The complaint pleads a completed foreclosure sale. The trustee's website says the auction is still ahead.
A $245,000 business-purpose loan, a Santa Barbara house the borrower says is worth $2.2 million, and homeowner-protection claims over a sale the trustee's records do not show.
This week's case: a matured $245,000 private business loan on a Santa Barbara house the borrower says is worth $2.2 million, and a complaint that pleads a completed foreclosure sale. Per the website of the foreclosure trustee conducting the sale, the auction has not been held. It is set for July 17, 2026, two days after this issue publishes.
Papadaki v. Equity Wave Lending, Inc., et al.
Court: Santa Barbara County Superior Court
Filed: June 29, 2026, seventeen days after the sale date set in the recorded Notice of Trustee’s Sale. The borrower is represented by counsel.
Causes of Action: two federal mortgage-servicing counts (failure to provide foreclosure alternatives; failure to assign a single point of contact), wrongful foreclosure, and unfair business practices.
In March 2023, the borrower took a $245,000 loan from a private lender, secured by a Santa Barbara house she alleges is worth in excess of $2.2 million. The complaint calls it a two-year business loan secured by her principal residence. The recorded Deed of Trust is a commercial form and gives the note a maturity date of April 1, 2025.
On September 8, 2025, the foreclosure trustee recorded a Notice of Default. Per that notice, the February 1, 2025 interest installment of $2,705.21 went unpaid, the $245,000 principal became due at maturity, and $279,550.13 was required to bring the account current as of September 3, 2025.
The borrower alleges she called the lender before that, asking about foreclosure alternatives and an extension so she could refinance. She alleges the lender’s agent told her options existed, said he would call back, and did not, for six months, until the Notice of Default arrived.
Per recorded assignments attached to the complaint, the beneficial interest changed hands four times between 2025 and 2026, most recently four weeks before the scheduled sale. On May 19, 2026, a successor foreclosure trustee recorded a Notice of Trustee’s Sale setting a June 12, 2026 sale, with a total estimated balance of $457,005.00.
The complaint alleges the property sold at the auction and went back to the lender, and that the Trustee’s Deed Upon Sale has not been recorded. The borrower asks the court to block that recording, and seeks damages and civil penalties.
The website of the foreclosure trustee conducting the sale says otherwise. As of July 15, the sale has not been held. The file is marked active, with a sale date of July 17, 2026, at 12:00 p.m. and a listed bid amount of $354,451.31.
The causes of action assume one kind of loan. The loan documents attached to the complaint describe another.
🔒 Paid below: the takeaway and three lessons for lenders.
