Consumer complaint received 2020-10-29
Company: Longbridge Financial, LLC
State: CA
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Reverse mortgage
Issue: Applying for a mortgage or refinancing an existing mortgage

Complaint:
On or about XX/XX/2020, I contacted Ms. XXXX XXXX of Longbridge Financial , LLC who was trying to get in touch with me the previous day. I was in touch with another lender regarding refinancing my reverse mortgage and " somehow '' Ms. XXXX found about it. 
She asked me if I would be interested in refinancing my reverse mortgage with Longbridge, my current lender, at a much lower interest rate than my current mortgage or that which her competitor was offering. In addition to a rate of 2.360 %, she told me I could get a line of credit of {$20000.00}. 
It all sounded very good to me especially since, a ) Longbridge was already my lender and, b ) the {$20000.00} would come in very handy because I was thinking of making a large purchase in XXXX of next year. 
I complied with everything that was asked of me in a timely manner even though some requests seemed strange to me since I currently was, and had been a customer of Longbridge for the past four years. They treated me as if they knew nothing about me. 
The process seemed to drag on more than I thought it should. They would ask me for certain verification and when I complied, a week or two would pass and they would ask for another verification and another week or two would pass and they would ask for something else and a week later ask for something else. Remember, I was presently their customer for four years. 
Finally after close to 3 months they sent a notary to my home to have me and my wife sign a slew of papers. Never did they notify me that the loan went through. When I called them, Ms. XXXX said yes, of course, once you signed all of the documents, your loan went through. 
On XX/XX/2020 I noticed a deposit of {$10000.00} in my checking account from XXXX XXXX XXXX. On the following Monday I called Ms. XXXX. She told me that it was my line of credit. 
What happened to the {$20000.00}? I asked. Well, she said, you paid interest from the time you applied for the refinance until the new loan went through. In addition, we paid your property tax which is required by law ( something I had done myself for the past 29 years ). 
So my {$20000.00} line of credit became {$10000.00}. NEVER was I told that by the time Longbridge finished writing a new loan I would be paying {$7000.00} in interest and {$3000.00} in property tax. And .... I always believed that I had to request funds from my line of credit since every monthly statement I received from Longbridge on my previous loan came with a form to submit asking for funds from my line of credit. By automatically giving me the {$10000.00}, they could start charging me interest right away. 
When I questioned this discrepancy, I was told by Ms. XXXX, yes at the time we sent you the proposal, you would have qualified for the {$20000.00}, but we had to close your existing loan and pay the accrued interest. She further said it usually takes 45 to 60 days to accomplish this. Actually, it took closer to 78 days. 
Their proposal was misleading, to say the least, or downright fraudulent. How could I close on the loan the day I received the proposal? 
I am lodging this complaint of misleading and fraudulent representation on the part of Longbridge Financial and want appropriate action to be taken to prevent them from this misleading or fraudulent practice in the future.

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