Consumer complaint received 2023-04-20
Company: Academy Mortgage Corporation
State: LA
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Closing on a mortgage

Complaint:
I was working with XXXX XXXX to get pre-approval for a loan which we received. I asked for two good faith estimates to be generated so we have an idea of closing costs and payments before we made the final decision to accept a counteroffer from the Seller. I received these Good Faith Estimates on Wednesday XX/XX/2023. After I reviewed these, I called XXXX we went line by line to understand all the costs. I asked at the end of the call to confirm what my closing costs were going to be, and he verbal agreed that number was as I stated. I then immediately followed up at XXXX with an email confirming what we discussed. I received a text message at XXXX stating that their own broker fee was placed in the wrong spot on the form and my costs would increase by {$12000.00}. We had already based out decision to accept the counteroffer after the phone conversation we had earlier and the email confirmation of what was told to me on the phone. Per the texts from XXXX, I was told that the system messed up where the fee was applied. My question is how many other people have gone to closing because of this issue and paid more than they expected but had no recourse shop around because it was too late. I received a call from XXXX, the area manager, who informed me per the small print on the good faith estimate they are free of any errors and miscalculations. I could understand a thousand here or there but ~ $ XXXX and your own fee is what was wrong seems a lot bigger deal. She refused to cover that mistake and since we were not contracted to work together has no reason to really help. She did offer to cover half the amount, but I am sorry this was a huge mistake on their part and again this is their own fee and how they make money how do you mess something like that up. I also, like others I am sure, make decisions based on closing cost as to how much out of pocket do I want to be at closing. I was using these numbers to decide if I want to put more down or buy more points to get a better note which I used to determine if this investment property would be worth getting. Having to spend nearly $ XXXX more then what was on the Good Faith Estimate sheets and my total which was verbally agreed to was correct, puts a huge impact on my investment decision. This additional money because their standard system generated form that they always use placed their own fee into a wrong category almost cost me my deal since I had to now go shop for a different loan provider and in the end cost me more money. This is better than being surprised at closing with $ XXXX and being told oh well our estimate says we are not responsible for bad calculations even. I entered into a purchase agreement because of the numbers they represented to me and from that point my clock starts ticking before closing on everything I must get done. I did not have time to waste shopping around for another lender nor was not looking to take more hits from credit inquires since I had to shop around.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation