Consumer complaint received 2017-10-06
Company: PENTAGON FEDERAL CREDIT UNION
State: CO
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Applying for a mortgage or refinancing an existing mortgage

Complaint:
Attn: Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)                                                                     XXXX Department of Regulatory Agencies (DORA)

CCd: Pentagon Federal Credit Union (PenFed) and XXXX

Formal Notice of Complaint 

To Whom It May Concern,

I am a homeowner in XXXX County,  Colorado, and I am in the process of refinancing my home with PenFed Credit Union, and initially  submitted my loan application to them on XX/XX/XXXX.

My initial loan application was done over the phone with a PenFed rep; PenFed and I spoke about home values, agreed upon a reasonable price we thought my home would appraise at  regarding Fair Market Value, and continued the application process. The following week I  found out I was Conditionally Approved pending verification of various documents etc as  well as an appraisal.

An agreed-upon target date of XX/XX/XXXX was proposed by PenFed as a conservative closing  date, with my rate lock (which I opted for on XXXX/XXXX during the application) expiring onXX/XX/XXXX. All parties agreed this refinancing could very reasonably move more quickly and potentially even close before XX/XX/XXXX.

PenFed and I continued to work through their internal process, and eventually all that  
remained was an appraisal of my property to be done. PenFed arranged to  
have a management company send an appraiser out to our property on XX/XX/XXXX.

On XX/XX/XXXX, the appraiser, redacted, came to our property. He was very pleasant  
in person, professional, and both my wife and I were left with a positive impression.  
During this visit he also mentioned that he was a licensed real estate broker in the  
state of Colorado as well.

However - everything from this point forward regarding the appraisers conduct has left 
us with the very opposite of our initial impression.

The appraiser did not submit his completed appraisal to PenFed until the afternoon of  
XX/XX/XXXX, 5 days following the appraisal date, and I the borrower was not provided a  
copy of the appraisal by PenFed until mid-day on Friday,XX/XX/XXXX, 6 days following the appraisal.

I have attached a copy of the initial Appraisal Document to this Complaint.

Upon reviewing the appraisal, it was immediately apparent to me, a lay person, that the  
appraisal document was rife with inconsistencies, conflicting statements, omissions, and  many other problems that were objectively - not subjectively - in error. Perhaps due to  these problems, the valuation of my property seemed to be affected by the appraiser's blatant mistakes.

Upon the insistence of the mortgage processor at PenFed I had been working with for the  past month, I rushed on the afternoon ofXX/XX/XXXX to review, complete, and submit before PenFed's close of business a Dispute Form to PenFed.

I have attached my Dispute Form to this Complaint for your review.

In it, I attempted to call out the objective issues I saw that were clearly in error, as  
well as what appeared to be the subjective nature of the appraiser's conclusions. The  
Dispute Form also asked for 5 comps, and I endeavored to find homes that were extremely  close to ours (we live in a relatively large subdivision, with many like homes) and  provided those as well.

On Monday XX/XX/XXXX, Tuesday XX/XX/XXXX, I earnestly and persistently followed up with  PenFed so as to not lose any time in ensuring my Dispute Form had been received, that  PenFed was working with the appraiser's management company, XXXX, to address these issues, and then rectify them in due order. During this period I had my concerns  escalated to PenFed's management team, and was told repeatedly that they had not yet  heard back from the management company, and by extension, the appraiser.

Finally upon the morning of XX/XX/XXXX, PenFed informed me they had received an updated  appraisal. However, upon opening it, I was shocked to see that absolutely none of my  concerns had been addressed by the appraiser, and that in his updated Appraisal's  "Supplemental Addendum" - literally the only change to the document I could verify - the  Appraiser supplied a scant few sentences that addressed only the Comps I had provided,  and none of my concerns whatsoever.

I have also attached the post-Dispute Appraisal document.

Both I and the representatives I spoke with at PenFed were highly surprised at this  
slow-to-respond, unprofessional and incomplete behavior, not once, but now twice from the appraiser  and XXXX.

Upon hearing few options of recourse from my contacts at PenFed, I drafted a Notice of  
Complaint, issuing forth a summation not dissimilar from this Complaint, explaining my  
reasonable and legitimate concerns surrounding the quality, competency, and accuracy of  the appraisers and XXXX work. I set concrete and absolute expectations that  should this dispute not be rectified by the close of business on XX/XX/XXXX, I would be  submitting my grievances to both the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, as well as the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies.

I have also attached my Notice of Complaint.

Upon sending this complaint, I had no contact from PenFed until the end of day on  
XX/XX/XXXX, upon which an escalating manager simply indicated she had forwarded this  
complaint to her management team. I decided at this time to allow for another day's  
leeway to ensure this complaint was received by XXXX and by extension the appraiser, and provide an opportunity for him to rectify the manifest errors and problems with now- twice unprofessionally-done appraisal efforts.

On Friday,XX/XX/XXXX- only a week out from my scheduled closing date at that time - by  
the afternoon I had not received any contact from PenFed. I therefore called the manager  I had been speaking with, only to find she was out of the office and gone for the  weekend. I then dialed the next manager she indicated on her voicemail message would be  the person to contact for immediate assistance, and too learned this person was also out  of the office for the weekend. 

I then called PenFed's main number and was transferred multiple times until I was  
ultimately connected with a "Mortgage Resolution Ambassador"  her title per her email  
signature - to attempt to resolve this. This individual has refreshingly been both helpful and prompt  to respond to my concerns, but is clearly limited in the scope that she can assist me. Nevertheless I calmly explained my concerns and the problems I was having, she then asked me to forward to her both my initial Dispute Form as well as my Notice of Complaint, and  she assured me she would be reviewing these issues ASAP and finding the right people  internally at PenFed to ensure that they were advocating for me, the borrower, to  XXXX, the management company, to review and respond to my concerns as necessary.

I again shared with this woman my concerns about timing and rectifying these issues prior to the scheduled Closing Date as well as the expiration of my Rate Lock. It is imperative that  this refinancing closes no later than XX/XX/XXXX, and funds are disbursed no later than  XX/XX/XXXX, for a number of reasons, not the least of which is my youngest child, who is  XXXX, requires XXXX and I must finance the XXXX through the proceeds of the  refinancing.

I allowed for the idea that no progress would be made over the weekend of XX/XX/XXXX and  XX/XX/XXXX, and since Monday, XX/XX/XXXX, have been following up with this woman on a documented,  consistent, professional, and regular basis to ensure this process would not be delayed. 

By mid-week it was clear that the management company, XXXX, had made no progress  in addressing my concerns and was sharing no information with PenFed and leaving me, the  borrower, in an untenable position. I continued to express my concerns directly to the mortgage resolution ambassador, and have been attempting throughout the week up to and including today,  XX/XX/XXXX, my originally-scheduled closing date, to resolve these issues. 

As of the writing of this Complaint, the afternoon of XX/XX/XXXX, I have received no  
resolution to my concerns or complaints and at XXXX MDT (local time) received a quote  in email of a response forwarded to me by Penfed, from either XXXX or the appraiser, stating "I was hoping to  work on  today, but I am going to need until tomorrow to take the necessary  time to go through the rebuttal and respond to it.  Thank you for your patience during  this busy time."

Let it be known that at no time have I attempted to engage in any unprofessional or uncalled-for contact with the appraiser; our only interaction was when he visited our home for his appraisal.

I am absolutely shocked, as well as materially harmed in multiple and significant ways,  
by the callous disregard and ineptitude I have suffered by this process.

As I have been informed by PenFed, due to federal regulations my closing cannot take  
place until next week at a minimum, and at this point that would only happen if I were to 
accept the appraisers and XXXX incompetent work as a true statement of fact,  
which it is verifiably not. Moreover, to add insult to injury, I am forced to pay $XXXX for
the appraiser and XXXX  incompetent and harmful work, that they apparently
have no obligation to ensure is correct and reasonable.

My only recourse at this point - having exhausted all other reasonable avenues - is to  
begin the Complaint process both with the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies, as  well as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. I have allowed for both PenFed and  XXXX, and by extension the appraiser, many opportunities to resolve these issues  fairly and directly, but have been failed by these parties at every turn to rectify these problems in a reasonably expedient manner.

While I am dismayed that this is the course of action necessary to me, the borrower, at  
this time, I feel I have no other course of action but to pursue remedy to the utmost of  
my ability.

Thank you for your consideration.

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 monetary relief