Consumer complaint received 2018-06-25
Company: Colten Mortgage, LLC
State: CO
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: FHA mortgage
Issue: Applying for a mortgage or refinancing an existing mortgage

Complaint:
In early XX/XX/2017, my husband and I were looking to refinance our current home mortgage with a new mortgage that allowed us to pay off some debt, and improve our overall monthly payments. 

We found Colten Mortgage at that time and began working with XXXX. Our mortgage for the most part wen smooth, and was not a horrible  experience. 

That quickly changed out of the blue 6 months later. On XX/XX/XXXX a gentlemen from Colten contacted us stating that there was an error in our paperwork from our XX/XX/XXXX refi that was discovered during a HUD Audit that required them to refi our loan again. After a very lengthily call, and me questioning the validity of this request he continued to state that we did not have a choice in the matter and our only choice was to allow them to refi our home. However, for our " troubles '' they were going to do the following : 1. Lower our interest rate from 4.5 to 4.25 because of this our mortgage would go down. 
2. They would cover all expenses of this refi and there would be NO out of pocket on our parts. 
3. This would be a quick and easy process, and made it sound like this was informal. 
4. We would receive a small compenstation The reason we were given for the audit was because HUD said our credit report showed that we missed XX/XX/XXXX payment. During the initial Refi, we provided Colten with information from our previous lender who had moved our XX/XX/XXXX payment to the end of the loan. I had been laid off in XX/XX/XXXX and our previous lender agreed to this move of this payment. 

After looking at our credit report ( all 3 of them ) our credit reports show that we have never missed a payment .... So again, this " Mandatory Audit '' seemed weird, and the story was not lining up. 

When I contacted Colten they stated that what they can see for their credit report shows that we missed a payment. I did reach out to the credit agency and they confirmed that what I see on my credit is what lenders would see. 

Next, we received a request from Colten to write a statement on our " Credit Report '' as to why we missed a XX/XX/XXXX mortgage payment, and a XX/XX/XXXX car payment. Our response to both of these line items was, how could we have missed a XX/XX/XXXX, or better yet a XX/XX/XXXX payment when these loans were paid off in XX/XX/XXXX. WE never heard another word about this again. 

Fast forward a few days, and now we are to do another appraisal, I guess the one from XX/XX/XXXX was too old to use. We had the appraisal done and it came back with a Loan to Value of 81 %. 

Last week, on XX/XX/XXXX we received the " final paperwork '' as the CD was going to the title company. In this final paperwork it had the following : 1. Mortgage Insurance for the life of the loan - Our original loan did not have Mortgage insurance for the life of the loan, and all the paperwork till now has always had the mortgage insurance for 11 years, which we were explained that because we have more then 90 % loan to value but less than 78 % we have to pay mortgage insurance for 11 years. 

2. We are required to bring cash to closing - Again, from the beginning we were told this would not happen. 

3. Our payment increased, it did not decrease as we were promised. 

4. We have roughly {$4200.00} in fees we are required to pay for the refinance : Refi Amount - {$320000.00} ( original loan balance was {$320000.00} ) Current Payoff - {$320000.00} Initial Escrow ( Insurance 2 months, taxes for XXXX ) {$890.00} Leaves - {$3300.00} in payments and lender fees. Remember we were not to have any charges because of this " clerical error ''. 

On Friday when Colten refused to fix their errors and still wanted us to agree to all of this, I started contacting HUD to see if they can really do this, and I sent the following email to Colten, again trying to resolve this issue : " I just spoke to Hud national at XXXX, they have not heard of a Hud Audit that requires a refi .... But referred me to my local Hud Office and Counselor, which was XXXX with XXXX County. I also spoke with XXXX at Colorado Housing XXXX, both of these contacts were provided to me by federal level of HUD. After speaking with both these representatives, they have both confirmed that they have never heard of anything like this ( HUD Requiring a Refi and forcing a  refi following an audit ) ... So, they have asked that you provide me with the Hud Contact who is pushing for this refi so that they can also reach out and understand the why. 

Additionally, they have advised me to file a complaint with CFPB. They have all stated that should a clerical error have occurred, we should have been able to just resign the form that was in error not a complete refi. Additionally, if a refi was done, A, we should not have any out of pocket expenses B we should not have lifetime PMI with our loan to value being at 81 % and the form online that you want us to sign still says these things. 

So, can you please provide me with this contact of the Hud person who is pushing for this refinance. '' Colten refused to provide me with this information. And as of XXXX on Monday, XX/XX/XXXX they have still not changed any of their paperwork and still expect us to sign the forced refinance today at XXXX. 

After trying to discuss these issues with Colten, they have refused to make things right. And today, XX/XX/XXXX we are required to sign refi documents that will cost us over {$4000.00} plus our time and energy including missed work and pay to make ourselves available for this forced refi. 

This I believe is fraudulent business practices. My family and I are out thousands of dollars in both the equity that we have paid off in the past 6 months is now gone, our payments have increased and over the years will impact us by thousands of dollars, the lifetime mortgage insurance which is illegal will amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars, and the this has taken away from our lives, and the unpaid time off I have had to take for home appraisals, paperwork, etc. 

This company should be investigated. I am extremely frightened at what their next game will be and the fact they will continue to make us refinance every few months. They are making good money by making us refinance and all the extra money they get out of the loan. 

Please help me so that this does not happen to someone else in the future.

Company public response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation