Consumer complaint received 2022-07-06
Company: FIRST CITIZENS BANCSHARES, INC.
State: SC
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Other type of mortgage
Issue: Closing on a mortgage

Complaint:
This was a difficult complaint to write because there were quite a few people involved and several complaints to be addressed. And I appreciate you being understanding and trying to filter thru them. I can only tell you what has happened to me and ask for your help to correct things for me and make sure it does not happen to other people. I have so many emails and other bank statements if you need them. I only ask if something is challenged then please give me a chance to do the best I can to present the evidence to back up my side. I am one small person trying to present my case. 
Thank you very much. XXXX XXXX XXXX Complainant -- XXXX XXXX XXXX My attorney -- Attorney XXXX XXXX Attorney that First Citizens uses in SC to do their foreclosures - Attorney XXXX XXXX XXXX and Attorney XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX -- according to his email Business and Retail Credit Resolution XXXX XXXX -- never got a return email to know what his title is but I believe it is Region Business Executive I am XXXX XXXX XXXX, a XXXX XXXX XXXX woman with back problems from an accident that was not my fault. First Citizens Bank and Trust has my loan. I did not choose this lender, my mortgage loan shifted to them when XXXX XXXX XXXX sold out to them. First Citizens Bank and Trust exhibits a pattern of behavior towards their customers that is very upsetting. If you look at the blogs, the common theme is that First Citizens Bank and Trust tends to ignore you any time you try to communicate the problem you are having and reprimand you for asking any questions and then make you feel like you caused the problem. If you try to reach out to other departments for help they try to make it seem like you are causing problems when you are simply trying to resolve your issue. I can only surmise that they hope the end result is they outlast you. This is a very poor business practice and doing this to the elderly and the XXXX is really probably criminal. By ignoring the client, it makes the client have to go on a hunt for the truth yourself and then in turn the bank can criticize you for making phone calls and writing to get the answers you need because they have ignored you to begin with. The term Gaslighting comes to mind. 

XX/XX/XXXX I was involved in an accident not my fault and because of covid it is still not resolved. 
XX/XX/XXXX I let my mortgage company know I was out of work for a little bit and why. 
XX/XX/XXXX The Pandemic hit and it effected my business completely. I was an adoption consultant/paralegal and I am not able to get in the Dr , offices or the hospitals. Frightening that your business of 30 years could just disappear almost in front of you Every week I communicated with First Citizens and asked about Covid. Never got a clear answer but I assumed when they were so nice and listened then said that they would make a note and put it in my file that meant that with Covid they were working on a solution. From what I read all the mortgage lenders were working on it so I did not worry, this seemed normal. I read that the mortgage companies were going to help with Forbearance, I knew they must have so many people effected that it would take time. I did not realize I had a type of loan that was called an " In House '' loan. This loan is not federally backed which I had no idea meant that the bank could do whatever to you, or not do anything for you through the Cares Act. 
In XXXX. During that time I made as many payments as I could, some partial. Always calling or answering First Citizens calls and letting them know my situation. All the while hurting from my accident and totally limited from Covid being able to enter medical facilities with my business. 

In XXXX XX/XX/XXXX I started receiving mail from random attorneys asking if I wanted to do a bankruptcy. I had not even been served anything. But I thought that I better ask for a hardship packet. XXXX in ( Loss Mitigation ) told me she did not know I wanted one. 
XXXX XXXX I contacted one of the attorneys that I worked with and Attorney XXXX negotiated with the attorney XXXX XXXX XXXX and First Citizen Bank and Trust. 
XX/XX/XXXX ( Complaint 1 ) I received a letter from XXXX XXXX thru my attorney that the amount he said I owed was {$18000.00}. ( Letter attached ) This letter listed five categorized amounts that 3 seemed incorrect. ( I just emailed Attorney XXXX XXXX again, whom I have asked repeatedly about these amounts and where they came from. I should be able to ask what these amounts are that I am being charged in The Temporary Repayment Plan including 3 payments beginning XX/XX/XXXX without going thru months of the same emails of me asking for the same thing without being ignored. The latest story I have gotten is that the contact for XXXX XXXX ( independant Attorney for First Citizen ) at First Citizens is out of the office until XX/XX/XXXX and he needs to ask them if he can tell me what his own fees are. They are right there on the letter so why would the attorney have to check with the mortgage company to give me what he charged me for his attorney fees and what he did for those charges. How would the mortgage company know what his costs were?. This is going to make me spend more time and write the Fee Dispute board at the SC Bar. Personally I feel this is to buy time to make up what the charges are for. COMPLAINT ( attached letter of what these charges that I owe. and is supposedly good through XX/XX/XXXX ) This amount also changed by {$840.00} more and was just added onto the Temporary Repayment Plan and again not explained. 
XX/XX/XXXX XXXXTwo times First Citizens violated this law. I even received a letter from First Citizen XX/XX/XXXX in it, it explained the law on appraisals and how there is a copy due to the client 3 days prior to any transaction or closing or dealing monetarily. ( Attached letter of 3 day rule ) How does a mortgage bank send you a letter explaining the law on having to give you your appraisals and then does not give them to you? Who is accountable for making sure the law is followed. 
COMPLAINT- This one of two appraisals not given to me in the time allotted so I believe this is a habitual offense with other people that should be questioned. ( attached appraisal with mail dated envelope XXXX ) This appraisal was done XX/XX/XXXX and was not mailed to me until XXXX months later, XX/XX/XXXX and only because I repeatedly asked for a copy of this appraisal, First Citizens had this information and actually told me they did not know if they could give it to me. Whoever sent the letter was aware of the law but after that the employees under XXXX XXXX dont seem to know what they are supposed to do. It seems by XXXX XXXX 's example they certainly know how to avoid clients questions and make the client feel as though they are not important enough to ask anything at all or if they do ask then you are made out to be a horrible problem. This is a prime example of them telling me the way they want it to be and I the customer, am just supposed to go along with it and not speak up for myself. I hope that whoever is over enforcing this law will make an example of First Citizen Bank and Trust. This appraisal could have aided me in putting together the Hardship package if I had had it for the Temporary Repayment Plan ( attached 3 pages ) and beginning payments XX/XX/XXXX {$6300.00} / XX/XX/XXXX $ XXXX XX/XX/XXXX {$6300.00}. After my accountant asked for it, this agreement showed up at my attorneys office 2 weeks after the first due date of XX/XX/XXXX, Supposedly it went to the wrong email address of my attorney, they did give me a 2 week grace period, to fix this but here again they just do whatever they want to, also in it, was 3 incorrect payments amounts, my accountant had to line thru them and write in the correct amounts. 

Another complaint on XX/XX/XXXX I asked for a detailed loan history and received it from XXXX XXXX XXXX. However, when I asked them, they, like my accountant could not explain the charges. One of them was {$800.00}. for an appraisal {$450.00} for an appraisal another {$450.00} for another appraisal. We thought that this might be part of the charges from XX/XX/XXXX letter, number 3 labeled Corporate advances in the amount of {$5000.00} on the letter listing the charges from the attorney XXXX XXXX. But when I called XXXX XXXX XXXX they were very nice but they could not figure out the charges either. They tried several people and finally got someone in Loss Mitigation and she insisted that I was not charged for any more appraisals, even though it was right there in front of us. And it was on one of my monthly statements XXXX ( attached a copy of monthly statement XXXX ) it showed as an appraisal charge. On that same statement it has legal fees showing as {$3100.00} which is much different than Attorney XXXX XXXX 's {$1300.00} on the letter ( attached First Citizen Monthly statement XXXX ) Another statement reflects a charge of {$1000.00}. of interest taken on XXXX ( 4days after the closing ) I certainly hope the bank has not collected interest in advance. I am not sure but I believe that is some sort of infraction. ( attached First Citizens monthly statement XXXX ) The payment History was sent very quickly. I'm not sure who runs that department but they did a good job and at least tried to answer the questions. Which they could not and ended up back at XXXX 's department with hostile employees and no answers. 

