Consumer complaint received 2022-05-23
Company: Shellpoint Partners, LLC
State: WA
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Applying for a mortgage or refinancing an existing mortgage

Complaint:
I currently have my home loan with NewRez. NewRez had contacted me saying I could reduce my monthly payments by refinancing with them. In XXXX, I contacted NewRez to explore a possible refinance of my loan, in order to capture a lower interest rate. I was connected with Mortgage Consultant XXXX XXXX on XX/XX/2022. 

Prior to formally submitting a loan application, I explained to XXXX multiple times that I had an unusual financial situation and did not want to initiate an application unless she and I were both confident I could qualify. I don't have W-2 income, and my tax returns and financial situation are easily misunderstood despite my strong creditworthiness and large asset holdings. For that reason, I told XXXX I did not want to provide tax returns, and she was confident returns would not be required. XXXX told me I could document my income by providing statements from my income sources ( e.g. investment partnerships ) instead of tax returns. In addition, XXXX explained NewRez 's " assets-as-income '' program that would allow me to compensate for any shortfall of documented income by demonstrating my asset holdings. Based on the program details XXXX provided, my assets were sufficient to qualify me for the loan even if I had *zero* income. With those assurances, I submitted a loan application and all the supporting documentation XXXX requested. 

When NewRez wanted to start the appraisal, I asked to hold off on doing that until we had received some preliminary assurances from underwriting. I knew my house would appraise for more than twice the loan amount ( which it did ). But XXXX said we needed to move ahead with the appraisal, at my expense, *before* hearing anything from underwriting. 

I submitted to NewRez statements documenting my income from two investments, for a total of more than {$10000.00} per month. I also submitted a bank statement showing enough assets to make up for any shortfall in underwritten income, satisfying the conditions of NewRez 's assets-as-income program. I was told the asset value would need to be ( at least ) enough to pay for 3 years of loan payments, and the account balance I documented with a statement is triple that amount. 

Despite meeting the requirements XXXX said were necessary, XXXX underwriting required me to submit two years of tax returns, became confused by the returns, and then refused to consider my loan qualification under the " assets-as-income '' program, as promised earlier. XXXX informed me on XX/XX/XXXX that NewRez declined my application " due to the income requirements ''. If I had known any of this would happen, I would not have applied for a loan with NewRez. The only reason I went ahead is due to the assurances I received from XXXX. I was misled, and I now want NewRez to reimburse me {$800.00} for the appraisal fee. 

I asked XXXX to connect me with her manager, and she gave me the email address of " XXXX XXXX ''. I sent XXXX XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX a polite email message explaining the situation and requesting that NewRez reimburse my for the {$800.00} appraisal fee. I emailed XXXX XXXX again on XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX. XXXX XXXX never responded. After my third message to him, I received an automated error message from NewRez 's email server that " recipient address rejected ''. 

I informed XXXX and asked her multiple times for contact information for her new manager or for some other NewRez decision-maker. XXXX promised she would connect me to someone, but she never did, despite my repeated requests. After she again today ( XX/XX/XXXX ) refused to provide contact information, I decided to submit this complaint to CFPB. 

Additional note : after I made my application and received a rate lock from NewRez in XXXX, market interest rates began to rise quickly. NewRez may have elected to deny my application because the rate they locked for me was lower than the market rate rose to while they were evaluating my application. If this were the case, NewRez would face serious legal consequences.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation