Debt collection company Select Portfolio Servicing is accused of sending debt collection letters that violate federal law, according to a class action lawsuit.
The complaint alleges that Select Portfolio Servicing uses “false, deceptive, misleading, unfair, and unconscionable practices in connection with their attempt to collect an alleged debt from Plaintiffs and others.”
The Select Portfolio Servicing class action lawsuit asserts that the company is a “special servicer” of residential mortgage loans, meaning it collects on defaulted or delinquent mortgages.
According to the complaint, Select Portfolio Servicing has a portfolio of over 33,000 “special servicing” loans totaling around $4.8 billion.
To collect on those debts, the Select Portfolio Servicing unfair debt collection practices lawsuit contends that the company must follow federal laws, especially the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA).
The complaint argues that the FDCPA is broadly interpreted to protect debtors, because “all consumers, even those who have mismanaged their financial affairs resulting in default on their debt, deserve the right to be treated in a reasonable and civil manner.”
The FDCPA lists several practices that are illegal, including using misleading or false statements to collect a debt, “from the standpoint of the ‘least sophisticated consumer’.”
Plaintiffs Angel Rivera and Angela Rivera claim that Select Portfolio Servicing violated the FDCPA while attempting to collect a debt from them that they did not owe. The Riveras state that they defaulted on a mortgage with Bank of America in January of 2009. The Riveras filed for bankruptcy that same year, and ultimately discharged their debt, including their mortgage, in October of 2009.
Despite the bankruptcy, the Riveras received a notice that the Bank of America mortgage was transferred to Select Portfolio Servicing for collection on July 9, 2015. Weeks later, they received a “notice of debt” from Select Portfolio Servicing on July 24, 2015, stating that late charges would accrue and “vary from day to day.”
The Select Portfolio Servicing unfair debt collection practices lawsuit alleges that those communications to the Riveras violated the FDCPA in at least two ways. First, it is illegal to attempt to collect “any amount (including any interest, fee, charge, or expense incidental to the principal obligation) unless such amount is expressly permitted by law.” The complaint argues that the attempt to collect “late charges” that “very from day to day” is unlawful.
Second, the FDCPA requires a “notice of debt” to contain certain information for the debtor, and be mailed to the debtor within five days of first contacting the debtor about the debt. The class action lawsuit maintains Select Portfolio Servicing missed that five-day deadline in its communications with the Riveras, and likely with others.
The Riveras seek to represent two separate Classes. The first is all persons who received a notice of debt later than five days after first contact from Select Portfolio Servicing, within roughly the past year. The second is all persons who received a notice of debt from Select Portfolio Servicing which stated the amount of the debt would increase because of “late charges…that vary from day to day.” The class action requests statutory damages of up to $1,000 per violation.
This is not the only recent class action lawsuit against Select Portfolio Servicing. Less than a month ago, Select Portfolio Servicing settled a separate class action lawsuit about its force-placed insurance practices. That lawsuit alleged that Select Portfolio Servicing received illegal kickbacks from the insurance company it used when the debt collector had to obtain insurance on a debtor’s property. As reported by Topclassactions.com, the claim period for the Select Portfolio Servicing force-placed insurance coverage lawsuit is currently open.
The plaintiffs are represented by Philip D. Stern and Andrew T. Thomasson of Stern Thomasson LLP.
The Select Portfolio Servicing Unfair Debt Collection Practices Class Action Lawsuit is Angel Rivera, et al. v. Select Portfolio Servicing Inc., et al., Case No. 3:16-cv-03112, in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.