During that last year of not getting ANY help from the bank, My mother passing away, XXXX and XXXX people XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX  and arranging to borrow the money that was really more than it should be to pay a sum of money to First Citizens that I nor my accountant are not even sure is correct. Im not sure how much more I can take. 
In the beginning of XX/XX/XXXX I realized that it was taking longer to get my nerves in my back cauterized due to finishing physical therapy, insurance approval and scheduling. I was not getting any help from First Citizen so I thought I would try to get ahead and do something to make sure I did not have any problems with finances for this year coming and I could concentrate on my health. I knew my neighbor wanted to buy my back acres to the property. So I thought it would be a good thing to go ahead while real estate was high plus cutting my acreage down from XXXX acres to XXXX acres plus my house would be beneficial because XXXX acres and a house is a quicker sale than XXXX if I had something terrible happen and God forbid I had to sell my house. When I am not under a great deal of stress I am normally very good with assessing the best way to move forward but I also need the facts ( appraisals and explanations of what payments are. I keep most everything that is documentation that could help me. I found my old emails and contacted XXXX XXXX, she was Retail Customer support Specialist and she had started the process of reducing my collateral in XXXX. I realized that First Citizen had not released a piece of collateral when I refinanced in XXXX. It took quite a bit of time for them to understand that the collateral ( XXXX acres ) really should not have been held but as long as it got worked out I was not going to say anything. It had taken about XXXX and XXXX years and it was not what I had wanted but it was close and it was done by a XXXX XXXX. He seemed to be an honest man and did his best to explain things to me and be very fair. He is no longer with the bank. First Citizens seems to have a problem keeping those employees. 
There was no longer a division that did what XXXX did so of course Loss mitigation is where I was told to go. They put me with what seemed to be a young man that seemed very inexperienced, XXXX XXXX. At first he told me he did not know that could be done and I told him we had already done it in XXXX, then he told me that yes he could do it. I had offered to put a higher amount down on my principle thinking to begin with the survey would say it was going to be XXXX XXXX to XXXX acres to sell. I even told XXXX that could change if the amount of land sold changed this should have been common sense and we would have to renegotiate that figure and he said that he understood. 
He seemed so unsure of himself and I even asked him was he sure about all of this because I did not want to get stuck paying XXXX XXXX for a survey and this was my nest egg to help me get thru this year to get my back straightened out. I asked for someone higher up than him that could help me but he kept ignoring me. I have those emails also. He assured me he could do it but later when I found out it was just over XXXX acres to sell in the plot not close to XXXX like I had thought originally. I had reached out to XXXX XXXX from years ago to see if he was still there and to find out if he knew who I needed to speak with that was above XXXX XXXX. In XXXX I encountered XXXX XXXX, he had the same attitude problem then. 
XXXX -- -- I have an app. that records my phone calls and I told XXXX that later. I talked to XXXX about being uncomfortable with XXXX XXXX acting like he was unsure of himself. No one told me until attorney XXXX XXXX XXXX ( attorney that handles XXXX XXXX forclosures ) that XXXX was leaving the bank on the same day that I was trying to close. That gave me a clearer understanding of XXXX 's attitude A couple of months earlier I had told XXXX that I did not feel like XXXX knew what he was doing and he did not understand what I was trying to do. I told XXXX that XXXX said why didn't I take the years worth of payments and put it in a savings account and make my payments each month. How do you get to be the V.P. of anything and not know what I would think would be key vocabulary. He did not understand what deferring my payments meant for the bank to put your payments on the end of my loan, not make me put down more money that I needed to help me with my basic bills each month. The next 3 months are critical and I am very fearful. At this point I still was not sure who worked for who but XXXX assured me he would work alongside XXXX. When I asked XXXX if he was sure, that this was really important because with my back the way it is because of the wreck, I was having to watch every XXXX until I could get my back lumbar facet injections and cauterized. XXXX told me it was Mortgages and he could do what he wanted to, not to worry about it. He either forgot he said this or did not care or he was just trying to get rid of me.. 
XXXX sent me a list by email of what I needed to get done which was no problem and basically all XXXX had to do was put in for an appraisal. This began middle of XXXX and I asked XXXX to put in for the appraisal on XX/XX/XXXX when I emailed him to remind him to do it. I should not have had to remind him to do it period considering all he had to do was get the appraisal done and figure out a customer with over {$330000.00}. Dollars in equity had to put on her principal. If I could have done it myself, I would have but evidently the bank has to call and have one of these independent places that chooses one. Not hearing a word, I was getting worried so after I waited a week, I called XXXX back on XXXX XXXX to see where we were. XXXX said he had given it to a team member to handle and it evidently did not get handled. I was very upset and it was effecting my health. Finally, the appraiser called me on Saturday XX/XX/XXXX and he explained he got it on Friday XX/XX/XXXX. The appraiser apologized and said there is no way that it takes over a week from the time it is put in for it until they contact the client On XXXX XXXX we arranged for him to be at my house Monday morning at XXXX. 
I have had to waste the last month to put this account of what happened together along with the documentation. By looking at the past appraisals, you could tell that the new appraisal should come in at about {$470.00}. Which is exactly what it came in at and I had asked XXXX to tell me what the amount of my own money was to be put in to my own loan, if the appraisal came in at that amount. The attorney and I both had tried to get an idea of what they were basing this on if the maximum was {$470.00}. ( the maximum ) I checked every day hoping that the appraisal would be in so that XXXX and XXXX could negotiate with my attorney XXXX XXXX. 
Complaint -- - on the morning of XX/XX/XXXX Attorney XXXX wrote an email to XXXX and XXXX ( Email included ) explaining how the amount of acreage was less than we thought and with the amount of equity the house has, it was more than fair to First Citizen for me to put {$20000.00}. XXXX XXXX of my own money on my own principle of my own loan and for the bank to do about a year of deferred payments considering nothing had been done for me during XXXX. It was not asking too much. Two other banks said that it was terrible that it was my land and my money and other than the bank charging me some nominal charge for the little bit that it took them to figure out that {$20000.00} and was more than enough to cover 2 years plus some, of payments, bring my mortgage down to {$110000.00}. and giving me a year of differed payments would give me time to get back on my feet from XXXX and these wrecks, unless the bank was trying to get me to fail. Instead, First Citizen took 4 years of payments and no deferral. That hardly seems fair especially when an alleged crime was committed by them not giving me the appraisals when they should have. I plan to go ahead and get free from First Citizens as quickly as possible. Hopefully before the year is up. I don't like to do business with people that are nasty to older people. 

Please remember I did not owe anything as a matter of fact I was ahead about {$300.00} dollars and I needed as much as I could to be able to survive this year to get my medical done and either get my XXXX, which is coming up in 2 - 3 weeks but also be able to work some when they fix this nerve in my back. Attorney XXXX explained to XXXX and XXXX in his email to them XX/XX/XXXX that I had this medical that no fault of my own. I needed to take care of this year and I wanted to pay {$20000.00}. of my money to my principle on my loan. The morning after Attorney XXXX emailed the bank, XX/XX/XXXX the appraisal came in. XXXX XXXX called me instead of calling my attorney. He explained that the bank wanted to take XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX to put on the principle and then take another XXXX XXXX XXXX {$9000.00}. to make my payments for a year. ( again he did not understand and XXXX did not explain it to him ) He said something and I said something like what kind of a choice is that. I was so disgusted, that after all that work on my part to make sure everything was completed and XXXX did not bother to talk to XXXX about deferring my payments. I asked where was the copy of the new appraisal to help me with what was going on. He said the total was {$420000.00}. I was trying to process why it would have been low. I was having a very bad day with my back. I assumed he was called attorney XXXX next and was going to get it straight with him until I called a few hours later. XXXX never bothered calling attorney XXXX. I understand now why the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau requires the customer to have their appraisal prior to the loan closing and First Citizen should be held accountable for me not having it. If XXXX had emailed me the appraisal and called to tell me to please look over it and he would call me back in an hour that would have been all we needed to negotiate. I would have had the chance to speak to my attorney and point out this was exactly what my attorney offered the bank in his email the day before. Instead, XXXX XXXX called me when his normal avenue to communicate was email. He caught me off guard and told me the appraisal amount was {$50.00} less than it actually was. 
According to attorney XXXX XXXX, XXXX also did not turn in the email to get him the ok to do the release of the XXXX acres until XXXX. on Thursday XX/XX/XXXX. So now I had two problems that the bank should not have caused, that I was trying to straighten out. I could have waited a week or two to get the bank to straighten it out but considering many people were waiting on this closing, I was in a terrible position. The seller was going out of town and my friend needed the money I had borrowed from her because she was buying a house for her daughter. We had postponed the closing once and I did not want to postpone it again. I have spoken to several banks and they have all said it was so unprofessional and inhumane to have treated me like this. First Citizens made sure they got more than their fair share and I am struggling to pay my electric and my insurance and even groceries. Now XXXX has cost me XXXX when the interest rates are climbing. 
After closing on XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX and having to let First Citizen move my money around however they wanted to. I actually thought XXXX would want to make things right after he told me what a great Mortgage person he is. If he had spent as much time trying to help me as he did try to avoid me, we would not be in this situation. He spent extra time making sure I could not go over his head. I had spoken with one of the places that I could lodge a complaint and they told me one of the first things they would do would be to put me with a compliance department with First Citizens. So I called my branch and asked about reaching the compliance department. I was told by XXXX, the branch manager here in XXXX, that there was not a compliance department and she tried to direct me back to XXXX and even told me that she had emailed XXXX because he had directed them to contact him if I called. Trying to intimidate a person just because they are trying to get to a solution is a terrible thing to do. I can not help but be suspicious of XXXX. Monday approx. XXXX. XX/XX/XXXX, a XXXX XXXX XXXX called and identified himself as a VP of XXXX Banking and told me that the compliance department had contacted him ( the one they do not have ) and asked him if he could reach out to me to see if he could help. I asked him if he minded if I recorded the conversation even though I did not need to ask him. He got so nervous he told me that Compliance would be calling me by close of business. Im still waiting on the call over a week later. Friday XX/XX/XXXX, I went by the main branch and dropped in on XXXX XXXX. He had another addition to the story. There was no name on the email that reached out to him. And they picked him because he was my branch manager. I pointed out to him that I live in XXXX why would he be my branch. He had no answer. He just happened to be downstairs from XXXX office. Attorney XXXX XXXX tried to email me and tell me that the bank did not have anything else they could help me with and they felt like they had done everything they could do. I asked attorney XXXX XXXX to tell me by who's authority he was writing me and he never would answer me. And would not answer me about the amounts that First Citizen charged me. I felt this was another form of intimidation all the while I imagine trying to preserve the amount of business that First Citizen sends to them. 
XX/XX/XXXX The attorney that First Citizen uses, XXXX XXXX XXXX, actually wrote me a letter apologizing for how upset I was when he spoke to me the afternoon of XX/XX/XXXX. He did try to shift the blame and say things like First Citizen had always intended to get my closing done. Even though his partner in the law firm had told me it would be at least a week before they could get it done. And the Appraisers busy schedule along with coordinating with my schedule to review my home. The appraiser contacted me on Saturday and I had him out Monday morning at XXXX I would have had him come Saturday night if it would have helped hurried it along. The Appraiser, XXXX XXXX is a very nice man and seemed very thorough. Considering First Citizens has done nothing for me except take money that they had not explained and took money from me that was excessive.

