Consumer complaint received 2021-04-13
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: NY
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Other type of mortgage
Issue: Applying for a mortgage or refinancing an existing mortgage

Complaint:
See email I sent to Citibank Mortgage representative on XX/XX/XXXX - with whom I spoke to on the phone on XX/XX/XXXX and asked her to email me summarizing our conversation ( see original email from her for which I am replying to below ) BACKROUND : I started the loan process on XXXX with XXXX XXXX through Citibank Mortgage.. I found out through Citibank lawyers for whom I was working with to get my stock certificate for my coop for closing~ that my loan was " no longer active '' via email on XX/XX/XXXX. I had never heard from Citi that there was any issue until that date. 

XXXX, Thank you for your email. I have many concerns regarding my loan application. I was never made aware that my loan was rejected before XX/XX/XXXX when the Citibank lawyers told me in an email that my loan was no longer active and that I needed to contact Citibank. In review of what has transpired I have outlined the events which I feel that Citibank employees were negligent in the handling of my loan and trying to hide the mistakes made. 

IN SUMMARY : 1 ) I called Citibank mortgage department ( my personal banking is with Citibank since XXXX ) on XXXX and spoke with XXXX XXXX and reviewed I was interested in doing a refinance on my investment property with whom I had a mortgage with XXXX  XXXX XXXX ( BOA ). I reviewed that was not my primary residence and had been told by BOA that they do not do refinance investment properties. XXXX told me Citibank did due these refinances and I could do a cash out on my investment property and that we could be my preapproval on the phone right then. I went forward with preapproval, she ran my credit and started the process in which was I preapproved. I was later charged on XX/XX/XXXX for {$760.00} to my CC for this process. 


2 ) As stated above, I found out on XX/XX/XXXX my loan was cancelled through the Citi lawyers via email as I was communicating with them regarding getting my stock certificate which was needed for closing. I had been in close contact with them for over the past 2 months regarding this. I had no idea why it was denied and I thought it was because I did not have my stock certificate from mortgage ( which I was actively trying to get as you can see by attached correspondence ). I called citi on XX/XX/XXXX immediately after hearing my loan was no longer active by the lawyers and then saw it was closed on my loan dashboard. The representative on the phone said she could not give me any additional information on what was going on bc the loan was closed but offered to start an investigation for me. She told me this would take up to 72 hours for me to get a call back. I was very upset, was crying and explained I had to work and she said she would ask for the f/u call be made to me before XXXX XXXX and after XXXX if possible. She also said she would escalate this to the managers of the people I had worked with-> XXXX XXXX ( LOAN OFFICER ) and XXXX XXXX ( LOAN PROCESSOR ) to identify what happened. 


3 ) I had multiple phone calls with XXXX XXXX ( Loan Processor ) regarding my loan and when we spoke the XXXX week of XXXX of XXXX we reviewed together my documents on the loan dashboard, and told me they were good to go for the underwriter. I had also emailed him my co-op board questionnaire as requested ( see attached ) and asked about additional documents needed for my co-op for the refinance and he was looking into getting them. I was told nothing else was needed. I never had any contact with him after our last email when I asked and confirmed pushing off my closing of XX/XX/XXXX as I was then was focused on getting the stock certificate and communicating with the Citi lawyers. 

4 ) Upon hearing the loan was rejected on XX/XX/XXXX, I thought ( bc I was told all my other documents were in good standing as stated above # 3 ) it was due to the fact I did not have my stock certificate for my original closing date. I had been working diligently with the citi lawyers to try and get that for my closing. I had even spoken to and had in withing from XXXX XXXX that my closing needed to be pushed back 90 days passed the XX/XX/XXXX date and that my interest rate would be locked without penalty. See attached documents. 

5 ) I called Citibank again on XX/XX/XXXX to follow up on because I hadnt heard anything regarding my investigation filed on XX/XX/XXXX, they said it had not been 72 hrs and I was told XXXX XXXX ( my original loan officer ) would get back to me by the next day. I asked why not their supervisors as discussed on XX/XX/XXXX ( see above # 2 ). I asked the representative on the phone why XXXX was calling and and she replied she was the one assigned to the case. I was disappointed I was not going to speak with their managers but said OK because I was desperate to get information on my loan. 

6 ) By XXXX XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX neither XXXX  or anyone else from Citi mortgage called me back regarding my investigation into why my loan was denied, so I called again. I was told on the phone from the representative that she could ( different person who spoke to me on XXXX ) see that my loan was denied because it is an investment property with occupancy. I immediately stated that cant be the reason because the refinance was always for an investment property and XXXX XXXX knew that. After being placed on hold I was told to call XXXX @ XXXX because her desk phone was not working. 

7 ) I called XXXX XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX as requested by the Citibank mortgage representative @ XXXX and asked why my loan was denied. XXXX first told me that that information I was given is incorrect about my loan denial but then when not able to explain the reasoning to why that the loan was no longer active. She then went on to say that she saw a note from the underwriter it was an investment property with occupancy which she thought was vague and didnt understand. I was very concerned and confused by this because I had thought the denial of my loan was due to lack of documents available by an initial closing date ( which I thought XXXX XXXX just never pushed back as requested see # 4 ). That however was not the reason and XXXX reiterated that she didnt understand why occupied investment property was the reasoning for the denial. I became more confused which I was told from day 1 of this process on XX/XX/XXXX that this type of refinance was ok. XXXX said she didnt understand it and remembered that I was doing the refinance because of a recent divorce ( I had told her that on the initial call ). I then asked if the property did not have an occupant, would that work? I was told by XXXX that she didnt think that was the issue but would need to speak with her boss. 

