Mortgage Servicer took money from my bank account

[Irish065]

Good Evening,

 

I'm new to this forum, and looking for some guidance.

My mortgage was switched over to this company called Seterus.  I have been having problems with them for years. The latest has broken the camel's back for me, and I'm ready to file a civil law suit against them with an attorney. This company says it's a mortgage servicer, but they double as a collection agency.  My back story I will try to make short. in 2008 when everything crashed we had to declare bankruptcy. We re-affirmed our car and the mortgage. Chase (who was my mortgage company) at the time said that they knew nothing of the re-affirmation. The next thing I know they sent our mortgage to this company Seterus and that is when the nightmare began.  fast forward. I was in discussion with their representative about doing a payment plan to catch up our account on some late fee's we had accumulated.  I talked to the rep in August and told her that I couldn't make the August payment and that I would be able to make that payment on September 15th and at that time we could get something set up in the ways of a payment plan to catch all of it up.  Well, on September 1, 2017 they automatically withdrew $2.247.00 from my bank account without my authorization.  I called them and told them I did not authorize that payment and wanted them to contact the bank and stop it since it was in "pending status" They said they couldn't do anything about it because it was too late and was already submitted.  They fought me for 2 hours on the phone. The bank said it would have to post to the account before they could dispute it.  I'm now wiped out of money because they stole it from my account without authorization.  I've contacted an attorney and he told me to start by filing a complaint with the Consumer Financial Protection Agency, which I did, as well as the BBB. Since these people are also a collection Agency what can I do?  They are liars and thieves. They are ruining my credit and my life.  I can't re-finance because the bankruptcy is not over until 2019.

Any feed back would be appreciated.

 

[Harry Seaward]

1 hour ago, Irish065 said:

but they double as a collection agency.

What are you basing this statement on? 

1 hour ago, Irish065 said:

Well, on September 1, 2017 they automatically withdrew $2.247.00 from my bank account without my authorization

It's possible that when you made payments using that account you checked an "I agree" box that gave them blanket authorization in the fine print to withdraw funds under certain conditions (certain number of missed payments, for example).

Otherwise, you're doing things exactly the way you should. The bank is correct that you can't dispute a pending charge.  File a dispute with your bank the second the payment posts to your account.  I would also stop any direct deposits into that account, or even close it and open a new one and never give the new account info to Seterus.

[fisthardcheese]

On 9/1/2017 at 9:18 PM, Harry Seaward said:

What are you basing this statement on? 

 

It seems to be a common thing now, after the good-time-bailout by the USA of all bad mortgage debt in 2007, that many large debt collectors turned into mortgage servicers because they smelled the cake in the oven.  They now know they can buy up a ton of portfolios from banks and if they go bad, they won't lose any money on the deal because Uncle Sam will be there with the bucket and shovel.

I had the same thing happen with my mortgage.  It was sold to a very unscrupulous company that also doubles as a collection agency.  The amount of horror stories I read about them (mostly involving people who had damaged homes, made insurance claims and then had all their money held hostage by this horrible company and unable to pay for repairs to their homes) was enough for me to refinance as soon as I could to get it out of their hands.  As predicted, during the refinancing, they refused to fully refund my escrow account and held on to almost $500 that I have yet to get back from them.  My only recourse may be a TILA lawsuit.  This is the "new normal" for mortgages now.