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174 thoughts onSelect Portfolio Servicing Class Action Targets Debt Collection
My father left me his house in his will. It still had a mortgage on it. I took care of him at home until his death from cancer.I lived here with him for 15 years and paid him half the mortgage payment. My name was never on deed. After he died I paid the mortgage payment for 7 months. I receive SSI. The next month my bank account got hacked into after I made payment by phone. They okayed it with my bank, it takes 3 days for the actual transaction of exchange to be made from my bank to the service. My service then was USA bank. I tried to pay them what I had left in bank which made me $100 short of payment. Us bank would not take partial payment. I’m on fixed income so I couldn’t come up with the 100 until the next month. By then there were late fees that I couldn’t pay and again they wouldn’t take partial payment. A couple months later they switched my service to select portfolio servicing. They said they could help me with modification and assuming the loan. So the first month I sent them $567.00. when my payment was only $494.00. when I got the statement the next month that $567.00 was not shown anywhere on statement. No credit shown anywhere. I called them and one of the reps told me not to send any payments until the review was completed.. said they would put it on the back of the loan and give me a fresh start. Didn’t sound right to me. I tried to contact the relationship manager but they kept telling me she was unavailable and she would call me back. I tried contacting her several times for 2 months, finally she called back. In that conversation she told me not to send money now because it was in for closer proceedings and they would just send it back. I have been fighting for this house for over 2 years. I’ve called SPS over this deal I know over 100 times. I asked the relationship manager several times why I’m getting letters from them saying I should be paying while the review is pending . Everytime I questioned her about it, she would say “those letters are computer generated don’t pay attention to them!” Over 2 years they wanted paperwork sent in every couple weeks. I sent in hundreds of paperwork in time and time again. The same paperwork Everytime. I just got denied modification and assumption again today. The rep I talked to asked why I haven’t made payments. I told him they have been telling me not to. He straight up called me a liar. I’m furious!!! I’ve done every single thing they told me to do for 2 years. Every single thing. Now they going to take my house. They have had it up for sheriff sale several times while I’ve been waiting on review, but they keep canceling them at the last minute. I’m fed up. They set me up to take my house. They want over $7,000.00 all at once for back payments and interest. I can’t afford a lawyer. I told the rep today after cussing him out I should somehow get an attorney and sue them. He laughed and said go ahead! They have recorded every phone call between us for 2 years. I’m sure they have already dumped the ones that prove what I am saying is true.My mental state is in a mess over this. Has been for a long time. They are a shady company. I’m sure my case won’t do it but I hope someone’s case against them can shut them down. Keep them from destroying lives.
Suggest you all join Americans Against Foreclosure ( AAF )
I am so oerwhelmed i cant een repeat eerything theyu are doing to me seeral times they claimed theyu were trying to help me i have filled ouut nmeros applications for mortghage assistance my hsband died of brain cancer my sin comitted suicide and my house brned down . they forced there insuurancee on me as mine was cancelled after the fire and i couuld not find insurance quick enough they aded seeral thousands of dollars for there insurance to my mortgage balance they continue to tell me i had missing docuuments every time i turned in a reqwest for assistance this last two times the sent me a default on my house after i had them paid uup to date from a mortgage assistance i recieved from HAF for 35k it only reflects i paid 32 ouut of that when the fuull 35 was sent to them through the government they cant account for the rest. following this they asked me to apply again staing in the event i wasnt working they could help me well they said i didnt qualify do to the amount or default on my home when in fact they were just paid to date they told me the amounts would change the principle when i am on a 30 yr fixed said they would continue to penalize me and apply interest to the balance they never as i had waited to here from them about my aapplications never said anything everytime and i thought its what i was supost to do was wait till it was reviewed and see what they could help me with they never ever had any plan to help me put me in default after i maid two payments i told them it was tweo months and they applied it as a one time monthy payment wich puut me in defauult as i had waited to here aboutr my application that was in feruary of 2024 . then they said i could make payments come april when i was reciving money from the insurance company to repalce all my stuff i lost in my home had not had luck finding work and in april 2024 i called to pay them and they saids it was turned over to a lawyer and they could not take my payments i got a housing councelor we had a mediation they wanted all the money up front which went from 13,000 to 25k in two months when my payments were ony 1400 a month they couodnt not providfe an explanation except these amounts change all the time daily and wiull go up every month added top my balance. i qm undergoing alot of hardship they dont care i cant think i need help with an attorney but van barely afford one i dont know what too do my house is rebuilt im back in it and they said i could do a repasyment plan it would tak 5 to 7 buuisness days to get back to me on the final payments a month instead i hear nothing and on the 27th of january 2025 two weeks after the midigation hearing i recieved a notice of sale on my door theyu sent someone to put there. i called them they said i was denied assitance and that it was becauuse i forgot to puuut the loan number on the application for assistance they never called they never sent anything and now i hasve recieved 8 notices of some kind i have to read and cant do it this hads been ongoing for so long im ready to take my own life over it im messed uup in the head ive done all i can do they said fill ouut another application and put the loan number on it what the hell. this is crazy i need help what do i do.
SPS failed to fully refund my overpayments and escrow at the time of sale of my house currently they owe me $3000
Select Portfolio Servicing the first complaint I made against them was to Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on 8/21/24; Select Portfolio Servicing went up $135.21 in June 2024 making my mortgage $1836.31 a month which I was expecting but then I received another letter saying my mortgage would be going up $325.32 in October 2024 making my mortgage $2161.63. They didn’t pay my property taxes on time. They owed the county $3213.27 for April 2024 and they didn’t pay it. I had over $3463 in my escrow account but then they said I didn’t have enough money in my escrow to pay for it. So, they were trying to charge me for the amount they didn’t pay and for the new amount that will be coming up in December. In a letter they sent me on April 25, 2024, they said they needed to collect $7716.54 in my escrow over 12 months. Then on August 5, 2024, they sent me a new letter saying they needed to collect $10,929.84. Which is how much half of my taxes are for the year $3213.24. After I made the complaint against them, they removed the extra charges they were charging me and then I closed the escrow account with SPS because of how they tried to cheat me. Then on 10/4/24 I called Yuba County Tax Collectors 915 8th St #101 Marysville, CA 95901, and talked to Carla, she told me that Select Portfolio Servicing paid my property taxes, but they didn’t pay everything. She said there is $111.39 still owed (a little less than that but every month it’s late more interest gets added to it) and they called them and told them they can’t take partial payments. The property tax collector’s office hasn’t tried to cash the check SPS sent, but they still have the check. I told her I’ll mail a check-in for the shortage, so it doesn’t get any higher. 10/3/24 I viewed my Sept. statement; so I had a credit balance in my escrow of $3284.34 that they refunded to me and then they turned around and charged $3284.34 to my principal balance.
SPS, Stole my house with Fraud and Fabricated Documents. They Foreclosed on my house that did not have a Mortgage. They took it to court, but never notified me. So I lost a case I never New about. They knocked on my Door with the Police. I still have the Police paper and he said Leave now or I will take you to Jail.
I have ALL the Fabricated Documents. I also have the Title to the house that shows I own it.
Please. Please help be. They need to pay for their error. I lost all my belongings.
SPS select portfolio servicing is a Horrible company. They harassed my mom and she is 80+yrs old. I am not on the loan so they really don’t wanna talk to me. They Come to our home at 6:10pm to deliver Flimsy door knob messages. SPS has no permission to be on our property, especially unannounced. SPS violates our privacy SPS violates our right as homeowners in that they lie about what my mom has not paid. I have been paying the mortgage payment for two years now and suspicious activity throughout the two years is not acceptable. I know sooner would pay them $3000 and they would turn around and try and get the money out of my mom bank account which she has Medi-Cal now and does not have any money in her account. They will NSF her three or four times a year at three or four times a hit causing NSF fees that are $20 a hit to be $60-$80 debiting mother‘s bank is unfair . Why would they be doing that? Why when SPS will no sooner receive the money I pay SPS and then sPS will immediately turn around and try and take $3000 from my mom‘s account? SPS that greedy groveling mortgage servicer ? SPS is in bed with farmers insurance company, and between the two of them they were able to cancel Insurance which we now have the lender giving us the insurance and charging us three times as much than farmers. It’s Crazy $3000/ a month it seems SPS wants us us pay because SPS keeps billing us, But does not even give us a declaration page and my mother hasn’t signed as the policy holder for SPS insurance and they won’t accept any other insurance except for FARMERS and FARMERS cancelled us due to nonpayment, which is not true either. The policy expired and we weren’t able to pay on policy that’s expired.
TanaVannelli Hackman 71524 2:01pm
I had gotten a loan from Comerica Bank added to my mortgage for a refinance a while ago, and some time after that they sold my loan to Select Portfolio Servicing mortgage. I got a loan forgiveness from Comerica back in 2017 and SPS will not remove the amount as shown on the attachement from my account/mortgage. Please advise. Thank you
Filed 13 bk in 2018 was informed by the judge to continue making my mortgage payment which I did up until Nov. 2022 when sps said they could not except any more payments from me because I had a automatic stay at the property, and the Debt was discharged in my Bankruptcy after that they attempted a forecloser that was stopped by senator Catherine Matos…
Yup
I need to know how to get SPS to move a mobile home I had that was discharged in Chapter 7 off the landlord’s property. I made a complaint to the BBB and Sps sent their response and in it they cite that while the home was discharged in bankruptcy they can still enforce the lien however they have not taken the home in all this time and the Landlord wants six years in back rent from me. I vacated the home in 2018. I want them to remove the home and pay the back property taxes on it. I spoke to an attorney for a free consult and he said that the landlord can fight with SPS but that I am not responsible for removing the home. Yet they say they have an interest in the home but say they don’t own it but the Lien holder on the title no longer exists. I got the home in 1999 and filed chapter 7 in 2001 but stayed in the home and made voluntary payments until 2018. The letter they sent me states the that they can enforce the lien. I can’t really afford a lawyer, can I get a judge to look at the letter they sent stating that they can enforce the lien and can a judge make them do so?