My dad is a Vietnam veteran and has lived in his home since 1988. His loan was sold to Selene more than four years ago. Last year he started to fall behind and worked out a refi program with the help of a local Legal Aid Clinic, to catch up his payments. He’s on a fixed income and can’t even afford to make the home repairs he needs. His home needs proper plumbing and a working HVAC system. He’s a stubborn old man, but deserves to keep his home. Last month, in September 2023 a stranger knocked on his door and informed him that his house had been sold in foreclosure by Selene. Of course, this was a surprise to my 75-year-old father. Luckily, a local housing legal aid clinic came to the rescue again, and after my dad had shown them all the automatic withdrawal payments from his checking account to Selene, they knew it was an illegal sale. The local legal aid office was able to contact Selene the next day and schedule a meeting for the next week. My father provided proof of the payments he had made in the months prior.
Selene illegally foreclosed on my father’s home. The sale was invalidated. Of course it was days and days of hundreds of text messages and phone calls from attorneys all over the State offering to provide services to fight the foreclosure for a profit. Our family thought that was the end of it. My father had proved that he made his payments, and there was no valid sale. Case closed- right? Nope.
Now, in Mid-October of 2023 we again are dealing with a supposed “new owner” who knocked on my father’s door again on Wednesday saying, “the home had been sold” to him. My father could not believe that the nightmare was happening all over again, especially since the automatic payments have still continued to come out of his checking account. Evidently Selene sold the mortgage (refi) loan to another company, called something like “Tokay” and my father did not know how to contact them or find out if they were the actual rightful, true lender now. According to the man that came to my fathers house, and took it upon himself to come inside, this new lender had sold my father’s property to him. “Wait, what?”
After another trip down to the legal aid office, the counselor there let my father know to not talk to anyone or let anyone else in his home until he figured out who the rightful lender was, and what had transpired this time. My father was offered a lump sum by this man allegedly with the current lender, leaving my father very confused. My father has a lot of equity in the home and the property values (Sacramento County, CA) are pretty high in the neighborhood so if he were to sell, he would be do a significant pay out.
I just don’t understand how this kind of elderly abuse can happen (multiple times) when the customer is paying automatic payments out of their checking account, and the laws are being broken by predatory lenders.
Luckily, my father has a legal aid office that is helping him to possibly sue the appropriate lender(s) in civil court, but still the trauma of having to pack up and leave his home and find some other place to live is deplorable.
I know that my dad is just one of many that has gone through this scary nightmare, and I appreciate all the other information and insight to help stop this disgusting company from taking advantage of hard-working people who are just trying to keep their home.
Is the CA Attorney General doing anything? Has anyone had any luck with County DA offices to help file charges against these scoundrels?