There are many other bank statements showing charges that do not match up. I will be glad to produce them. 

We had XXXX hours before the closing but cutting out the collateral got screwed up also because I was told XXXX did not email Attorney XXXX XXXX XXXX either with the instructions until XXXX or XXXX. for the one page document that took them about 30 minutes to do, but they had to have the go ahead and the survey. attorney XXXX XXXX had said that they did not have the survey but they did have it. We got that cleared up. They had the survey and the ok was just a couple of sentences but XXXX had to do the go ahead. 
The first appraisal had not been put in for at all so we had to push the closing out. The first date was XX/XX/XXXX, my neighbors were going out of town and I had promised to pay my friend back because she was buying a small house for her daughter. She was kind enough to pay for that pre-forclosure thing that I was overcharged by First Citizen by putting down extra appraisals and who knows what else. That needs to be assessed by someone at First Citizens and a detailed list given then my accountant will look at it and I expect to be reimbursed for anything that I overpaid or should not have paid.

How is the mortgage banker not licensed here in South Carolina?

What I want and/or expect : I want to be made whole again.

I want First Citizen to institute a program that will listen to customers and together see if there is merit to what their complaint is. Sometimes people are just not explaining things correctly and need a little bit of help.

*I want at least {$14000.00}. of my money returned to me from First Citizens immediately. I may be damaged further because of the rising interest rate and not being able to devote time to getting some sort of refinancing at another bank or loan institution. 

* Amounts defined in detail from letter dated XXXX XXXX from XXXX XXXX XXXX. 
amount labeled 3.Corporate Advances {$5000.00} amount labeled 4. Attorney Fees {$1000.00} amount labeled 5. Attorney costs {$330.00} and the additional {$840.00}. charged to me. Added to the Temporary repayment letter and not explained.

I want those amounts plus interest given back to me immediately.

*I want First Citizens to be held accountable for not getting me either of the appraisals in the time frame that is allowed by law. 
*First appraisal done XX/XX/XXXX and not given to me until XXXX ( plus mailing time ) needed it for the time starting XX/XX/XXXX to do my hardship packet. 
*Second appraisal done XX/XX/XXXX and not received until XXXX ( plus mailing time ) Needed XX/XX/XXXX to work on closing amount. And work on the amount that should be paid on principle from the sale of my property. 

" Addendum : First Citizens set aside a year of payments when the bank was aware that there was not a year left of payments before the balloon payment at the end of the loan which is XX/XX/XXXX. This was in a letter sent by the Manager Regional Security ServiceXXXX XXXX XXXX The letter was very threatening. '' Thank you for your time. 
XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. 
XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation