The harassing company pays our fees.
Seterus, Inc. is a mortgage loan servicer based in Oregon. Seterus has received consumer complaints, some of them alleging violations of the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act (FDCPA) such as misrepresentation and improper sharing of information. If you have been contacted by Seterus regarding your home loan, make sure you understand your rights before responding.
According to its website, Seterus Inc us is “one of the nation’s leading specialty loan servicing companies, [offering]…fully integrated loan servicing…consisting of experienced, skilled professionals using leading technology.”
A review from a consumer on the BBB website reads: “They are NOT in the mortgage business at all! They act more like a collections agency. They do not want you to pay your mortgage, they want you to default so that they can get your house.”
Seterus services home loans that have been transferred from the original lender. As a result, many of these loans may be in default or in danger of defaulting. The Homeowner Assistance tab of Seterus’ website offers serval options for people “experiencing a financial hardship and having difficulty paying their mortgage.” For homeowners experiencing difficulty paying their mortgages, Seterus offers three basic options: loan modifications; short selling; and deed sales. These options are designed to assist homeowners to avoid foreclosure. Seterus accepts applications on the internet, by mail, and via overnight courier.
For homeowners currently not in default, Seterus’ Homeowner Resources page encourages enrollment in autopay; visiting the KnowYourOptions.com website; contacting the Department of Housing and Urban Development; and checking their credit reports annually. In addition, there is a New to Seterus tab with a brief list of Frequently Asked Questions and a Request a Payoff Quote tab for homeowners interested in paying off their balances at a reduced rate.
Who are we? We are Lemberg Law, a Consumer Law Firm
Lemberg Law is a consumer law firm helping victims of collection harassment and abuse. We are ranked A+ by the BBB. We’ve helped more than 15,000 consumers stop harassment and recover money from debt collectors. Harassed? Abused? Misled by a collector? Call our Helpline today! There is no charge unless we win.
The BBB has closed 532 complaints against Seterus Inc in the past three years. Since March 2015, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has received 873 complaints against Seterus. Justia lists at least 45 cases of civil litigation naming Seterus as a defendant.
Absolutely. Here are some Sample Cases against Seterus Inc.
In December 2015, in the United States District Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, a judge issued a decision in a case alleging Seterus’ business practices had violated the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act (FDCPA). Previously, the plaintiff had filed a complaint alleging violations of the FDCPA and the Florida Consumer Collections Practices Act (FCCPA) in which the court had granted summary judgement in favor of Seterus. In this case, the plaintiff appealed that decision. Initially, the plaintiff had taken out a loan of $160,000 in 2004 to secure a mortgage for a home. He defaulted on the home loan in August 2012, and Seterus began servicing the loan in October 2012. Because the loan was in default, Seterus had begun foreclosure proceedings. The plaintiff asked Seterus to reinstate the mortgage in August 2013, which required that he meet “certain conditions, including paying all sums due; curing any defaults; paying any expenses incurred in the process; and taking any other actions that may be reasonably required. In September 2013, Seterus sent the plaintiff a letter indicating the total amount to reinstate the mortgage was $15,569.64. This amount included $3,175 in “estimated attorney’s fees.” The plaintiff paid the entire amount and the loan was reinstated. Seterus refunded the $3,175 in estimated attorney fees in November 2013, and subsequently, the plaintiff sued Seterus for two separate violations of the FDCPA.
The first violation cited the prohibition against “the collection of any amount (including any interest, fee, charge, or expense incidental to the principal obligation) unless such amount is expressly authorized by the agreement creating the debt or permitted by law” The second violation cited the prohibition against using “any false, deceptive, or misleading representation or means in connection with the collection of any debt, including the false representation of (A) the character, amount, or legal status of any debt; or (B) any services rendered or compensation which may be lawfully received by any debt collector for the collection of a debt.”
Initially, the court granted summary judgement to Seterus because Seterus had identified the estimated attorney fees as estimates rather than actual fees, but the appeals court agreed that the FDCPA’s provision prohibiting “the false representation of any ‘compensation which may be lawfully received by any debt collector for the collection of a debt’…was violated… when Seterus demanded that the plaintiff pay estimated attorney’s fees before it would reinstate his loan, because Seterus could not ‘lawfully receive’ those fees…whether the plaintiff believed it was entitled to those fees” or not. Similarly, the appeals court reversed the earlier decision and found Seterus in violation of the FCCPA, which states that collection agents cannot “claim, attempt, or threaten to enforce a debt when such person knows that the debt is not legitimate, or assert the existence of some other legal right when such person knows that the right does not exist.”
Seterus, Inc.
