Random findings

This information may have been updated since posted.

Loan Modification Phone Numbers:

ABM AMRO Mortgage (800) 783-8900 Web:

Accredited Home Lenders( 877) 683-4466

AMC Mortgage Services (800) 211-6926

American Home Mortgage Corp. (877) 304-3100*

Ameriquest Mortgage (800) 211-6926

Bank of America(800) 846-2222

BB&T Mortgage (800) 827-3722

AmTrust Bank 888 696-4444

Beneficial (800) 333-5848

Central Pacific Bank (800) 342-8422

Charter One (800) 234-6002

Chase (800) 446-8939 Chase Home Finance (800) 8… (customer service) (858) 605-2181 (delinquency customer service) Chase Manhattan Mortgage (800) 446-8939

Citi Financial Mortgage (800) 753-3673

Citimortgage (800) 283-7918

Countrywide (800) 262-4218

Ditech (800) 852-0656 (800) 449-8582

Downey Financial Corp.(800) 824-6902, ext. 6696

Deutsche Bank National Call Number on Mortgage Statement

EMC 800-723-3004

EverBank (800) 669-7724 ext. 4730

Equity One (866) 361-3460

First Horizon Home Loans (800) 489-2966*

Fifth Third Bank (800) 375-1745 Option 3

First Merit Bank 888 728-9931

Flagstar Bank (800) 968-7700, ext. 9780

Fremont Investment & Loan (866) 484-0291

GMAC Mortgage (800) 850-4622

GreenPoint Mortgage Funding (800) 784-5566, ext. 5383

Green Tree (877) 816-9125

Homecomings Financial (800) 850-4622*

Household Finance (800) 333-5848

HSBC Mortgage (800) 338-6441

Huntington National Bank (800) 323-4695

Indymac Bank (877) 736-5556 Key Bank (800) 422-2442

LaSalle National Bank (800) 783-8900

Litton Loan Servicing (800) 999-8501 or (800) 548-8665

Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems 888 679-6377

National City (800) 367-9305, Ext. 53221 or (800) 523-8654 790-9502 or (87…

NovaStar Mortgage Loan Resolution Department (888) 743-0774 Non-English: (88…, ext. 4523

Option One (866) 711-1962 or (888) 275-2648 Web:

PHH Mortgage (Formerly Cendant) (800) 257-0460 For borrowers facing possible delinquency: (800) 330-0423* For borrowers in the foreclosure process: (800) 750-2518

Sun Trust Mortgage (800) 634-7928

US Bank (800) 365-7900

Wachovia Bank of Delaware (866) 642-8608

Washington Mutual (866) 926-8937 or (88… or (80… or (800) 254-3677

Wells Fargo (87… or (86… or (80… or (80… for payment assistance

Lender/Servicer Loss Mitigation Phone Numbers & Contact Information

ABM AMRO Mortgage (800) 783-8900
Web: https://www.mortgage.com/C3/application.bus

Accredited Home Lenders(877) 683-4466

AMC Mortgage Services (Also handles loans originated by Ameriquest and Argent) (800) 211-6926
1600 McConnor Parkway
Schaumburg, IL 60173
Web: https://www.myamcloan.com/malwebapp/begin.do

American Home Mortgage Corp.(877) 304-3100*

Ameriquest Mortgage (Debt collection — see AMC Mortgage Services) (800) 211-6926

Aurora Loan Services (Debt collection) (800) 550-0508
By Overnight Mail:
601 5th Avenue
Scottsbluff, NE 69361
Attn: Customer Service
By Regular Mail:
P.O. Box 1706
Scottsbluff, NE 69363
E-mail: ccnmail@alservices.com
Web: https://www.alservices.com/Consumer/UI/SSL/Authentication/Login.aspx?ReturnUrl=%2fConsumer%2fUI%2fSSL%2fServ icing%2fDefault.aspx

Avelo Mortgage LLC (866) 992-8356*

Bank of America (800) 846-2222

BB&T Mortgage (800) 827-3722*

AmTrust Bank [aka Ohio Savings Bank] 888 696-4444

Beneficial (800) 333-5848

Central Pacific Bank (800) 342-8422

Charter One (800) 234-6002

Chase (800) 446-8939
Chase Home Finance (800) 848-9136 (customer service) (858) 605-2181 (delinquency customer service)
Chase Home Finance-New Jersey(80… Chevy Chase Bank(800) 933-9100
Web: https://chaseonline.chase.com/chaseonline/logon/sso_logon.jsp?fromLoc=ALL&LOB=COLLogon

Chase Manhattan Mortgage
(800) 446-8939 (Ohio Servicing Center)
(800) 526-0072 (Florida Servicing Center)
(800) 527-3040 x533 (Florida Servicing Center)

Chevy Chase Bank (800) 933-9100
Web: https://www.chevychasebank.com/htm/payment.html (Payment Addresses)

Citi Financial Mortgage (800) 753-3673

Citimortgage (800) 283-7918

Countrywide (800) 262-4218

https://customers.countrywide.com/se…t_login254.asp

Ditech (800) 852-0656 (800) 449-8582

Downey Financial Corp.(800) 824-6902, ext. 6696

Deutsche Bank National Call Number on Mortgage Statement

EMC 800-723-3004
P.O. Box 141358
Irving, TX 75014-1358
Web: https://www.emcmortgageservicing.com/ccn/ccnsecurity.asp

EverBank (800) 669-7724 ext. 4730

Equity One (Debt collection) (866) 361-3460

First Horizon Home Loans (800) 489-2966

Fifth Third Bank (800) 375-1745 Option 3

First Merit Bank 888 728-9931

Flagstar Bank (800) 968-7700, ext. 9780

Fremont Investment & Loan (866) 484-0291

GMAC Mortgage (800) 850-4622

GreenPoint Mortgage Funding (800) 784-5566, ext. 5383

Green Tree (877) 816-9125

Homecomings Financial (800) 850-4622

HomeEq Mortgage Servicing ( Debt collection) (866) 822-1471

Household Finance (A HSBC Co.) (800) 333-5848

Household Mortgage (800) 333-4489

HSBC Mortgage (800) 338-6441
Default Resolution Team (if long term problem)
2929 Walden Avenue
Depew, NY 14043
(888) 648-3124 Loss Mit
(732) 352-7519 Fax
Web:http://us.hsbc.com/personal/mortgage/existing/difficulties.asp

Huntington National Bank (800) 323-4695

Indymac Bank (877) 736-5556
C/O Loan Resolution Department
P.O Box 7014
Pasadena, CA 91107
(Monday – Friday 6:15am-7:15pm. (Pacific Time))
Web: https://www.indymacbank.com/contactus/loanResolution.asp

Irwin Mortgage (888) 218-1988
P.O Box 7014
Pasadena, CA 91107
Web: https://www.irwinmortgage.com/wps/portal/!ut/p/cxml/04_Sj9SPykssy0xPLMnMz0vM0Y_QjzKLN4g3sdAvyHZUBAAqwx 9c
E-mail: deliquency.prevention@irwinmortgage.com

James B. Nutter & Company (800) 315-7334

Key Bank (800) 422-2442

LaSalle National Bank (800) 783-8900

Litton Loan Servicing (800) 999-8501 or (800) 548-8665
Fax (713) 966-8820
4828 Loop Central Drive
Houston, Texas 77081-2226
Web: https://www.littonloan.com/index.asp

Loss Mitigation Department Hours:
Monday Eastern: 9 a.m. – 7 p.m. Central:8 a.m. – 6 p.m. Mountain:7 a.m. – 5 p.m. Pacific:6 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Tuesday-Thursday Eastern:9 a.m. – 9 p.m. Central:8 a.m. – 8 p.m. Mountain:7 a.m. – 7 p.m. Pacific:6 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Friday Eastern:10 a.m. – 6 p.m. Central:9 a.m. – 5 p.m. Mountain:8 a.m. – 4 p.m. Pacific:7 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Default Counseling Department representatives are also available most weekends on Saturday from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. (CST).

Midland Mortgage (800) 552-3000 or (800) 654-4566
Web: https://www.mymidlandmortgage.com/MyMortgage/Login/Login.asp

Mortgage Lenders Network (800) 691-0129
E-mail: customerservice@mlnusa.com
Web: http://www.mlnusa.com/customers/info_credithelp.asp

Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems (888) 679-6377

National City (800) 367-9305, Ext. 53221 or (800) 5…
Attention: Homeowner’s Assistance
3232 Newmark Dr.
Miamisburg, Ohio 45342
(8AM-10:30PM ET, Monday – Thursday)
(8AM-5PM ET, Friday)
(8AM-Noon, Saturday)
Web: http://www.nationalcitymortgage.com/service_assistance.asp

Nationwide Advantage Mortgage Company (800…, ext. 6002*

NationStar Mortgage (888) 850-9398* Press 0 for operator

New Century Financial Now Carrington Mortgage Services (800) 790-9502 or (877) 206-9904
(6:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Pacific Time, Monday – Thursday)
(6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Pacific Time, Friday)
Web: https://myloan.newcentury.com/webapps/servicing/myloans/index.do

NovaStar Mortgage Loan Resolution Department (888) 743-0774 Non-English: (888) 743-0774, ext. 4523

Ocwen Federal Bank (800) 746-2936 or (877) 596-8560
Web: http://www.ocwencustomers.com/csc_fa.cfm

Attention: Financial Information
12650 Ingenuity Drive
Orlando, Florida 32826
or
Ocwen Financial Corporation
1661 Worthington Rd., Suite 100
West Palm Beach, Florida 33409
Phone: 877-226-2936

For serving Ocwen with legal process, please send to their registered agent:
Corporation Service Company
2711 Centerville Road, Suite 400
Wilmington, DE 19808
Phone: 561-682-8000, x8386

Option One (866) 711-1962 or (888) 275-2648
Web: http://www.oomc.com/servicing/servicing_baifaqs.asp

PHH Mortgage (Formerly Cendant) (800) 257-0460
For borrowers facing possible delinquency: (800) 330-0423*
For borrowers in the foreclosure process: (800) 750-2518
Web:https://www.phhmortgage.com/sso/mq/login.jsp?TYPE=33554433&REALMOID=06-9153316d-cf4d-4425-a5d7-c0b20a7b098d&GUID=&SMAUTHREASON=0&METHOD=GET&SMAGE NTNAME=phhmort-stb&TARGET=$SM$https%3a%2f%2fwww%2ephhmortgage%2ec om%2fhome%2flandscape%3fjpid%3dLogIn%26loginmode%3 dregistered&SMSESSION=NO

ResMae Mortgage Corp.(877) 473-7623, ext. 5944

Saxon (800) 665-7367

Select Portfolio Servicing (888) 818-6032
Fax: (801) 293-3936
Loan Resolution Department
P.O. Box 65250
Salt Lake City, UT 84165-0250
(Monday – Thursday 10:00 a.m. – 10:00 p.m. EST)
(Friday 10:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m. EST)
(Saturday 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. EST)
Web: http://www.spservicing.com/services/customer/loanresolution.htm

SkyBank (800) 290-3359

Sun Trust Mortgage (800) 634-7928
PO Box 26149
Richmond, VA 23260-6149
Mail Code RVW 3003Web: https://www.suntrustmortgage.com/generalquestions.asp#

Third Federal Savings (888) 844-7333

US Bank (800) 365-7900

Wachovia Bank of Delaware (866) 642-8608

Washington Mutual (866) 926-8937 or (888) 453-3102 or (800) 478-0036 or (800) 254-3677

Waterfirld Mortgage (800) 957-7245
Fax: (260) 459-5390
c/o Loss Mitigation Dept.
7500 W. Jefferson Blvd.
Fort Wayne, IN 46804
(7 am – 10 pm EST Monday – Thursday)
(7 am – 9 pm EST Fridays)
(8 am – 2 pm EST Saturdays)
E-Mail: saveyourhome@waterfield.com
Web: http://www.waterfield.com/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=wfg/pub/borrowerservices/delqasst

Wells Fargo (877) 216-8448 or (866) 261-5642 or (800)766-0987 or (800) 6… for payment assistance
Borrower Counseling Services
Monday – Friday 8:00 a.m. – 9:00 p.m., CT
Saturday 9:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m., CT
Web: https://www.wellsfargo.com/mortgage/account/

Wendover Financial Services Corporation (80… or (80…
Web: http://www.wendover.com/borrowers.html

Wilshire Credit Corporation (888) 502-0100
P.O. Box 8517
Portland, OR 97207-8517
From 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. (Pacific time) Monday through Friday
Web: http://www.wfsg.com/borrower/borrower.aspx

www.livinglies.wordpress.com

These are not “predatory lenders.”

These companies do not loan money. They operate in the lending
industry after-the-fact. They take on a function that a lender doesn’t
want – the backroom functions of handling payments, escrow accounts,
annual statements, dealing with borrowers, collections, etc. The
perpetrators of the loan servicing scam acquire the servicing rights
to loans that other companies have already made. (Loans that were
deliberately constructed by predatory lenders are ideal for processing
through servicers that specialize in aggressive collections or rapid
foreclosure processing, but the loan servicing scam can be operated
against any mortgage loan if the servicer acquires the rights from the
lender.)

• These scams are designed and deliberately operated.
These situations are not errors, mistakes or situations where a
servicer’s managers or employees failed to do their job. Their systems
are well-designed and state-of-the-art in terms of analytical
technology that helps them choose and process their victims. These
scams generate enormous profits from a business that is difficult to
run, people and litigation intensive and normally only marginally
profitable. Many have failed and been acquired (Fairbanks bought
several).

• You, the borrower, are not their customer. Lending companies and
investors are their customers. As a borrower being “serviced” in the
scam, you are simply one of millions in an ever-growing pool of what
the financial services industry deliberately labels as “sub-prime”
borrowers waiting to be taken advantage of.

• They have almost unlimited legal resources. If you had the financial
resources to have effective legal representation and the documentation
to challenge them, they would turn their attention to easier targets.
Of course, because most sub-prime borrowers are not well off and don’t
have an attorney, you’re a likely target.

• They have leverage and information and will prey on your fears. The
fear of possibly losing
your home is the key that unlocks your bank account for them. They
know almost everything about you financially and even from an
employment and income basis. They are made aware of your inquiries
into other lenders about refinancing even without a request for a
payoff and that shopping may lead them to target you before you can
get out of the loan you’re in.

• They are experts with millions of successful cases behind them. The
loan servicing industry, including those who founded and are running
the servicing scam companies, helped craft the “standard” loan
documents in widespread use. They are written entirely for the
protection of the lending industry, not the consumer. That situation
allows them to manipulate their processes and procedures to push you
into a position where they can take funds from you or ultimately take
your home, often within the terms and conditions of the loan. Some do
go beyond the terms or even break the law and aren’t stopped because
the borrower does not actually understand the agreement they signed or
the laws and regulations.

The path toward losing your home to this scam is actually quite
simple. The first phase is designed to fabricate the default, and
typically begins with one, or a combination of ways to arm the
servicer’s records with false data:

When the servicer decides to manipulate the date the
payment is received in order to artificially
create a late payment.

