Consumer complaint received 2021-04-06
Company: TCF NATIONAL BANK
State: CA
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Home equity loan or line of credit (HELOC)
Issue: Applying for a mortgage or refinancing an existing mortgage

Complaint:
We submitted an original complaint in this matter on XX/XX/XXXX, which was designated as CFPB Complaint ID : XXXX. That original complaint was closed by the CFPB on XX/XX/XXXX, subsequent to its receipt of a response from the subject financial institution of our complaint, TCF Bank ( the Bank ). On that same date we provided feedback expressing our continuing disagreement with the Banks repetitive false and/or deceptive response ( s ), by indicating that although we fully understood its written response, it did not in any manner address any of our issues. It now appears plain to us that we originally selected an incorrect category for our original complaint, Mortgage ( HELOC ) : Trouble during payment process. This selection was based on our understanding of the matter on that date, as well as our comprehension of the CFPBs available categorical designations. We now understand that this is a mortgage underwriting/approval/credit decision issue, relative to home equity lines of credit. 

Based on our continuing written communications with the Bank we now have come to a clearer understanding of the its willful actions in violation of our agreement and the federal Truth-In-Lending Acts implementing Regulation Z, the Fair Credit Reporting Act and Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act, at minimum. We first provided notice and warning to the Bank of these continuing violations on XX/XX/XXXX. The Bank provided no acknowledgment, explanation, counter or disavowal in response to these allegations. We have subsequently issued several similar notices and warnings, each ignored in their entirety by the Bank, to include its corporate Chief Compliance Officer, whom we personally reached out to for focused, ethical assistance and appropriate good faith supervisory intervention in this matter. 

Taken in its entirety, it is our firm position that the Bank - at its highest supervisory, oversight and regulatory compliance levels - is perpetrating arbitrary, capricious and intentional abusive practices against us in this matter and, by reasonable extension, all consumers similarly situated. All of the Banks continuing conduct constitutes knowing and willful violation ( s ) of the unfair, deceptive, or abusive acts or practices ( UDAAP ) made unlawful by act of congress, as codified by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, at minimum.

In brief, the Bank is utilizing 12 CFR 1026.40 ( f ) ( 3 ) ( vi ) ( A ), designating a significant decrease in our homes value, as a sole deceptive or fraudulent pretext for its unlawful suspension of our home equity line of credit, in its entirety. Noting that we make no representations regarding our current financial condition, either express or implied : The facts in the record clearly reflect and display that the Banks actual reason for suspension of our line of credit resulted not from the estimated value of our home but from some other unknown and non-disclosed information it had allegedly obtained through a consumer credit report or other third-party report. The Bank, to date, continues to withhold any and all required disclosures in willful disregard of federal law. 

On information and belief, we hold that the Bank has taken these abusive actions in order to avoid the burdens imposed upon it by the provisions of 12 CFR 1026.40 ( f ) ( 3 ) ( vi ) ( B ). In order to lawfully suspend our line of credit, this provision of law would have required the Bank to make a two-prong showing of not only a material change in our financial circumstances but a further good faith determination that it held a reasonable belief that we will not be able to fulfill our repayment obligations under our agreement. 

We submit that the Bank could not then and most assuredly can not now meet these provisions of law in good faith, so it took the easy way out namely, and for all intents and purposes, it concocted a false but virtually unchallengeable claim of significant decrease in our homes value, based on an allegedly obtained automated valuation model ( AVM ), and allegedly in advance of its credit decision. To date, this claimed AVM has not been disclosed to us by the Bank. This, despite our repeated requests and/or demands for its production and the Banks corresponding decision ( s ) to summarily dismiss or disregard these requests altogether, and absent any acknowledgment of receipt whatsoever. Instead, by means of unexplained and unethical substitution, the Banks Assistant Vice President/Underwriting Manager and its Chief Compliance Officer each independently submitted to us - on separate dates - an alleged updated AVM, ordered and issued on XX/XX/XXXX. This was a full nineteen days AFTER the Banks notification of its adverse credit decision and suspension of our line of credit, of XX/XX/XXXX. 

