My wife and I purchased a home in XXXX, MD on XXXX XXXX of this year. The original lender, XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX Lending, subsequently sold the mortgage to Stearns Lending, LLC. To ensure that our mortgage payment was made on time, we set up an automatic bank deduction with the loan servicer, XXXX. That arrangement was corroborated by a letter from XXXX on XXXX XXXX confirming that the initial draft against our specified bank account would be drawn on XXXX XXXX. However, for unknown reasons that did not occur. We assumed that at some point the deduction would be made as per our instructions and waited for the debit to appear. When it became clear that the transaction due in XX/XX/XXXX did n't occur I contacted a Stearns agent in an effort to resolve the confusion. She informed me that we had authorized making a double payment instead of paying in XXXX separate installments, which we preferred to do. The Stearns agent accepted our request indicating it was okay void one of the payments. That would have kept the mortgage current. However on or about XXXX XXXX we received notice from Stearns that our loan was in default. When I subsequently contacted Stearns, I was told by a collection agent that no payments were made and that the original information provided by Stearns was incorrect. It turns out that all the attempted payments were inadvertently cancelled. Sensing that our credit was in jeopardy I immediately brought the mortgage up to date by making two payments. However, checking our credit score this week I noticed that it had dropped XXXX points in the last month to a " not good '' rating. Looking at the actual credit report I see that Stearns reported that we were 30 days delinquent in making our XX/XX/XXXX mortgage payment, even though we tried in good faith to do so. This unfortunate situation could easily have been avoided had I received adequate notice from Stearns that a technical default was imminent. Our credit report shows no previous mortgage delinquencies in our history and that we have always been up to date with these payments. A low credit score has consequences in terms of obtaining additional credit and possible employment. We believe Stearns ' action has tarnished our reputation and that as a remedy the company must correct the delinquency report to the appropriate credit reporting agencies. Premature delinquency reporting is an unacceptable tactic that amounts to harassment causing considerable emotional stress. Incidentally, no late fees were imposed during this entire period indicating that no delinquency actually occurred. We have also filed a complaint with a credit bureau which is investigating the matter. Thank you in advance for your consideration. 