14523 SW Millikan Way STE 200
Beaverton, OR 97005-2352
Website: https://www.seterus.com/
Federal laws protect you. The Fair Debt Collections Practices Act (FDCPA) regulates the behavior of collection agencies by prohibiting actions such as the use of abusive or threatening language; harassment; or the use of false or misleading information to collect a debt. The FCRA regulates how collection agencies and creditors report delinquent debts to credit reporting agencies. Additional consumer protection laws include the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) and the Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA).
But here’s the rub: If you want to enforce your rights, or recover money for violations — you need to sue. These laws provide individuals like you with a means to seek monetary damages in court. For example, the FDCPA allows consumers who have been violated to recover damages of up to $1,000, plus attorney fees and court costs.
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Sergei Lemberg is an attorney focusing on consumer law, class actions related to automotive issues, and personal injury litigation. With nearly two decades of experience, his areas of practice include Lemon Law (vehicle defects), Debt Collection Harassment, TCPA (illegal robocalls and texts), Fair Credit Reporting Act, Overtime claims, Personal Injury cases, and Class Actions. He has consistently been recognized as the nation's "most active consumer attorney." In 2020, Mr. Lemberg represented Noah Duguid before the United States Supreme Court in the landmark case Duguid v. Facebook. He is also the author of "Defanging Debt Collectors," a guide that empowers consumers to fight back against debt collectors and prevail, as well as "Lemon Law 101: The Laws That Lemon Dealers Don't Want You to Know."
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Seterus/ Mr. Cooper. We were in a modification loanwhixh we actually started in September of 2018, and it was dragged out until December 2018 putting us behind an additional 3 months. In December 2018, paid , January tried to pay but the amount went up. Where as our original modification says 3 installments for the same amount. We tried to make January payment early, and we’re told we weren’t allowed, but I wanted to make sure it arrived on time due to all of the holidays. Denied and refused payment in January, We were also told that our modification would stay the same and they couldn’t accept any payments be ause their company was sold to a new company, and that we would be contacted by them beginning of March 2019. I even went above them and found an overnight address to mail a payment which then was returned about a week later back to my account. Pay the full Amount of 9,765.00 or we will start for closure process. Really. This entire time has been so upsetting, heart ache stress, depressed all of the time. And then each day we find out more and more. Wouldn’t allow us to make payments, new company Mr Cooper, denies modification reinstatement, pay this amount in full… We will not start foreclosure process and the next day are hit with a foreclosure, we have or HAD over 9 payments from SETERUS in a suspense account, yet these can’t be applied towards anything, because this is a New Year 2019 which h makes absolutely no sense what so ever. So instead they used it to pay hassard insurance, that we have never in 16 years paid because we are not in a FLOOD ZONE. Paid our insurance up until 2020, paid our taxes for state and the city until 2019, Red flagged our credit back in July of 2018, and there isn’t a lender or company that will do anything for you. Never offered help, only foreclose, short sale , or lien on home signed over to Mr. Cooper. We did Our own.,Researching each and everyday , found out that this is not only happening to us but to hundreds of thousands of other people. They are crooks, the prey on people that call up to get help, we all have financial issues at some point or another, and to be taken advantage of by your mortgage company is absolutely absurd. We had to sell our home, which is in the final stages, unfortunately for about 70,000 dollars less. We had more in equity built up than our total loan which I have read from several other people, we have been hit by every scammer our there because ALL of our personal information was given an out to the world from our LENDER. Our phones were hacked and I can tell you that in one day I must have had over 400 calls from relif programs promising they could help. I will not back down . I have receipts, and bank statements proving what we paid, being charged to make payments, paying late fees , paying incentives for employees bounus. Ya I was told this by an employee of Seterus. Made 6 extra payments in 2017 to go towards Principal, never applied (suspense account instead) 2018 had 2 extra payments to go towards Principal, and again nothing. Had to make 2 payments at the beginning of the year because they say they hold one in case you ever get behind. . I wish everyone the best if luck both of these companies have ruined us, lost our home of 16 years and have to start fresh. It’s very upsetting to know that there are more crooks in the world than their are honest people anymore. For closure process, states that we had to pay 787.00 owed from September 2018 so we called the nimber on the paper to pay and be caught up, only to find out that ya that amount was wrong and they will have to resend everything. Nothing was ever resent, within a few weeks we now owe over 12,456.78 I can’t imagine how much they will get by the time this process is over.
