Consumer complaint received 2020-07-25
Company: Ark-La-Tex Financial Services, LLC
State: TX
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: FHA mortgage
Issue: Applying for a mortgage or refinancing an existing mortgage

Complaint:
From the start of this process to now, we have decreased our debt, increased our savings and credit scores. We find it very disheartening to be pre approved in XXXX and denied now after further emotional and financial investments have been made. 

XX/XX/2020 : Conditional Pre Approval from XXXX XXXX  for Conventional loan with down payment assistance program. Signed contract with XXXX and gave {$2500.00} for earnest money. Advised to pay off our car loan at closing. We continued to focus on building our savings and paying down our debt. 

XXXX - XX/XX/2020 : Weekly updates provided by XXXX for house construction and inspection processes. 

XX/XX/2020 : Correspondence with XXXX XXXX  's Credit department to confirm we were on track. Credit Repull. No feedback received about new credit scores. 

XX/XX/2020 : We emailed XXXX XXXX  for an update, no response received. 
Received an email from Benchmark to apply for loan. We reached out to XXXX and XXXX XXXX  because there was no prior information provided about this transition. They informed us we needed to proceed with Benchmark. We completed the online application and submitted all requested documents. 

XX/XX/2020 : Loan was submitted to underwriting for FHA loan with XXXX. Credit scores improved from XXXX 's to XXXX for both borrowers. We completed the request to change our student loan plan from {$76.00} IDR to {$680.00} Fixed payment plan and lost 3 years of payment history. Submitted a letter from our employer to confirm consistency in commission payments, commission was still not approved. 
Resubmitted documents for Conventional loan and 3 % Down from us, still not approved. Feedback only said we were not approved. 

Asked to bring in a cosigner. However, we are hesitant to proceed and involve another person 's credit and financial information without increased transparency in this process because our credit has been pulled a total of 4 times but only provided to us 3 times. 

This is what we request from you now : If a supervisor was not previously involved in our loan, they need to be now. 
We want a phone conference with them explaining what is going on, what can be done, or what we need to do to prepare ourselves in the future ; because we will become homeowners. 
Does commission have to be received for 12 or 24 consistent months before it can be counted as income? 
Can we be granted more time to improve our credit profile? If so, explain the numbers that we should aim for. 
If we are able to secure a cosigner what is the credit score and income amount needed for approval? 

We also hope that in the future there is increased transparency and communication between lenders and clients. As well as a better hand off process between XXXX XXXX  and Benchmark. 

We emailed this and additional information to Benchmark associate, XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX  associate, XXXX XXXX XXXX # XXXX, and XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX on XX/XX/2020. XXXX was the only person to reply and update us to the current status. She was informed that a branch manager called us but this never happened. The contract was canceled, and the house placed back on the market without our knowledge. From us emailing our letter of complaint until today only XXXX has reached out to us to even apologize. This has been a horrible and unfair experience for my family.

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