We fell behind in our mortgage payments due to my husband losing his job back at the end of August. Given that we live in Oregon, with one of the highest rates of unemployment in the country, it wasn't a surprise that finding a job was difficult for him. We have an 80/20 mortagage so from the beginning we were honest with our lender (Fairbanks Capital), telling them it was difficult to make ends meet and they seemed understanding - telling us not to worry, to do the best we can, etc. Our other lender, First Franklin, was just as understanding - telling us there was a possibilty the loan could be restructured and the back payments could be tacked on to the end of the loan.
By mid November he had found a job but we were now behind in everything - utilities, car payments, mortgage, etc and the holidays were right around the corner. Right after Thanksgiving we recieved a letter from a company called Select Portfolio Servicing telling us they could help save our home from foreclosure, get us back on track, save our credit and our piece of mind.
We'd never heard of SPS, we thought our mortgage had been sold which we were used to seeing. Upon calling the number we were told we needed to make a payment right away to get back on track and we would need to add an additional $176 a month of 24 months to go towards catching up. Because the letter did not actually say the house was in foreclosure my husband made sure to ask them if we were at any risk of losing our home and they assured him we were not, but it was important to act quickly.
The next day I decided to call because I had some questions. I was not able to get ahold of the woman he spoke with whom had also sent us the letter, it seemed as though she was never at her desk no matter what time of day I called.in frustration I spoke to another rep that was less than helpful - in fact he was rude.
I was calling because I wanted the exact address rather than a PO Box to overnight the payment. He asked why I was sending a payment and I recapped the conversation my husband had had the night before with the other rep. He immediately had a attitude with me and said that the house had been in foreclosure proceedings for some time due to us not responding to their letters. I told him we never received any such letters! The first time we EVER heard the name SPS was when the letter telling us they could "help" was sent less than a week ago.
Unaware of my state law I asked him if the house was in foreclosure wouldn't we have to be personally served? He said we should know that SPS IS Fairbanks Capital and second he wasn't familiar with Oregon law but they sent letters so that was enough. I would guess that it would be wise to be familiar with laws in states that you have customers in but if you're not going to follow them - what's the point? He told me not to send the payment because they didn't know what the outcome with the lawyers would be and they would need to tack on the lawyers fees. He also went on to say that my husband should basically "pay attention" because his colleage would not have said the house was not in foreclosure if it weren't true.
I was outraged! I took down his name and reported him to management but have yet to hear anything - I'm not holding my breath.
The next day I was able to talk to the rep that my husband had spoken to and asked her to clarify. Again, I asked why weren't sent anything and she repeated my address and said paperwork was sent. I told her she could repeat my address all she wanted but it wouldn't change the fact that I DID NOT receive any foreclosure letters. I asked her about her conversation with my husband and she said she was very clear that the house was in foreclosure and she couldn't understand how he could be so confused.
I told her I refused to believe her because there was NO way she could be telling me the exact opposite of what my husband had said and the fact that the ONLY documentation I had from them supported what he said. It was very clear to me that they were lying. After this, another rep called and talked to my husband with even "better" customer service skills. She wanted the run down of our monthly expenses to look into a forebearance. He asked if they had a hardship department that he could speak to because our other lender was willing to try and restructure our loan. She told him that wasn't their policy and we she get second or third jobs to pay them back.
We were told we would be sent a forebearance agreement via UPS - 2 weeks later we received it. When we went to have it notarized I noticed they used my maiden name which had been changed over a year ago. Needless to say the notary refused to sign since that was no longer my legal name. This also happened to be the day the papers HAD to be returned.
I called SPS and asked them to fax a new set with my legal name and they refused. They said that because the loan originated in my maiden name that was how it would stay. They went on to tell me that had I brought my marriage license this wouldn't have been a problem.
Can you believe these people!? They're insane! I don't know what else to do, I feel like we're SOL - that we have no other choice than to go along with what they say because we don't want to lose our home! We don't have the money to sue and filing chapter 13 doesn't sound like the best option either. I understand we had a financial agreement and obligation to these people but my god - this is NOT the way you treat people! It's a vicious circle!
Please, if anyone has ANY advice as to who I should contact or what I should do, please share it with me - the future doesn't look too bright with SPS in control.
Aimee
Portland, Oregon
U.S.A.
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