Our home mortgage was originally through Chase Bank. We applied for a loan modification and was approved. We made our first trial payment but before the second payment could be made our loan was sold out to Seterus.. We where made to reapply for the loan modification and after several attempts we finally received the approval letter. The day before the first payment was due we were informed that the imaging department had no records sending us the trail approval… Even after sending them a copy of the paperwork and the envelope that we had received it in they did not honor it.. They proceeded with the foreclosure. Our house went up for sheriff sale twice but we were able to stop at both times. the third time our house went up for sheriff sale we were not notified of the sale. We just found out that apparently our house actually sold in October 2018. We have not received any kind of legal documentation of this whatsoever. We were informed of this by a real estate agent via Facebook messenger. She informed us that they may offer us cash for keys but that we we need to move stuff out within 48 hours or it would be place out by the street. We have managed to postpone this for about a week now.. I have contacted Fannie Mae resource center and talk to someone who called us back and told us that they were going to proceed with the full lock out because of the information received from Seterus. I explained to the Fannie Mae rep what documentation is I had and she advised me to email copies to her and they would look into the matter… At this point I do not know what else to do or who else I could contact us to help us… Do we have grounds for legal actions against Seterus? Could we possibly be able to save our home? We desperately need assistance.
Seterus is FLYING BY NIGHT as of March 1 2019 and taking the money they have extorted from your mortgage (under threats of throwing you in the street) with them, SUE THEM IMMEDIATELY OR LOSE THE MONEY THEY HAVE EXTORTED FROM YOU, OR WORSE, YOUR HOME
I have been fighting Bank of America and Seterus for over nine years and it is one of the biggest ponzi schemes ever!! Bank of America is a big co-conspirator with Red Oaks Mergers, inc. (they created this company to allegedly acquire loans of Countrywide that were allegedly originated and “table funded” by CW, I believe they also created Urban Settlement Services, Inc. to aid in phony modifications as a supposed “attorney in fact” proposing that they represented B of A.
Our own government is involved up to their eyeballs through the acquisition of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae back in 2008 through GSE and FHFA! Check out the “Morrow Case” in the great state of Montana who stood up to nasty, crooked B of A and the more recent case involving Urban Settlement Services, ins. and Bank of America in “GEORGE ET AL. V. URBAN SETTLEMENT SERVICES AND BANK OF AMERICA.
The “Morrow Case” was settled out of court once pushed back down from the Supreme Court of Montana and read what Justice Laurie McKinnon had to say about Bank of America and be sure to read “chain of Title” by David Dayen- great and easy reading. We need a NATIONAL moratorium against ALL foreclosures and a group and honest and smart lawyers to take a stand against all these phony, racketeering lenders and they initially got bail out money, money from the National Settlement Act” and the nearly $17 BILLION dollar settlement with the USDOJ- ALL supposed to help us borrowers! My question is “where did the money actually go”? B of A and all the other crooks have spend BILLIONS if trying to cover up all that happened and continue to this day to conduct totally wrongful foreclosures. Semper Fi
My mortgage was originally with Bank of America. I obtained a loan modification in 2011, which called for the payment to remain at $1250/mo until 2016. After that, the payments would go up by $100 each year until 2019. In Feb. 2015, the loan was sold to Seterus, which almost immediately jacked up the monthly payment to around $1350. Less than a year later, Seterus jacked up the payment to $1530. Less than a year later, they jacked it up to $1671. Now, 2 months after the new payment rate kicked in, Seterus has notified me that they are jacking it up to over $1730 to cover “escrow” expenses, which also include “hazard insurance”. They charge me about $1000 a year for that. I already have homeowner’s insurance with Nationwide Insurance. What do I need “Hazard Insurance” for? I have felt for a long time that Seterus is ripping me off, in violation of the terms of the original modification agreement that I signed with Bank of America. What recourse do I have against Seterus.
Seterus took my mortgage several years ago from my original loan, and now they just drive me crazy with phone calls daily, they keep adding charges to my loan making it so much more than it started out, about 55K worth it seems, and they can’t seem to post the payments to the loan acct, they put it in my escrow acct and then say my monthly payment is past due when in fact I transfer my monthly payment to them the first of every month but they don’t post it right and calling them does no good you can never talk to anyone with any authority to do anything, all they do is want more money, which being retired and on a fixed income isn’t possible. These women often call with this holier than thou attitude, and I just tell them to drop the attitude or the call ends now. They say they want to help you but they do nothing to actually help you, just want more money is all they do. I’m so sick of them and the aggravation for the past few years, i’m going to try and put the house on the market and sell out, or just give it back to them and leave. I’m out of energy with them and can’t deal with it anymore!
I have no idea why Seterus says I owe them money. I have no debt with them at all. It’s crap and it’s hurting my credit.