These strategic and deceptive practices fundamentally leave all discretion to the Bank, providing us no transparent or meaningful recourse or clearly defined path for reinstatement of our home equity line of credit. We are left entirely unprotected and subject to the arbitrary, capricious and unlawful whims of the Bank. The harms incurred are significant and were entirely unavoidable on our part, despite our repeated good faith attempts at mitigation through attempting to gain the Bank 's expeditious reinstatement of our line of credit. As we have indicated to the Banks Chief Compliance Officer, it keeps deceptively moving the goalposts. This effort includes knowingly and willfully making demonstrably false affirmative declarations regarding its stated requirements for reinstatement of our line of credit in its response to the CFPB of XX/XX/XXXX. 

We further believe and allege that TCF Bank is making knowing and willful material misrepresentations in its advertisements to all consumers regarding the availability and suitability of its Home Equity Line of Credit product ( s ), at minimum. Specifically, it makes false and/or deceptive representations on its website by offering reasons for consumers to obtain its home equity mortgage product ( s ), even to those whom may face significant financial challenges, such as the stress of a job loss, as but one highly suspect example : https : //www.tcfbank.com/personal/loans/home-equity-line-of-credit. 

The record clearly reflects that if the Bank had such knowledge of a consumers existing or changed negative financial circumstances, as in " a job loss '' - on either information or belief - that it possesses absolutely no such intent to issue nor would it make any such extension of credit to any consumer thus financially situated. Based on the facts present, it is evident that this approach would apply at any stage of the loan process - before, during or occurring after the fact of a consumers application and subsequent agreement, if any, in acceptance of the Banks offer. 

Rather than including any further recitation of all available facts in this matter, we will allow the various included attachments, comprising the entire record to date, to speak for itself. For purposes of completeness and accuracy with respect to any potential inquiry or enforcement undertakings by the CFPB, we respectfully request that our prior complaint against TCF Bank XXXX XX/XX/XXXX, designated above, be merged or joined with this complaint. 

Again, we apologize for the reverse chronology of substantial parts of this record, due to the first is last nature of the attached email correspondence with TCF Banks Assistant Vice President and Underwriting Manager, XXXX XXXX, and its Chief Compliance Officer, XXXX XXXX. 

We are of the opinion that this matter constitutes an issue of such magnitude and consequence for ourselves and all other consumers as to require the utilization of the full enforcement authority granted to the CFPB, in order that the Bank is brought into immediate compliance. Time is of the essence. This is especially true given the similarity of corporate malfeasance giving rise to other enforcement actions undertaken by the CFPB against TCF Bank. Respectfully, in our view, the Bank 's continuing harms to consumers, founded in clearly unmitigated hubris and bereft of any principles of good faith and fair dealing ( Ex. See : TCF Banks former CEO XXXX XXXX yacht Overdraft ), must be brought to a swift and decisive conclusion. A conclusion which significantly and materially affects the Bank 's financial bottom line, in the forms of maximum civil penalties allowable under law and consumer restitution for all incurred damages, and any punitive damages the CFPB may see fit to impose or seek through litigation in its consumer advocacy role. 

As we stated in our feedback in association with our prior complaint, we maintain that the Banks flagrant actions herein are highly representative of a class of unlawful actions undertaken by financial institutions against consumers, which actions collectively form the primary foundational reason for the establishment of the CFPB. 

Based on our interactions with TCF Bank in this matter, we allege that any prior punitive or corrective regulatory enforcement action ( s ) assessed against it clearly did not serve as either effective or meaningful deterrent against any of its future unrestrained, unethical and unlawful conduct, as evidenced here. Regulatory intervention is imperative. 

Thank you for your time, consideration and assistance in this most urgent matter. We, of course, are available at any time if additional information or clarification is deemed necessary for your investigation.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation