Tuesday, October 25, 2016

Sloppy Loan Servicer Applies House Payments To Wrong Loan, Throwing Home Into Foreclosure; Nationstar Ignores Homeowner's Complaint, Then Quickly Reverses Course When Local Media Consumer Troubleshooter Intervenes, Begins Asking Questions

In St.Charles County, Missouri, KMOV-TV Channel 4 reports:
  • A mortgage mistake nearly cost a St. Charles County woman her condo.

    Kathleen Rasmussen claims she paid Texas based Nationstar each month. "I don't want to lose the roof over my head, I should not be in foreclosure."

    Rasmussen provided News 4 with letters from Nationstar along with returned checks intended to pay her mortgage. "I don't understand why they keep sending it back to me."

    A Kansas City law firm representing Nationstar sent Rasmussen a letter saying their office would "commence foreclosure proceedings."

    After trying to resolve the issue on her own, Rasmussen contacted News 4 Investigates. "We're going round and round in circles and we're not getting anywhere," she said.

    A Nationstar representative followed up with Rasmussen immediately after hearing from News 4. Rasmussen said, "right after that the VP of Nationstar called me and wanted to settle it right away.

    As it turns out, Rasmussen held two mortgages with Nationstar. According to an email from a Nationstar employee to Rasmussen's daughter, "the payments were all applied to the second mortgage."

    Because the payments were only being applied to her second loan, loan number one was in default.

    After discovering the error, Nationstar agreed to waive four mortgage payments and to eliminate all fees associated with foreclosure proceedings. Rasmussen's account is now current, she is no longer facing foreclosure.

    Nationstar recommends writing your account number on each mortgage check to avoid a similar problem.