Consumer complaint received 2020-03-15
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: NH
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Home equity loan or line of credit (HELOC)
Issue: Applying for a mortgage or refinancing an existing mortgage

Complaint:
This complaint is regarding a home equity line of credit application process through Bank of America. 
Any time I have visited the branch to do my banking I am solicited to apply for a home equity line of credit or to refinance our mortgage. On XX/XX/XXXX we gave in to the solicitation harassment and set up an appointment to apply for a home equity line of credit at our local branch. I met with Mr. XXXX XXXX, the mortgage loan officer at BOA. I made it clear to him that we are interested in the HELOC. We went through the application process and I clearly disclosed what we owe in debt, and what our income is and I said up front that I did not want to waste anyone 's time and would this information be enough to qualify us. I asked for $ XXXX, however he looked up our mortgage ( which BOA holds ) and told us we qualified for $ XXXX and if I were to make a commitment to use the entire amount upon approval it would drop our interest rate by half a point. 
A few days later I supplied BOA with all required documents ; I finally received a response two weeks later from XXXX XXXX, who contacted me from their application processing department. I had to refax the documents a couple of times and after that she said she had everything ready and is waiting for the underwriting department to make a decision within a few days. A week later she called me and told me that the income on our tax return is not enough to get the line of credit approved ( hence, I had already given them XXXX and XXXX returns ) and she asked if rather than denying the loan that she could extend the process to XXXX XXXX as long as I could provide her with the XXXX tax return and that should be sufficient. At this point, I was very surprised and was already told by everyone that our income was sufficient and that the loan to collateral ratio are sufficient. I figured by now we had gone though this whole process I would just get my XXXX returns done early. I contacted Ms. XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX to let her know that it's not possible to have the XXXX return done before XX/XX/XXXX due to IRS codes and deadlines. I asked if they could extend the process another week as by then I would be able to access XXXX returns and complete them. She said she would have the underwriting department take care of that. 
I submitted the XXXX returns the moment they were available on XX/XX/XXXX and called Ms XXXX to let her know only to be told that I need to start the application process all over again at the local branch. Now by doing this, I have lost a second inquiry on my credit report and time that I need to take off from work. I made it clear that I would go through the entire process again if they could assure me that my income and collateral are sufficient enough to approve the loan. She was positive that there shouldn't be any problems and should take a couple of days. All that would need to be done was to reapply the same documents to the new loan application. To make a long story short, I went back to the bank and reapplied with Mr. XXXX. A few days later the underwriting department contacted me to tell me that our collateral on the house qualifies us for {$79000.00} and if I would be ok with that ; as long as I were to make a commitment to withdraw the entire amount. I agreed and was told to wait a couple more days. Two days later a representative from the bank named XXXX called to tell us that our loan application was denied and when I questioned why he had no clear answer, however he asked me a series of questions that would allow them to reconsider their decision that involves very personal financial information ( what we have in liquid cash, any investment accounts, any savings, college loan accounts for our child, etc. ). I answered all the questions because I was already invested and lured into believing that there is a chance to be approved for a loan I was solicited to apply for. 
After he got all the answers, he said I was still denied. Reason given was that our debt to income ratio is not sufficient based on FEDERAL RULES. I questioned this decision and i told him I was applying for this loan was to pay our debt and it's on the application ( the purpose to use this loan is to pay credit card debt ). He quickly became rude and nasty and very disrespectful and pretending he doesn't understand what I am telling him ( the entire call he mispronounced my XXXX last name, yet I have a very easy last name to pronounce. I corrected him twice and he said it didn't make a difference, they all sound the same ). 
I told him I felt I was being discriminated and was solicited for our personal information and that the entire process was invasive financially and personally. " Sorry, there is nothing we can do ''. At this point I asked to speak to supervisor but of course nobody is available and would call me back. He hung up on me and that was that. Two hours later a manager named XXXX XXXX called to calm me down in a way where your intelligence is being insulted and irrelevant to your application. I made it clear that I felt we were being discriminated and violated. The next day I received a call from the local regional manager, XXXX XXXX apologizing for the ordeal and refinancing my existing mortgage would be a better fit for me as the standards to approve such a process are more lenient. He told me he would advise XXXX XXXX to contact me in order to go through yet another process. We did not ask for that, we were solicited. We have our mortgage through them and we have equity in our home. My wife and I both have XXXX credit score and we have sufficient enough income to repay the loan. The purpose of the loan was to pay off our debt at a lower interest rate. XXXX XXXX she was trying to reach me by email about five times on many different occasions but never calls. Emails say she would contact tomorrow but never does. While she is emailing me another associate named XXXX XXXX from BOA contacts me by email saying he is trying to reach me to refinance but keeps getting my voicemail. Nobody called nor left a VM. I emailed back and gave him my phone number and said to call anytime. Never heard from him. Then another associate, Merrill Edge, started emailing me saying I missed my appointment to meet with a loan officer. I had no appointment nor had I been contacted by anyone regarding any appointment. I am getting the runaround and I feel I was used, abused and violated, not to mention discriminated. 
P.S. I received a letter on XX/XX/XXXX from BOA stating that they can't approve the loan for the reason : Loan to Collateral Value Ratio exceeds lending guidelines. This totally contradicts what I was told over the phone by three different representatives and then they could have offered what our collateral borrowing allowance is. They lied on the phone and they give scattered information.

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