Consumer complaint received 2019-10-25
Company: Lenox Financial Mortgage Corporation
State: MD
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Applying for a mortgage or refinancing an existing mortgage

Complaint:
I tried to do a refinance with Lenox Financial on my primary residence, but as you can see from below there were several lies, inconsistencies and fraud throughout this whole process. I'm very upset. This is a classic case of bait and switch, which is blatant fraud. 

Here is the timeline : XXXX XXXX I contacted Lenox Financial and spoke to XXXX XXXX ( Loan XXXX at Lenox Financial ) about a no cost refinance on our home. He asked for paystubs, mortgage statement, W2s, and my home insurance policy. I was promised a no cost refinance of our home if my credit was approved, which was right away. I told him we were attempting to get rid of our PMI ( Mortgage Insurance ). He said the rates for a no cost refinance were 3.75 %. 

XXXX XXXX I find out that the no cost refinance is now costing me {$1300.00} in state fees that XXXX XXXX never told me about in the beginning. This made me very upset, but I decided to continue. 

XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ( XXXX XXXX ) reached out to me and asked me some questions and requested that I unfreeze my XXXX credit report. 

XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX from XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX out to me to schedule our appraisal. 

XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX me a detail form, which showed the loan was now locked at 4 %, but now he was charging me .223 % in points. As always, he told me he would delete the points. 

XXXX XXXX The appraisal was completed by XXXX XXXX XXXX 

XXXX XXXX I spoke to Mr. XXXX and mentioned how the points are still showing up and shouldnt be on our loan and his exact words were, Ignore that, Ill make sure we get that removed. Also, on XX/XX/XXXX we got our appraisal back which shows our house appraised for {$330000.00} which is over {$100000.00} of the UPB ( Unpaid Principal Balance ). 

XXXX XXXX Shortly after I paid for the appraisal ( {$480.00} ) out of my own pocket and 24 hours before settlement, everything changed. Lenox Financial had my completed appraisal for one week and now 24 hours before settlement, Mr. XXXX mentions it didn't appraise for the right amount and he now needs to charge me points ( {$1700.00} ) for the no cost refinance. Throughout this whole process, Mr. XXXX kept telling me that he would have the points removed, in fact he now was charging me .723 % without my knowledge or approval. This was the first time MrXXXX XXXX mentioned the value of my home. Come to find out, Lenox Financial was estimating my home appraisal at {$340000.00}. This is simply not realistic since XXXX shows it for only {$300000.00}. My guess Lenox Financial never locked in my rate and now they are trying to recoup some extra money. This is a classic case of bait and switch, which is blatant fraud! 

XXXX XXXX I reached out for Lenox Financial to fix this as I was promised from Mr. XXXX XXXX XX/XX/XXXX. Hes now bringing up this phony value that was never mentioned before. Hes throwing this on me 24 hours before settlement. 

This is very upsetting, especially after I was promised a zero cost refinance at 4 %. I had this confirmed with Mr. XXXX on Thursday, XX/XX/XXXX. 

I contacted my attorney, XXXX XXXX, XXXX from XXXX XXXX XXXX and he represented me and tried to come to a resolution with Lenox Financial and their story keeps changing and they won't budge. If anything they want to charge me more now. My attorney told me to reach out to your agency- CFPB. 

I want what I was promised or a refund for the appraisal fee of {$480.00}. 

This has been a very frustrating situation and I'm sure you'll see several other complaints from this very dishonest lender. 

Please let me know if you need anything else. 

Thank you so much for all your help XXXX

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation