Consumer complaint received 2023-09-29
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: TX
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Home equity loan or line of credit (HELOC)
Issue: Applying for a mortgage or refinancing an existing mortgage
Sub-issue: Application denials

Complaint:
I applied for a HELOC and requested XXXX. They responded that they can only approve XXXX. I said that I have more equity in my property than that. The processor XXXX XXXX said that I can provide 5 similar homes that have been recently sold, so that they can request an appraisal of my property and then they may consider offering more. She made the following statement " If your appraisal comes back lower, then you may be offered less than I am offering now. '' I responded that I am sure my property is worth more than what they have in their system which gives me more equity to borrow against. Subsequent to that she requested that I provide my W-2s, my HOA statement, my home owner 's insurance, my payment history, and account in good standing advisory from my current mortgage lender. I provided all of the requested information and also provided my Tax Transcripts for XXXX and XXXX to illustrate that my income is substantial and sufficient for me to manage my current obligations The processor XXXX XXXX scrutinized the number of jobs I work and how I manage to work multiple jobs. I answered the question, but the questioning seemed to be more skeptical than analytical, because the only thing that should matter is my credit which was XXXX according to the form they gave me where they ran my credit, which also illustrates I don't have any bad debt, and the consistency of my income, which is demonstrated by the tax transcripts I provided along with the W2s. XXXX XXXX reached out and said the underwriter XXXX XXXX said they needed to make sure I lived in my house. To which I responded when I work from home, so of course I live in my house. She said they may ask for verification that I live in my house. I said you already have my home insurance, my HOA statment, and any other bill such as water and gas are going to have my mailing address and the house as the physical location of the service. XXXX XXXX sent a communication XX/XX/XXXX to let me know she received my last W2 I had to request to be mailed to me and that she was waiting to hear from the underwriter and that she would get back with me by XX/XX/XXXX. I didn't hear from her so I check the application status online and it said " no longer active. '' i called the Bank of American HELOC department to see what that meant and when I called the automated system said that the application had been denied. I requested to speak to someone and I got a customer service agent in that department. She told me that the XXXX XXXX XXXX denied my application on XX/XX/XXXX. The representative also told me that they were denying my application due to my debt to income ratio, even throug my income is substantially more than my debt and I also provide information regarding liquid assets I have that reduce that should have eliminated any concern about a debt to in come ratio, they also said they were denying me because they couldn't verify my information, which is a complete farce because I have two credit cards with them and I have had bank accounts with them for almost a decade. Please keep in mind that I was applying for a HELOC where the equity in my house would be the collateral, so as far as applicants go my application should be considered low risk and approved. In retrospect I have to consder the following tihngs that make me think that I am being discriminated against and that my application was going to be denied from the moment the process spoke with me, because I sound and I am most definitely XXXX. The first thing I noticed is that the process immediately tried to devalue my property and lower my equity. Please also take not that while she offered the option to have her valuation reviewed based on the information I actually took time to collect and to have my property appraised. She never actually followed up with me about the houses sold near my house that I provided and she never had the house appraised again, which gave me the distinct impression that I was denied before I provided any of the required information. The scrutinizing questions about how I am able to manage multiple jobs I tried to take as being curious, but there was an uncomfortable tone of skepticism and disbelief. Then there is the fact that she played along like my application was still being considered on XX/XX/XXXX when I was told by the customer service representative that I was already denied 4 days prior. Finding this out made the concerns about discrimination real for me, because why did she play along like things were still being evaluated if I was already denied and before that why did she have me provide information for my house to be reappraised then didn't do anything with the information or follow-up with me about it? This was very cruel. She was pretty much not going to do anything and let me get the denial in the mail.

Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation