LoanCare and ServiSolutions

Within the last year, two relatively new mortgage servicers have come on the scene. They have been taking over the servicing rights to several large loan portfolios.

While I personally believe purchasing servicing rights of loans should be illegal (due to all the problems that occur when loans are transferred), it is perfectly legal for a bank to sell the rights of the loan to another servicer.

Most recently, a large number of homeowners are receiving communications that their loan has been sold to one of the following servicers:

• LoanCare
• Alabama Housing Authority
  

LoanCare

Despite the fact that they have “care” in their name, these service transfers are going horribly. LoanCare purchased loans from Ditech, Bank of America and other lenders and they are simply not equipped to handle such a large quantity of loans.

Homeowners across America are struggling so if you’re struggling with LoanCare - you’re not the only one!

Below are the problems people are experiencing in regards to LoanCare in particular:

• Astronomically Long Hold Times: If you call LoanCare in the middle of a normal work day, you can expect to be on hold for longer than 20 minutes, sometimes up to 45 minutes. You can assume that they do not have a proportional number of representatives to answer the phone based on the number of loans they bought so they’re just keeping everyone on hold, hoping people get tired and hang up.
  • How to get around this: Wake up early and call them as early as you can. Some of the representatives keep east coast hours so you can call as early as 7am EST. 
• Voicemail Transfers: Many people are finding that, after waiting on hold for a long time, they are quickly sent to a random voicemail without being given an opportunity to decline being sent to the voicemail. It happens quickly and the representatives completing the transfer do not give you an opportunity to speak before they send you to  voicemail. The representatives are saying that they will “put you on hold” but instead, they quickly pull the rug out from under you and transfer you to a voicemail. 
  • How to get around this: Refuse to be put on hold. If you finally reach a person at LoanCare and they try to put you on hold, refuse to go on hold and tell them you’d rather sit on the line in silence while they look at your file. While this may be awkward, it will prevent them from transferring you to  voicemail. 
• One at a time document requests: If you have any sort of loss mitigation package in review for a decision (modification, repayment plan, short sale, deed in lieu), it is almost guaranteed that after you submit the required documents (no matter who your lender is), the lender will want something else or have a question. This is normal. All lenders are guilty at times of requesting additional items one at a time instead of all at once so this isn’t a problem specific to LoanCare but I mention it here because LoanCare is being particularly bad at getting additional document requests out in a cohesive manner. Additional document requests are coming one at a time, sometimes on back to back days. So, if you have any sort of loss mitigation review going on, you need to be calling them every day in order to ensure that no additional items come due. 
  • I had one file where the homeowner had a need to slow play everything on purpose. Therefore, I didn’t push the bank forward relentlessly as I usually would. I simply let Loancare drive the timeline. It took them 46 days to email me a list of the additional items they needed. Then, the next day (day 47), they sent a list of additional items needed. Since most people’s goals are to get through the process quickly, call regularly so this doesn’t happen to you.
  • How to get around this: Call them at a minimum every 48 hours and don’t assume that just because they tell you a list of missing items one day that more things won’t be added the next day.
    

Alabama Housing Authority / ServiSolutions

Recently, I’ve been receiving calls from homeowners who are receiving notices from an institution called the Alabama Housing Authority. Within the last year, this institution seems to have purchased a large quantity of non-performing loans from other banks. Most homeowners are having the same issue - they don’t know how to contact this servicer.

If you receive communication from the Alabama Housing Authority, you will most likely be dealing with an institution called ServiSolutions moving forward. These two companies are connected. ServiSolutions is another institution that seems to be servicing on behalf of Alabama Housing Authority so if you are needing to speak to someone about your loan, it is likely going to be a representative from ServiSolutions.

A common situation looks like this:

1. Your loan is with Bank of America
2. Bank of America sells your loan to the Alabama Housing Authority
3. Alabama Housing Authority contacts you to tell you they now have their loan but they don’t tell you ServiSolutions is involved
4. Alabama Housing Authority enlists ServiSolutions to help them service your loan so if you call Alabama directly, they don’t help you but they also don’t tell you about ServiSolutions so you hit a dead end here

If this is happening to you, just call ServiSolutions. There is a high chance your loan will be with them.

Below are some phone numbers for ServiSolutions. Depending on what you’re doing and what type of loan you have, the contact info may be different but you can start here:

334-244-4350
855-819-8081
866-339-2432
855-819-8081

Here is their website: www.servsol.com

It is very unfortunate that the mortgage servicing industry is allowed to operate in such a disorganized manner. It is incredibly hard on homeowners when they are forced to take time out of their already stressed and busy lives to clean up the messes created by faceless, profit-seeking corporations.

If you are in Washington State, and would like assistance with your case, please reach out to me so that I can learn more about your situation.