8 ) On the same conversation as discussed in # 7 with XXXX, I expressed being upset that I had not heard there was an issue with my loan, not an email, call, or letter. She asked if I had any recent communication with XXXX XXXX regarding my loan. I repeated I had no recent communication with anyone with at Ctibank despite the lawyers and reviewed the last email correspondence was on XX/XX/XXXX ( see attached ) .. During the conversation with Ms. XXXX ( on her cell phone, she voiced concern she didnt know why she was no longer ccd on emails regarding my loans and that she should have been on all correspondence. I explained I didnt know that and XXXX never XXXX her on our correspondence so I thought I was just working with him. However I did tell Ms. XXXX that I was frustrated with his communication/explanations, so I started to email him after we spoke to confirm the plan so I had it writing. XXXX then went on to say This call is off the record and on my cell phone but XXXX said he reached out to you and explained the problem with the loan but I understand THAT IS NOT TRUE and you dont want to deal with the whirlwind that is XXXX XXXX. I confirmed I have never heard from him. Ms. XXXX also said she would guarantee she would do anything to get my money back and didnt know what happened because the underwriter was unclear and that the underwriters are very picky these days. I asked if she has ever seen this before on an investment property and she said No. I voiced my concern that I had been dealing with this for >3months and was told it was normal After it was made clear to me I was not going to get any further information what happened I hung up the phone and XXXX said her supervisor would call me Monday as they were out of town without access to work and she could not do anything for me further. It had to be her supervisor. As of XXXX on XXXX her supervisor has NOT called me. 

9 ) Shortly after and I got off the phone with Ms. XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX, l I became more confused and frustrated because I didnt understand how my loan got that far before a denial on something I was told from the get go was OK ( refinance on investment loans ). I called her again on her cell but she did not answer. I then sent her 2 more emails which have gone unanswered because I DID NOT WANT TO WAIT AGAIN UNTIL MONDAY TO HEAR FROM HER SUPERVISER AS I STARTED MY INVESTIGATION ON Tuesday XX/XX/XXXX and started the loan process as far back as Monday XX/XX/XXXX and now was being pushed off to Monday XX/XX/XXXX. I tried to call her back on her cell she gave me bc again her desk phone wasnt working. 

10 ) After thinking over what had transpired, I decided to call other banks to see if they could refinance my investment property. I called XXXX and XXXX XXXX. I was THEN EXPLAINED BY TWO SEPARATE LOAN OFFICERS FROM DIFFERENT INSTITUTIONS that Fannie Mae no longer offered these type of loans bc they are risky after the XXXX financial crisis and when in fact they are able to be refinanced loans they are given at higher interest rates ~ ie XXXX % ( not the < 3 % I was offered ) and usually has to be paid off in a short term. When I reviewed what had happened to me, they both separately said that it appeared my original preapproval application was most likely filed incorrectly and that my investment property was most likely listed as my primary residence hence my low interest rate and loan conditions and then the underwriter saw it and turned it down immediately. XXXX, my Citi loan officer, did not explain any of this to me originally when I called on XX/XX/XXXX or when I finally spoke to her on XX/XX/XXXX regarding my denial earlier as being the most logical reasoning of what had happened. 

11 ) After speaking with these other 2 banks I called Citibank again to file a 2nd complaint on XX/XX/XXXX because now I believed I was getting purposefully misleading information on what happened to my loan. I spoke to the representative XXXX XXXX, who listened to my story ( she was VERY professional and accommodating ) and she explained she can file a 2nd complaint on my behalf and again reviewed that she would escalate this to both XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX supervisors. I confirmed my conversation was being taped because I wanted this conversation to escalate because my previous conversations ( WERE NOT ESCALATED ) I WANTED THIS TAPED as my conversation with Ms XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX ( earlier that day ) was off the record and on her cell phone. I explained to XXXX that even though she is requesting a 2nd investigation which will be escalated to their supervisors, I was skeptical that anything would transpire because I was told that on Tuesday XX/XX/XXXX ( see # 2 ) and it never happened. I reviewed again with XXXX I never ended up hearing from anyone this week and in fact had to call myself to only get XXXX XXXX again. I asked if XXXX if she saw that I had called on XX/XX/XXXX requesting an investigation to my case which she replied Yes but that was closed. I was IN SHOCK BY THIS by this and questioned how it could be closed when in fact I have no other information regarding what happened? XXXX could not answer that but agreed to email me and put in writing what we had discussed ( see email in which I am replying to ). 


Due to the lack of communication and delinquent and egregious behavior in processing my loan as outlined above I will be filing a compliant with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. 


Good afternoon XXXX, I am reaching out following up on our phone conversation this afternoon. 
I have logged and escalated a complaint on your behalf and sent an email to follow up. 
I have noted that you filed a complaint on Tuesday and were told you would receive a call back in 72 hours and did not. 
You were not told that we could not refinance an investment property. Found out from the Citibank attorney that file was denied. 
XXXX and XXXX XXXX both told you right away that you cant refinance an investment property and that you would like your money back that was charged to your credit card. 
Please let me know if I have missed anything. 

Thank you, XXXX XXXX Personal Processor

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