When the servicer applies part of the payment to
something other than principal and interest and
creates a partial late payment or deficiency.

When the servicer decides to “force place” an
insurance policy on the property by claiming the
homeowner has not provided proof of insurance.

When the servicer pays your property taxes late, then
adds their late penalty to your account
without your knowledge.

Any or all of those processes result in at least one month of the
account being past due and a negative note is made in the credit
report (which effectively prevents the borrower from refinancing). It
also helps the Private Mortgage Insurance carrier keep the policy in
effect on the loan, which is why these insurance companies have
investments in servicing companies in the first place – a late payment
or two allows the lender to keep the insurance in force.

If the borrower has anything more than about 10-15% equity in the
property, it is to the servicer’s advantage at this point to not
aggressively attempt to collect. In fact, if the borrower makes
contact, the servicer will engage in delay tactics to avoid resolving
the problem in time to prevent default. If the equity position is
considerably less than 10%, the servicer does not have as much
leverage, nor is the opportunity as great and they will typically be
more aggressive in collection efforts and more willing to keep the
loan in force.

In the case of force-placed insurance, it is to the servicer’s
advantage to ignore the borrower and any proof of insurance as long as
possible, again to keep the borrower’s credit status in a negative
light and to maintain their relationship with the insurer they
contract with. These policies are extremely profitable because they
provide absolutely no coverage for the homeowner. They protect ONLY
the value of the loan if the property is destroyed.

If the servicer has analyzed the opportunity and marked the property
for default and recovery, the next payment received will be rejected
as being insufficient. If it is accepted, the application of the funds
leaves the loan sixty days past due. Typically, the scam now moves
toward formal legal notice of acceleration in order to coerce the
borrower into signing a highly-profitable forbearance agreement to
somehow “save the home.” The servicer rolls thousands of dollars in
penalties and an incomprehensible combination of legitimate and
illegitimate fees into the agreement and the homeowner is left with no
choice but to sign it or lose their home. The amount demanded will be
calculated to take as much of the homeowner’s equity as possible.

If the homeowner decides to sell the property to get out of the
situation and take their equity, they will find the payoff amount
(which in the last month of the scam will take longer to get than the
amount of time left before foreclosure) strips them of their equity.
That combined with their artificially-damaged credit rating helps keep
the victim trapped.

If the borrower cannot pay the amounts demanded in the forbearance
agreement, the servicer will have one of their network of specialized
attorney firms foreclose and the property will be sold, typically at a
county auction or through their real-estate network.

If the borrower signs the agreement, they will soon be recycled
through the process with yet more late payments and fees. But in the
terms of the forbearance agreement, they may find they have signed
away any legal protections they may have already had, including the
right to sue the servicer for fraud or misrepresentation.

If the homeowner cannot find or afford competent legal representation
to stop this fraud, they lose their equity and in most cases, their
home. MSFraud.org
Mortgage Servicing Company Fraud From Foreclosure Fish
Posted by nick on December 18, 2007, 11:15 am

Over the past years working with foreclosure victims, it is always
amazing to see the complete incompetence of mortgage lenders. When
working with these homeowners, foreclosure case workers or loss
mitigation representatives go to nearly any lengths to avoid helping
their clients. It seems they do anything possible in order to delay a
resolution, instead allowing the home to get dangerously close to the
sheriff sale before turning down the workout program entirely.

In cases where the homeowners are facing the loss of their homes due
to negligence or fraud on the part of the lender, the incompetence is
especially frustrating. Our observations over years have alerted us to
a few of the various ways that banks push paying customers into
foreclosure in order to steal the home and extract the largest profit
possible at the expense of the homeowners. This type of scam is mostly
perpetrated by servicing companies and operates in several ways, all
of which we have witnessed numerous times.

Homeowners in these and similar situations may feel as if they are the
only ones caught up in some kind of Kafkaesque debacle. The lenders
play the part very well through their own genuine incompetence at the
customer service level. Remaining on hold for three hours a day just
to confirm that a fax has been received (when it had not been received
any of the previous three times it was sent) is a simple tactic
resulting from understaffed loss mitigation departments and increasing
foreclosures. But more and more experience and research shows us that
these are not isolated events, but carefully planned manipulations of
mortgages, resulting in forced foreclosures. Possibly the most common
scam that we have witnessed is when the lender places a forced
insurance policy on a property.  They claim they have not received
proof of insurance and then force the owners to pay extra every month
for the policy. Often, they place the insurance without informing the
homeowners, who make their regular monthly payment, which is first
applied to the policy and then to interest and principal. This makes
them late on the bill even though they are paying on time every month.
Faxes to the lender of proof of insurance will not convince them, if
they confirm receiving the documents at all. Homeowners may only learn
of the insurance policy when they are being sued for foreclosure, and
assume that a horrible mistake had been made.

Another way that mortgage servicing companies push properties into
foreclosure is by paying the property taxes late and charging the late
fees to the homeowners’ account. The next payment the homeowners make
will be applied to the taxes and late fees, while the principal and
interest will be partially late. Again, the foreclosure victims may
not realize the scam until they are being sued and their home is
scheduled to be sold at a county auction. Even then, they may have
little idea of how to defend themselves in court against a company
with thousands of successful foreclosures behind it who has hired
local attorneys that specialize in such cases. The loss of the home
may be all but guaranteed at this point.

These are the two most common ways, in our experience, that servicing
companies have been known to force homeowners into foreclosure. The
deviousness of the scam, combined with the bureaucratic inefficiency
of many of these companies, often create the impression that errors
have been made that can be corrected, as long as the homeowners can
talk to someone, explain what happened, and straighten out the mess.

Unfortunately, customer service centers may be specifically designed
to delay the homeowners as long as possible, leading them to believe
they are working out a solution, while the attorneys proceed ever more
quickly to the foreclosure auction.

Even more unfortunate is the fact that homeowners have little
alternative when they become a victim of this scam.

Once they are behind in payments or in foreclosure, the servicing
company will make absolutely sure that the balance due on the loan
strips the property of its equity. This also dramatically decreases
the chance of qualifying for a foreclosure loan or other solution, and
increases the amount necessary to begin a repayment plan with the
company. A house with little equity can not even be sold quickly
enough to ensure that there will be any equity by the closing. The
servicing fraud scam is one of the most disturbing in the industry,
and one every homeowner should be aware of, because the power of the
perpetrators so outweigh the victims in terms of money, legal
expertise, and previous successful cases.
These are not “predatory lenders.”
These companies do not loan money. They operate in the lending
industry after-the-fact. They take on a function that a lender doesn’t
want – the backroom functions of handling payments, escrow accounts,
annual statements, dealing with borrowers, collections, etc. The
perpetrators of the loan servicing scam acquire the servicing rights
to loans that other companies have already made. (Loans that were
deliberately constructed by predatory lenders are ideal for processing
through servicers that specialize in aggressive collections or rapid
foreclosure processing, but the loan servicing scam can be operated
against any mortgage loan if the servicer acquires the rights from the
lender.)

• These scams are designed and deliberately operated.
These situations are not errors, mistakes or situations where a
servicer’s managers or employees failed to do their job. Their systems
are well-designed and state-of-the-art in terms of analytical
technology that helps them choose and process their victims. These
scams generate enormous profits from a business that is difficult to
run, people and litigation intensive and normally only marginally
profitable. Many have failed and been acquired (Fairbanks bought
several).

• You, the borrower, are not their customer. Lending companies and
investors are their customers. As a borrower being “serviced” in the
scam, you are simply one of millions in an ever-growing pool of what
the financial services industry deliberately labels as “sub-prime”
borrowers waiting to be taken advantage of.

• They have almost unlimited legal resources. If you had the financial
resources to have effective legal representation and the documentation
to challenge them, they would turn their attention to easier targets.
Of course, because most sub-prime borrowers are not well off and don’t
have an attorney, you’re a likely target.

• They have leverage and information and will prey on your fears. The
fear of possibly losing
your home is the key that unlocks your bank account for them. They
know almost everything about you financially and even from an
employment and income basis. They are made aware of your inquiries
into other lenders about refinancing even without a request for a
payoff and that shopping may lead them to target you before you can
get out of the loan you’re in.

• They are experts with millions of successful cases behind them. The
loan servicing industry, including those who founded and are running
the servicing scam companies, helped craft the “standard” loan
documents in widespread use. They are written entirely for the
protection of the lending industry, not the consumer. That situation
allows them to manipulate their processes and procedures to push you
into a position where they can take funds from you or ultimately take
your home, often within the terms and conditions of the loan. Some do
go beyond the terms or even break the law and aren’t stopped because
the borrower does not actually understand the agreement they signed or
the laws and regulations.

The path toward losing your home to this scam is actually quite
simple. The first phase is designed to fabricate the default, and
typically begins with one, or a combination of ways to arm the
servicer’s records with false data:

When the servicer decides to manipulate the date the
payment is received in order to artificially
create a late payment.

When the servicer applies part of the payment to
something other than principal and interest and
creates a partial late payment or deficiency.

When the servicer decides to “force place” an
insurance policy on the property by claiming the
homeowner has not provided proof of insurance.

When the servicer pays your property taxes late, then
adds their late penalty to your account
without your knowledge.

Any or all of those processes result in at least one month of the
account being past due and a negative note is made in the credit
report (which effectively prevents the borrower from refinancing). It
also helps the Private Mortgage Insurance carrier keep the policy in
effect on the loan, which is why these insurance companies have
investments in servicing companies in the first place – a late payment
or two allows the lender to keep the insurance in force.

If the borrower has anything more than about 10-15% equity in the
property, it is to the servicer’s advantage at this point to not
aggressively attempt to collect. In fact, if the borrower makes
contact, the servicer will engage in delay tactics to avoid resolving
the problem in time to prevent default. If the equity position is
considerably less than 10%, the servicer does not have as much
leverage, nor is the opportunity as great and they will typically be
more aggressive in collection efforts and more willing to keep the
loan in force.

In the case of force-placed insurance, it is to the servicer’s
advantage to ignore the borrower and any proof of insurance as long as
possible, again to keep the borrower’s credit status in a negative
light and to maintain their relationship with the insurer they
contract with. These policies are extremely profitable because they
provide absolutely no coverage for the homeowner. They protect ONLY
the value of the loan if the property is destroyed.

If the servicer has analyzed the opportunity and marked the property
for default and recovery, the next payment received will be rejected
as being insufficient. If it is accepted, the application of the funds
leaves the loan sixty days past due. Typically, the scam now moves
toward formal legal notice of acceleration in order to coerce the
borrower into signing a highly-profitable forbearance agreement to
somehow “save the home.” The servicer rolls thousands of dollars in
penalties and an incomprehensible combination of legitimate and
illegitimate fees into the agreement and the homeowner is left with no
choice but to sign it or lose their home. The amount demanded will be
calculated to take as much of the homeowner’s equity as possible.

If the homeowner decides to sell the property to get out of the
situation and take their equity, they will find the payoff amount
(which in the last month of the scam will take longer to get than the
amount of time left before foreclosure) strips them of their equity.
That combined with their artificially-damaged credit rating helps keep
the victim trapped.

If the borrower cannot pay the amounts demanded in the forbearance
agreement, the servicer will have one of their network of specialized
attorney firms foreclose and the property will be sold, typically at a
county auction or through their real-estate network.

If the borrower signs the agreement, they will soon be recycled
through the process with yet more late payments and fees. But in the
terms of the forbearance agreement, they may find they have signed
away any legal protections they may have already had, including the
right to sue the servicer for fraud or misrepresentation.

If the homeowner cannot find or afford competent legal representation
to stop this fraud, they lose their equity and in most cases, their
home. MSFraud.org
Mortgage Servicing Company Fraud From Foreclosure Fish
Posted by nick on December 18, 2007, 11:15 am

Over the past years working with foreclosure victims, it is always
amazing to see the complete incompetence of mortgage lenders. When
working with these homeowners, foreclosure case workers or loss
mitigation representatives go to nearly any lengths to avoid helping
their clients. It seems they do anything possible in order to delay a
resolution, instead allowing the home to get dangerously close to the
sheriff sale before turning down the workout program entirely.

In cases where the homeowners are facing the loss of their homes due
to negligence or fraud on the part of the lender, the incompetence is
especially frustrating. Our observations over years have alerted us to
a few of the various ways that banks push paying customers into
foreclosure in order to steal the home and extract the largest profit
possible at the expense of the homeowners. This type of scam is mostly
perpetrated by servicing companies and operates in several ways, all
of which we have witnessed numerous times.

Homeowners in these and similar situations may feel as if they are the
only ones caught up in some kind of Kafkaesque debacle. The lenders
play the part very well through their own genuine incompetence at the
customer service level. Remaining on hold for three hours a day just
to confirm that a fax has been received (when it had not been received
any of the previous three times it was sent) is a simple tactic
resulting from understaffed loss mitigation departments and increasing
foreclosures. But more and more experience and research shows us that
these are not isolated events, but carefully planned manipulations of
mortgages, resulting in forced foreclosures. Possibly the most common
scam that we have witnessed is when the lender places a forced
insurance policy on a property.  They claim they have not received
proof of insurance and then force the owners to pay extra every month
for the policy. Often, they place the insurance without informing the
homeowners, who make their regular monthly payment, which is first
applied to the policy and then to interest and principal. This makes
them late on the bill even though they are paying on time every month.
Faxes to the lender of proof of insurance will not convince them, if
they confirm receiving the documents at all. Homeowners may only learn
of the insurance policy when they are being sued for foreclosure, and
assume that a horrible mistake had been made.

Another way that mortgage servicing companies push properties into
foreclosure is by paying the property taxes late and charging the late
fees to the homeowners’ account. The next payment the homeowners make
will be applied to the taxes and late fees, while the principal and
interest will be partially late. Again, the foreclosure victims may
not realize the scam until they are being sued and their home is
scheduled to be sold at a county auction. Even then, they may have
little idea of how to defend themselves in court against a company
with thousands of successful foreclosures behind it who has hired
local attorneys that specialize in such cases. The loss of the home
may be all but guaranteed at this point.

These are the two most common ways, in our experience, that servicing
companies have been known to force homeowners into foreclosure. The
deviousness of the scam, combined with the bureaucratic inefficiency
of many of these companies, often create the impression that errors
have been made that can be corrected, as long as the homeowners can
talk to someone, explain what happened, and straighten out the mess.

Unfortunately, customer service centers may be specifically designed
to delay the homeowners as long as possible, leading them to believe
they are working out a solution, while the attorneys proceed ever more
quickly to the foreclosure auction.

Even more unfortunate is the fact that homeowners have little
alternative when they become a victim of this scam.

Once they are behind in payments or in foreclosure, the servicing
company will make absolutely sure that the balance due on the loan
strips the property of its equity. This also dramatically decreases
the chance of qualifying for a foreclosure loan or other solution, and
increases the amount necessary to begin a repayment plan with the
company. A house with little equity can not even be sold quickly
enough to ensure that there will be any equity by the closing. The
servicing fraud scam is one of the most disturbing in the industry,
and one every homeowner should be aware of, because the power of the
perpetrators so outweigh the victims in terms of money, legal
expertise, and previous successful cases.