Complaints Against Aurora Loan Services

Hi MortgageMaster,

"I’m trying to find out what agency regulates the mortgage industry. I would like to file a formal complaint about my mortgage company, but am unsure who to file the complaint with."


Dear Writer:

Unfortunately, this question has more answers than you would like! Depending on who the lender is, what state they are located in, and what type of lender they are (broker, bank, credit union, etc.), you can get a multitude of answers and/or combinations. Who is the lender? What is the complaint about?



Dear MortgageMaster:

"The lender is Aurora Loan Services. They sent me a letter in Sept saying that my adjustable rate mortgage would be going up approximately $400. in January and that if I wouldn’t be able to make the payments to contact them and they could work out a process to keep the interest rate low for a couple of years. I called and left several messages between September and October and never received a response. I even emailed them at their website and still no response. I continued calling and finally got someone on the phone in November. Apparently they changed their phone number for that division but didn’t notify anyone. I filled out the paperwork to be part of the program and faxed it to them. They said they never got it. I faxed it again. They said they never got it. I faxed it a third time and they said they never got it. I verified the fax number each time and was told it was correct. By then it was the end of December. I’m concerned that pay stubs and previous years tax returns including my social security number are floating around somewhere.

In December, I learned that the mortgage payment was going up by approximately another $500. because for the past year they never adjusted the payments for the property tax even though they new what the tax was. This is not unusual: if your loan was a purchase money loan, it is likely that your property value was reassessed and increased. Aurora is following regular protocol insofar as the deficient impound account is concerned. IF I couldn’t afford the $400, I certainly can’t afford almost $900 total increase. I called again. Now I’m told that I can make 3 even payments and then they will re-evaluate the program. I told them this didn’t sound like what we had talked about when I faxed the information previously (this time they took the info over the phone.) He said that it was and that he would send me the information in the mail. That was a few weeks ago and I still haven’t received anything. I’ve tried to make at least some of the payment, but they won’t take a partial payment. I verified this by trying several times online to make the payment on their site, and asked them.

I have tried to make the good faith effort to make payments and work out a program, but I am getting no response from them to do so. Now…because of their lack of response, I am behind in payments.

Who can I go to for help and to file a formal complaint? Who regulates the industry? I’m also wondering if there have been other complaints or even some type of class action suit against them."

Dear Writer,

Your story is all too common. It is a shame that many of the lenders are so ill-prepared to assist the ailing clients whom they once wooed so aggressively! I hope this helps.

After a bit of searching, I found out that Aurora is owned by Lehman Brothers, the powerhouse Wall Street firm. In fact, Aurora Loan Services was in the middle of a name change to Lehman Mortgage Capital when they decided to halt their lending operations in October, 2007. The Federal agency to whom you can complain and get help from is the OFFICE OF THRIFT SUPERVISION, an arm of the Treasury Department. I added a link to this story, www.ots.treas.gov , then go to the "OTS Contacts", then go to your "Regional office" to start the process. This may take a bit of patience.

I, however, think that going directly to the top gets more done.

The CEO of Aurora is Ralph Lenzi. You can reach him by calling 720-945-3000. I recommend calling after hours and using the company's directory. Enter "LENZ" and it will send you to his voicemail. The same logic goes here as with calling Bill Lighten, the CEO of Lehman Brothers, Please see below.

This is really going to the top! The CEO of Lehman Brothers, Bill Lighten, can be reached by calling 210-499-5000. I asked for Bill and was sent to his voicemail. I am not so dense as to think this is really his voicemail, but I GUARANTEE that you will get a call back asap if you leave a message saying that you need help from somebody. Trust me, Bill's office will ask somebody in the Aurora organization "Why do we pay you? Our office is now handling your job?!"

Lastly, I found a concerted effort is being made by a woman who has assembled a lot of data and is trying to stir up a class-action lawsuit. I know nothing about her credibility or how far she will go, but here is the link: http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/0/150/ripoff0150267.htm

I hope this helps!

MortgageMaster