LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — An elderly Marine veteran said a mortgage payment was deducted from his checking account but never acknowledged by his lender, which resulted in a months-long dispute, thousands of dollars in arrearages and putting his credit into a spiraling freefall.
Travis Smith, 70, of Las Vegas’ northwest Valley, said he called Democratic Senator Catherine Cortez Masto’s office at the first sign of trouble with Freedom Mortgage. Smith told the 8 News Now Investigators he routinely had his monthly payment of nearly $2,200 deducted automatically from his checking account at Navy Federal Credit Union. However, Smith says in April 2024, something went wrong.
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“I never thought this would happen to me,” Smith said. “I worked hard, I worked smart, I thought I was doing the right thing by making my payments on time and doing it direct deposit or automatic payment or whatever, as they say, making sure that they received the funds first and foremost before I did.”
Smith’s attorney, Peter Aldous of Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada, said cases like Smith’s require a lot of research…