We went from making thousands of dollars a month to barely making enough money to buy groceries. My family and I are true fighters, we continued to work to re-build our business income but many of our monthly obligations were left unpaid, including our mortgage. Eventualy we bounced back and have been in the position to make a mortgage payment for years now, we just dont have enough money to bring it current. This is when our problems began, we have applied for help over the years and have been moved around from servicer to servicer, we are now with SPS. Several applications for retention options have been sent to SPS, working with them has not been easy! We have been denied for a modification several times, every reason under the sun- they tend to vary with each review. Their reasons are just vague excuses, not one can justify the fact that theyd rather we lose our home- thats a hard pill to swallow considering we put almost XXXX down! We expected to grow old together in this home. Sometime in XXXX we had a plumbing backup in one of our 2nd level bathrooms- this caused sewage and water to flood the entire 1st and 2nd floors. This flood damaged : floors, walls, ceilings, stairs, the bathroom ( it is still gutted to the stubds ) and the kitchen cabinets had to be removed- they were warped and molded. Our 2nd story balcony eventually collapsed from all the water intrusion. Insurance okayed almost XXXX to repair all of this, but SPS took the insurance money and has been holding in a suspense account for years. SPS has forced us to live in deplorable conditions for years, we can not afford to live in motels anymore- we did this for an entire year! SPS is holding on to this money because we are behind on our mortgage payments. Not only have they refused to approve us for a modification but now that same reason is preventing us from repairing our home?! We had no choice but to file a lawsuit against them, we are being backed up against a wall here. While in litigation, they still refuse to approve us for a modification, refuse to release the money to the contractor to repair the home and are now refusing to even allow a short sale review. They want us to ok to have the insurance money applied to our arrears, that is very shady- then what?! How will we fix the home?!! We 've had enough at this point, and I can not believe that they are refusing to let us short sale. What kind of sense does this make? They are forcing foreclosure on us!!! We are good people, we work hard and want to buy a home again in the near future. SPS can care less, foreclosing on our loan will make it impossible for us to purchase again.

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