21st Mortgage Corporation predatory lending, tila, respa, creative financing, unjust enrichment Knoxville, Tennessee

...I bet your loan is a "simple interest" loan, classified as an "S" class loan with 21st.

If this is correct (and if you were formerly with Comerica then it probably is), then that is why you still owe so much on the original loan. S class loans accrue interest in a much faster fashion than typical "conventional" loans since it accrues daily, as opposed to within a more stable amortization schedule typically found in conventional loans.

For example: Let's say you're supposed to make your payment on the first of every month, and do so. With a conventional loan, you'd be okay with that; the amortization schedule for your interest is set in a way that ensures you don't run up any extra interest if the due date is, say, 31 days after the previous payment.

Under a simple interest loan, you're going to get hit for that extra day with extra interest, as typical S class loans (at least, the ones I saw at 21st) are set up to hit the borrower with extra interest charges on those "31st" days. (Granted, you get a bit of a break between Feb-Mar since there's only 28-29 days in between due dates - by paying within that time frame, extra AND some scheduled interest charges can be avoided!)

And you don't want to know what happens if you're late on an S class loan. Interest starts REALLY piling up if you fall behind, making it d**n well near impossible to get back to level ground DURING the loan and resulting, typically, in a few thousand extra left over to pay AFTER the loan term has expired.

In sum - simple interest loans are to be avoided at all costs. Otherwise, it might cost you everything.