Consumer complaint received 2018-04-06
Company: CITIZENS FINANCIAL GROUP, INC.
State: IL
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Other type of mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint:
I was working with a loan officer starting around the summer of XXXX. My earliest emails I still have a record of are from XX/XX/XXXX. Throughout the process of securing the loan with that loan officer, I was promised many things that turned out not to be true or that were not honored by Citizens Bank, aka CitizensOne.Among these are : 1. Additional funds required to close for owner purchased items - at the last minute, I was forced to add extra money to an escrow account to pay for things that I was going to have to purchase as part of my home remodel. This extra burden mean that I had to supply funds to the bank that were going to come out of my pocket, anyway. I was told that I would be immediately reimbursed for those items once I purchased them. However, once we executed the loan, and I purchased the items, I was not provided those funds back. I was then told that they had to be completely installed and inspected before I received my funds back. This policy, not communicated from the outset, cost me over ten thousand dollars in additional debt until those items were completed. As it turns out, the bank then used those funds to pay the contractor for other work, and I never saw those dollars returned to me at all. 
2. There were issues throughout the construction process with the bank not releasing funds to our contractor as originally promised. The incremental burdens of proof of work and timeliness of releasing deposits for materials purchased which were bank policies unique to CitizensOne were extraordinary and unlike anything our contractor in business in our area for decades had ever seen. These issues forced me to talk on additional debt to pay some of these deposits so materials could be ordered. 
3. The biggest issue is the agreement I had with my mortgage broker that I would not be forced to escrow for taxes and insurance. The additional burden is significant in that the timing of payments of my taxes, in particular, enable me to use my work bonus checks to cover them. We can not afford to pay throughout the year via additional monthly payments. This requirement was a show stopper, and I would not have continued with the loan had I not been told I would get the escrow waiver. During the closing process, my mortgage broker was either fired or quit. He claims that he could not live anymore with the decisions that the bank was making, and he moved on to other opportunities. In addition, his processor was fired within a few months because of the problems she was causing. I had numerous errors in documents. I had to resubmit the same documents multiple times, and there was horrible communication about what was needed and when it was needed by. At some point, the manager of my previously fired mortgage broker tried to step in but constantly claims he's doing me a favor and isn't responsible for anything my previous broker ( XXXX XXXX ) had communicated to me. In addition, I was told that I had to sign all of these truckloads of documents in order to move the loan forward which was already 6 months behind in closing versus what was originally committed. Throughout the construction phase, I inquired about getting the escrow requirement waived. I was told that it could only be done when the construction loan converted to the 30 year fixed. I was told I could write a letter and request that waiver at that time, but that they would start the process even before that. I am now being told that if I don't have written proof from the broker that quit that I was told I could waive the escrow that they can only do say if I pay them an exorbitant fee of thousands of dollars. Clearly, they have the ability to waive the escrow requirement but would rather extract more money from me in order to do so. This type of behavior is predatory and is more about extracting additional fees than it is about making it easier for me to service my debt and keep my head above water. 

The original loan closed on XX/XX/XXXX. It converted over on XX/XX/XXXX. I have numerous communications between individuals with the bank passing the buck or saying " no '', but very little that protects me as a consumer. I appreciate any help CFPB can provide that helps keep large banks from taking advantage of average consumers like myself with large, legal documents that require lawyer to interpret. Thank you.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation