BROOKSVILLE, Fla. — A Hernando County senior citizen nearly lost her home after ignoring mail from a company whose name she didn’t recognize.
She told the I-Team how it happened and has a warning for reverse mortgage borrowers.
Wood-paneled walls are covered with pictures of generations of the Sisolak family.
“There’s wonderful memories here. Every one of them,” said Patricia Sisolak.
Sisolak, her husband and her three sons constructed the small A-frame home in rural Hernando County in 1981.
The property served as a mini-farm, where Patricia bred miniature ponies for decades.
“Everything in this house, we did. There was no work by anyone else but us and the boys,” Patricia said. “Our hearts were all in it.”
Homeowner receives notice of foreclosure
But Patricia’s heart was nearly broken in January when she received a foreclosure notice alleging “the property ceased to be the principal residence of Patricia Sisolak."
“Sometimes I go five days without sleeping. I’ll be in bed, but I will not fall asleep,” Patricia said.
“When it first happened, we were floored. Absolutely floored. Cause there was no way on earth we ever saw this coming,” said Paul Sisolak, Patricia’s son who lives nearby.
According to Patricia, she and her late husband took out a $35,000 reverse mortgage loan in 2008, which she didn’t have to pay back as long as she lives in the home.
Since then, the mortgage has been serviced by three different companies, including PHH Mortgage, which took over her loan last year and sent mail asking her to verify that she still lived in the house.
But Patricia didn’t respond.
Attorney Andy Lyons represents Patricia.
He said his client was confused by the mail.
“It’ll look like junk mail. And they’ll just put it on their table and not do anything about it and the next thing that happens is there’s a knock at the door and there’s a process server there handing them a foreclosure complaint to take their house," Lyons said.
Patricia said her insurance and taxes were paid.
A spokesperson from PHH Mortgage told the I-Team records show there were numerous attempts to contact her by phone, and there was an inspection to verify her occupancy.
Patricia said she was unaware of the efforts.
“I have never spoken to one of them. I have never seen one of them,” Patricia said.
“If she had done nothing about it and let it take its natural course, the sheriff would have shown up, removed her from the premises, removed her items and put them on the curb,” Lyons said.
Reverse mortgage servicing company had prior issues
In 2020, PHH and its parent company Ocwen were sued by Florida’s Attorney General and agreed to pay $11 million to settle claims resulting from “alleged improper mortgage servicing practices.”
Two women, both in their 80s—one in Illinois and the other in Virginia—recently settled lawsuits against PHH over reverse mortgage foreclosure.
PHH Mortgage dismissed its foreclosure lawsuit after Patricia Sisolak provided an affidavit to the court saying she had continuously lived in the home.
“They didn’t fight, they didn’t argue, they immediately dismissed their case,” Lyons said.
Patricia said she’ll pay closer attention to her mail from now on and hopes she’ll never have to worry about losing her home again.
“If I ever thought of going anywhere else, I couldn’t go,” Patricia said.
A spokesperson for PHH Mortgage provided the following statement to the I-Team regarding the Sisolak reverse mortgage foreclosure lawsuit:
"Throughout the duration of servicing Mrs. Sisolak's loan, we made many attempts to contact her and sent monthly statements regarding her mortgage, as well as other necessary correspondence; however, our attempts to speak to Mrs. Sisolak regarding the status of her loan were unsuccessful. We take our responsibility to our customers very seriously. When a reverse mortgage customer is unable to meet the obligations set forth by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), our team makes every effort to achieve a satisfactory outcome, as was the case with Mrs. Sisolak. We have thoroughly reviewed this matter and determined that PHH complied with all applicable laws and guidelines set forth by HUD since the loan was transferred to us in February of 2022."
You can click here for more information from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau about reverse mortgages, including who is eligible, what conditions apply and alternative options to reverse mortgages.
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