Consumer complaint received 2021-09-29
Company: CITIZENS FINANCIAL GROUP, INC.
State: NJ
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Home equity loan or line of credit (HELOC)
Issue: Struggling to pay mortgage

Complaint:
In XXXX of XXXX I took out a Home Equity Line Of Credit at Citizen 's Bank for {$130000.00}. 
I was never told by anyone at this bank that the loan would be interest only for the first 10 years. If I was told that upfront then I never would have accepted that loan. I was also told that I had a interest rate of 4.9 %. I was never told it was a variable rate and would go up as the economy got better. My interest rate went as high as 7.25 and I was paying {$920.00} a month interest only. In 10 years of interest only payments I have paid out near {$80000.00} and I still owe the {$130000.00} that I borrowed in XXXX. I live on SSI income of {$1700.00} a month and that is the only income I have as my wife passed away in XXXX. With the monthly payment and my property taxes of {$420.00} that amount takes all of my SSI Income. Now after 10 years of paying all that money in interest charges. Citizens Bank wants me to pay {$1400.00} a month for 15 years plus my property taxes of {$420.00} a month. That is more than I recieve each month from my SSI income and leaves me with no money to pay the rest of my bills. I have tried at least 4 times and pleaded with the bank to refinance for a more affordable monthly payment so I can remain in my home and not have to give it up. Citizens bank keeps turning me down for debt to income ratio. I even begged them to do a 30 year and make the payment around {$650.00} to {$700.00} a month which is what I could afford. The bank tells me that it is out of their guidelines. I was told by a few banks that what they did to me with this loan and by not telling me from the beginning that this was an interest only loan and that pricipal and interest payments would start after 10 years. Citizens Bank has also done this to a few of my friends as well. So it must be a common practice to rip off their clients. I believe someone should look into this and see if what they are doing is illegal. I also found out laterthat this branch of Citizens Bank was a training branch. There was never anyone supervising these loan officers while they were using me as a trainee for this bank was learning the ropes of banking and loans. I am asking you if there is anything that can be done to help keep me in my home until I die. I am too old to move this late in life at almost XXXX years old and I have nowhere to go. I also can't seem to get an answer as to what my mothly mortgage payment is. I talk to so many different people that they have working there. A few of them have told me my mortgage payment is only {$820.00} a month. If that is so then why are they charging me {$1400.00} a month. Because I can't afford this payment the bank has put me in a forbearance plan. After this forebearance plan is up on XX/XX/XXXX. I then have to bay back all the money I did not pay on the loan for a period of 6 months. From XX/XX/XXXX til XX/XX/XXXX. Now they are telling me to try for a refinance or loss mitigation for a loan modification. They have already turned me down numerous times for the same thing. My monthly income has not changed and they keep telling me that my debt to income ratio is out of their guidelines. I am XXXX years old and I have no place to go and no savings in the bank. I already paid to them over {$80000.00} in interest only and I stll owe what I borrowed 10 years ago which is {$130000.00} or more now with interest and forbearance payments being put on the back of the loan. I am asking for you to investigate this bank to see if what they did to me and a few of my friends is even legal. All I wan na do is to be able to stay in my home til I die. I am too old to move all that I have from 45 years of living at my home. If I was told when I was applying for this loan. That it would be an interest only loan at 4.9 % with a variable rate for the first 10 years and still owe what I borrowed 10 years ago. Then when principle and interest kicked in. I would be paying {$1400.00} a month for the loan. I would have walked away and refused the loan. I was under the understanding from the loan officer at the bank that this was a 30 year loan at a 4.99 % interest rate with a payment of {$590.00} a month. The loan officer never gave me any paperwork and I never received any paperwork from Citizens Bank in the mail either. When I went back and asked for paperwork once I saw my loan was going up and my amount I borrowed was staying the same. The Bank told me they would charge me some ridiculous amount since there were so many pages. Even thought it was their fault I never received any loan paperwork from the beginning. I found out later that this bank was the training center. So I was the Guinea pig for these trainees and there was no one there helping them to make sure what they were doing was right. 

Thank You, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation