Consumer complaint received 2018-08-04
Company: U.S. BANK NATIONAL ASSOCIATION - SAN FRANCISCO MAIN BRANCH
State: CA
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Home equity loan or line of credit (HELOC)
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint:
CFPB XX/XX/2018 Subject : Financial Elder Abuse Definitions Elders should be cautious about entering into a banking relationship with Union Bank. After  converting an equity account to a fixed mortgage that Bank is now trying to force us to accept, instead, a payback scheme that is contrary to the interests of seniors and more like a credit card debt. The call it a Fixed Option Plan, but it is so fraudulent and contrary to the interests of seniors that the corporate office itself does not consider it a bona fide product and does not advertise it. The problem is the XXXX XXXX branch of the bank which is rogue. 
A mortgage involves two parties ; a trust deed involves three parties : a Borrower ( the Trustor ), a Lender ( the Beneficiary ), and the title company, escrow company, or bank ( Trustee ) that holds title to the lien for the benefit of the lender and whose sole function is to initiate and complete the foreclosure process at the request of the lender. When the Beneficiary and the Trustor are the same, the Bank is the beneficiary. In a foreclosure process the Bank will be both judge and jury. This encourages the Bank to be aggressive and reluctant to negotiate disputes ; they practice extortion as being more efficient. 
A fixed rate option Plan can be either a trust deed or a mortgage ; but a mortgage is not a trust deed. It is always a mortgage. The equity loan was based on a Trust Deed. This places the Bank is a powerful position ; they attempt to exploit it by extending the trust deed relationship. Union will not only control the foreclosure process but benefit from the process! You are placed in a vulnerable position in relation to the Bank. the wolf comes dressed as a wolf. 
After you terminate the equity account it is supposed to be converted to a traditional mortgage. However, you may receive statements titled, Fixed Rate Option on billing statements, Your Complaint will be ignored.The Bank may tell you that it is equivalent to a mortgage, but it is a false fact. The Union Bank lists all of the terms that it uses on its products on a Resource Center on its website. According to the Union Bank Glossary the term fixed rate mortgage is a traditional instrument used on a mortgage loan. But a product called Fixed Rate Option, which XXXX XXXX characterized as equivalent, is not even listed as a bonafide product. But they give no alternative if you have closed the Equity account.You are stuck. You are forced to sign.It is a fraudulent contract, signed under duress, the result of extortion. There is no other choice ; and a violation of truth in lending codes that regulate the MUFG Bank itself. A fraud on both the Bank and yourself. it is a fraudulent document that we have agreed to, under duress because there was not alternative. The XXXX XXXX XXXX  knowingly engaged in the deceit and induced us to sign although it will place us in jeopardy. But they will fight you, ignore you, and laugh at you if you insist on the traditional mortgage, the valid product..

The term Fixed Rate Option, on a monthly statement title, simply an extension of the closed equity account, is something you never agreed to ; a false filing that the Union Bank corporate office does not consider a legal agreement. And while you were questioning, your account has somehow been morphed, by XXXX, into three accounts, with slightly different numbers, all variations of an equity account statement closed last year! You may never know how payments are allocated, or chopped up to create partial payments that generate penalties, interest and negative amortization ad infinitum. These misrepresentations are bared by California Financial Senior Abuse Codes 368, 484,482,115,487 ; 368 ( d ) and as well as Identity Theft, But apparently the Bank believes that it has impunity because the phony contract has an arbitration clause. They should understand that these are penal codes, crimes against the State, with damages and remission.

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