How the sls scam works
This is a letter we sent to our attorney to explain how the sls scam works. We are publishing it in the hope that others will better understand what’s happening to them and why its impossible to deal with this company as they have the mentality of looters.
May 31, 2010
Our rental house is about to go into foreclosure. We’ve been battling a company called s. L. S. Llc (specialized loan servicing) for 10 months. At the beginning they pretended to be a legitimate company, with a special program designed to modify our mortgage interest from the 91 / 2% percent we were paying to a more reasonable rate, (in our case around 6%), which we agreed to). Then as the imaginary escrow was getting ready to close, sls personnel posing as professional finance officers who were actually call center workers, with no expertise in finance, working off a prepared script, began to feign the need for additional documents, which they already had in their possession. It finally came out, that they had never even submitted the paper work to the lender. The whole process was part of a scam to string along the homeowners, as long as possible, so as to be able to mount up tremendous charges to the underlying mortgage holder, that sls was supposed to be servicing the loan for. They did this by telling us the exact amount of the new payments and interest, and appraiser came out to look at the property, etc, etc, etc… each week sls would have their call center people call with another phony call and the need of “one more thing”. This is a very clever and subtle scam. The result is that the property holder’s credit is damaged by the lies of the phone center people and eventually they are left unable to refinance with a legitimate company, the property goes into foreclosure, the mortgage holder gets a property back at a loss of thousands of dollars, and in the end I suspect fha, freedie mac and fannie mae get stuck for millions of dollars of tax payers money. And sls continues to get richer one call at a time. At first, we thought it was just us, but we went on line and found that this was part of a system wide scam as we read what other people had to say it was the exact same story as ours. Even though we have letters and tapes documenting these events i’ve come to believe there’s nothing we can do to change the outcome and we are really getting tired of fighting these people.
Dennis
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
We just completed a refinance transaction for an equity line against our free-and-clear home (it was paid off) with Royal United Mortgage...which in and of itself was posing lots of questions as to inaccurate closing disclosure documentation...but we finally closed and they told us we were being transferred to Franklin American Bank before the first payment was due October 1st, 2016. So ok, today we receive a letter on Royal United Mortgage letterhead -- not signed, just typed as from (1) Specialized Loan Servicing (SLS) and (2) Royal United Mortgage, jointly. So I looked up SLS on the internet and holy crap this is what I find -- everyone's homes "serviced" by them going into foreclosure because they are a fraud -- no one's payments were being made against their loans even though the owner's had documentation showing checks had been cashed, etc. So now, here we are one month before our first payment is due and quite frankly I don't think I should make it to SLS until I get an attorney and/or try to refinance through someone else first! I am sick to my stomach. And Royal United Mortgage loan agents Kevin Cregg and Nick Fletcher have some answering to do -- just what kind of shysters are they dealing with or are they themselves? HELP! Sharon Wright-Guswiler
I am a REALTOR and was hired by SLS to get product ready for sale and then list the property. I hired companies to perform services, paid for services and then submit invoices to SLS for reimbursement. Getting reimbursement isn't uncommon when working with banks and servicers of REO properties. I submitted a number of invoices and were paid for some, however I wasn't submitted for all. I spoke with several people at SLS that saidI was going to get paid, but never was. I kept calling and then they never paid me, so I was $530.00. I even sent a complaint to the BBB in Colorado where they are based, but no help.
I think eveyone should get together and band as one lawsuit against this company. Take this to the new president and ask for an investigation from the Attorney General of the United States. Our new President Trump promised to be for the people and by the sounds of the people this is banking fraud.
Okay, I am at a loss. Just got this letter in the mail this morning (3/1/17) from the company called Specialized LOAN Serving LLC saying that our mortgage had been transferred to them effective 2/15/17. Understand the letterhead is marked 2/23/17 and stamp date is 2/26/17, yet we have received no notice from BOA . Don't get me wrong, I can't stand BOA, cashing checks late, putting money into wrong accounts than charging me late fees, etc, but this SLS sounds even worst. Do I still pay my original LOAN amount each month? Is there anyone who can help, I have a 7year old medical fragile child and we have two Shepards who help with her care. I don't want to loose my house because some ### are trying to screw with hard working people.
You have 60 days grace period when your load gets sold, so if you hurry, you can still make a payment and bring your account up to date without late fees and penalties - that's what they told me over the phone last week, cuz I'm in the same situation, BofA sold my loan to them, and I didn't get a notice until months later. I just hope this is a legit company... from the comments above, it makes me really nervous.
I originally got my ten-year heloc from dean witter in 2006. it was sold and ended up with sls. everything went pretty smoothly until the loan matured in nov 2016. I had contacted them before that time, figuring with my 700+ credit score rolling over the heloc would be no problem, even if the interest rate went up a little. wrong. the problem wasn't the foot-dragging, or the math errors (if you give me three tax returns, even I can calculate your income accurately). the problem was the lying and the unethical conduct — and the obvious scamming.
Lie — I was told that as long as the modification process was going on, the loan would not be reported as in default, and my credit score would remain intact. my credit score is now below 600, and I had a credit card canceled because of it.
Unethical conduct — the final modification offer was at a payment level so high I would have had less than $200 of un-spoken-for cash each month. what responsible lender would even consider such a loan? even worse, the modification proposal did not indicate either the duration of the loan or its interest rate. who would agree to such a thing, and what reputable lender would even create such a document? when I called sls to inquire about the (ahem) oversight, I was told I could not know the duration or interest rate until I agreed to the modification. seriously? even the mob tells you how long you have to pay and what the vig is!
The scam — after taking months to come up with their "offer," while surreptitiously destroying my credit score, I was unable to refinance my original mortgage to add the balance of the heloc to it. all alternative financing options are closed to me. I can either pay off the loan, accept the ruinous "modification," or lose my house. fortunately, I have the resources to pay off the heloc, though using them will limit my future income. had I known what would happen, I would have paid off the heloc the day before it matured and used my excellent credit to refinance my original mortgage, then paid myself back the amount of the heloc. now, unless sls repairs my credit rating, it will be at least a year before I can even consider approaching my mortgage co to refinance — and who knows where interest rates will be then?
Guaranteed Rate sold my mortgage to this horrible company after seeing they had YEARS of complaints from consumers and I have had noting but problems with them. Like others, I can never log in and see my own account and have spent hours on the phone with their reps. How can they stay in business? Who is there to protect us from unscrupulous companies like this. Once your loan is sold you are stuck unless you spend thousands to re-finance. Can't we do a class-action suit?
Synopsis of what accrued with SLS and Bank of America
I bought the House in January 2007 with an interest only mortgage with the intension of refinancing after the two years to a 30 year mortgage. Due to the financial crises I was not able to do so I hired an attorney to modify the loan because at this time the house was worth half of what purchased it for ($515, 000).
The attorney advised me to stop making payments on the mortgage because that would be the only way to get a loan modification. I tried to modify the loan 3 times because it was impossible because the bank kept switching personnel and banks altogether.
In 2014 I was sent a certified request to appear in court so I did, the representative of the bank was very surprised to see me there. He said “oh you showed up” I said yes I am in the middle of a bank modification. He told me the Bank which had my loan was selling it to another bank and I had to agree. I asked the judge if I had a choice in the matter and he said no, so I agreed.
I told the judge that I was in the middle of a loan modification and by changing banks the process would have to start over again. Judge granted me two month and told the New Bank “Specialized loan Service” to modify my loan within the next two months. Note: Bank of America Transferred the loan to Specialized Loan Servicing (which is not a bank that can modify a loan).
Within those two month SLS requested an incredible amount of paper work including a tenant’s income tax return which I was renting the guest house to. I gave them every piece of paper they requested and more. Every time I called to confirm they received the faxes they would tell me No and to send them again in addition to tell me that it would take them up to four days to receive a fax because they needed to be sorted before the agent would receive it. SLS would not allow me to mail them certified return receipt of the requested documents.
Several weeks and days prior to the expiration day the Courts had given I called them to ask what stage of the modification I was at. SLS stated my modification was with the underwriters and I really could not speak to any one there. I called again a couple of days before the due date because I had not received anything in writing. SLS stated that due to the work the modification was not completed but they asked the courts for an extension on my case. Two days later after the courts due date a realtor calls to ask me if I would accept $1000 for cash for keys. I told him I was not selling my house and he told me the house was foreclosed and it was purchased by the Bank of America for $180, 000 and he was the assigned by the bank.
Next call was to Christian Posada real estate attorney in Florida and contacted SLS, shortly after we were request to appear in court to give back the original documents and release the mortgage owed. This was in June 2014 and I had heard nothing back from them until now. They are requesting a sum of $259, 705.00 within 30 days or they will start foreclosure again and the loan still owes $360, 000.00. Again I retained Christian Posada as my attorney in this matter. I am joining the class action law suit with www.tzlegal.com Elsa Cuellar Property address: 12988 61 St N. West Palm Beach, FL 33412 email: elsacuellar63@yahoo.com
Synopsis of what accrued with SLS and Bank of America
I bought the House in January 2007 with an interest only mortgage with the intension of refinancing after the two years to a 30 year mortgage. Due to the financial crises I was not able to do so I hired an attorney to modify the loan because at this time the house was worth half of what purchased it for ($515, 000).
The attorney advised me to stop making payments on the mortgage because that would be the only way to get a loan modification. I tried to modify the loan 3 times because it was impossible because the bank kept switching personnel and banks altogether.
In 2014 I was sent a certified request to appear in court so I did, the representative of the bank was very surprised to see me there. He said “oh you showed up” I said yes I am in the middle of a bank modification. He told me the Bank which had my loan was selling it to another bank and I had to agree. I asked the judge if I had a choice in the matter and he said no, so I agreed.
I told the judge that I was in the middle of a loan modification and by changing banks the process would have to start over again. Judge granted me two month and told the New Bank “Specialized loan Service” to modify my loan within the next two months. Note: Bank of America Transferred the loan to Specialized Loan Servicing (which is not a bank that can modify a loan).
Within those two month SLS requested an incredible amount of paper work including a tenant’s income tax return which I was renting the guest house to. I gave them every piece of paper they requested and more. Every time I called to confirm they received the faxes they would tell me No and to send them again in addition to tell me that it would take them up to four days to receive a fax because they needed to be sorted before the agent would receive it. SLS would not allow me to mail them certified turn receipt of the requested documents.
Several weeks and days prior to the expiration day the Courts had given I called them to ask what stage of the modification I was at. SLS stated my modification was with the underwriters and I really could not speak to any one there. I called again a couple of days before the due date because I had not received anything in writing. SLS stated that due to the work the modification was not completed but they asked the courts for an extension on my case. Two days later after the courts due date a realtor calls to ask me if I would accept $1000 for cash for keys. I told him I was not selling my house and he told me the house was foreclosed and it was purchased by the Bank of America for $180, 000 and he was the assigned by the bank.
Next call was to Christian Posada real estate attorney and contacted SLS, shortly after we were request to appear in court to give back the original documents and release the mortgage owed. This was in June 2014 and I had heard nothing back from them until now. They are requesting a sum of $259, 705.00 within 30 days or they will start foreclosure again and the loan still owes $360, 000.00. Again I retained Christian Posada as my attorney in this matter.
Elsa Cuellar Property address: 12988 61 St N. West Palm Beach, FL 33412 email: elsacuellar63@yahoo.com
Hello...I rarely write reviews or comments but I could not resist! This company needs to be investigated! They SAY things on the phone that they REFUSE to put into writing...RED FLAG! They absolutely are predators.They "offer' modification agreements that they put into action BEFORE a client agrees to any of it. They attempted to change my 20 year note to a 40 YEAR NOTE telling me how much money I "might" save per month. So they wanted me not to stop them from adding 20 years unto my mortgage term with NO SOLID TERMS OR AGREED PAYMENT REDUCTION AMOUNT in writing on their pat prior. That is CRAZY! Its like a game show..."Can you guess what is behind door number one"?! I asked them how they are allowed to operate legally like this, naturally they had no answer. ADVICE: Do not hesitate to write letters to the Department of Community Affairs...Call and write in letters of complaint to both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and also the Department of Banking and Insurance(although this agency does not deal with individuals, only corporate, they will indeed forward it to the correct agency). Also, contact the Better Business Bureau of Little, Co.and file a formal complaint IN WRITING. Kick them where it count, in their pocket...eventually they WILL be audited and investigated...Its only a matter of time...Do not buy into their modification SCAMS...BEWARE. Its better to e a few months late on your mortgage than to allow them to have you sign an unethical "agreement". They cannot do anything until you are at least 4 mos. in arrears. If you are more than than, call your state government and see what they will offer(Hamp programs etc). Good Luck and don't let them bully you...as soon as you have your complaints in writing and in order, they will change their tune.
Another person here that had a loan sold by BOA to this company. Ours was a second that was sold. We were lucky; we were getting out from under SLS by re-financing and paying off the SLS loan. I had our payment to SLS set up as an Autopay deducted from our checking account. I called and cancelled the payment as the re-fi would go through and pay off the loan before the payment was due. They didn't cancel the payment and deducted the amount from our account anyway, and since we had already signed all the re-fi paperwork, they also got the full payoff amount as well. We STILL cannot get our money back from them that they owe us. They keep telling us what "the law" allows them; legally, how long they can sit on our money that they know is our money, even though our loan has been paid in full and they took a payment from our checking account they had no right to take. They flat out stole from us and will not give us our money back. These people are nothing but crooks.
I have been fighting with SLS for over a year now with very poor results. They avoid answering questions dealing with our account. Instead of lowering the amount owed, it keeps climbing on and on. They hire a company to do our escrow collection and payment and paid them over 900 that was taken from our account. Need help, but do not where to go to find it without worrying about having my money taken. I feel there is no justice for retirees like us and all we keep doing is paying and paying. The way they handle our account, our home will never be paid. Any suggestions? My husband and I have paid every month without any delays. There has to be an answer to this Thanks and God bless
I filed a Motion in federal bankruptcy court for Motions and Sanctions against these people and Wells. It will be before the Judge for the third and hopefully the last time on May 8, 2019. Wish me luck.
I don't perceive why the federal permits this company to still victimize laborious operating honest Yankee and not do something concerning it.
Maybe we should always all kind a coalition and go the WHITE HOUSE and protest this company. it would be that the federal don't have info concerning this company business practices. Please begin a petition to examine what percentage others square measure hunting an equivalent issue. From the petition, we are able to get folks along to travel to the white house. they're taking what belongs to kids|our youngsters|our kids} and giving it to their children
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This is in reference to dank598, don’t feel too bad, my complaint is longer than yours. My problems were initiated by BANK OF AMERICA! After Irma hit South Fl., the gov’t (lol) was offering loan assistance and allowing monthly payments to be “DEFERRED”, in my case for 3 mths. The kid that helped me was NOT a loan officer, which means they are not to touch anyones mortgage. Turns out, he filed my paperwork, as a “FORBEARANCE”. The difference is, I found out later, is a forbearance, is the beginning of FORECLOSURE! My Credit was trashed! Always in the high 70’s, usually a score of 76-79. Now 63. $5000.00 in attorneys fees, just to repair my credit, which took over 2 yrs. Now, this is BANK OF AMERICA, which I think is the biggest scammers! After finally voiding my orig. HAMP, or whatever Obama, called it. This they, also we’re not supposed to do. BREACH OF CONTRACT. Now I entered a mortgage DEFERRAL, which it should of been in the fist place. Finally got locked into that, with graduating interest rate, capping out at 4.5%, contrary to the second breech of contract! BANK OF AMERICA hated me, cause I filed a complaint, and local branch refused to help, saying they have sent my case to ESCALATING DEPT., which I found out doesn’t exist. That was there way of keeping me at bay. THEN, 2MONTHS LATER, SOLD/TRANSFERRED, MY MORTGAGE TO SLS. That’s about the shortest version I could do! B.O.A. Then we turn to your complaint, and I swear, it’s almost verbatim of what happened to me! My Escrow goes up over $1000.00 every year. They claim it’s due to Taxes, fees, interest rates, property insurance, etc. That’s all B.S. I did the math, can’t figure out how they did it, AGAIN. Same last year. All those “Rising costs” don’t add up even close to $1000.00 a yr. Tired of fighting! M.D.1340