Consumer complaint received 2018-05-10
Company: UNITED SERVICES AUTOMOBILE ASSOCIATION
State: FL
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Home equity loan or line of credit (HELOC)
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint:
Prior to changing jobs in XX/XX/2007, I applied for a home equity line of credit from USAA Federal Savings Bank in order to cushion the reduction in pay on the order of a decrease of over 30,000.00 per year. This was to provide some relief if it took me longer to reach higher pay in order to pay my primary mortgage and bills as pay increased with the new job. 

During the application process I asked the operator, " do I need to draw out the total amount at this time or is it always going to be available .... will the amount ( XXXX ) ever be changed? " ... to which the operator replied, " that amount will always be there. '' Some time later, after making my job change and taking a 30k/year pay cut, USAA " reevaluated the value '' of my home and took XXXX back out of the home equity line of credit, contrary to what I was told by the USAA operator during application for the loan. The information given to me by the USAA operator was not correct and this put me at risk of loosing my home and possible bankruptcy. USAA showed no concern when I called in and actually told me over the phone that, " we have to protect our interests ''. My due diligence in researching a way to change careers and simultaneously protect my financial situation was put at risk by USAA. 

Later again, when my financial situation improved, I called USAA and asked them to reinstate my original line of credit amount so I could consolidate debt to lower interest rates. At that time, USAA stated that the previous adjustment of my home equity line of credit was due to my attempt to refinance my home and was a result of my refinance attempt. I immediately told them that this was not true, knowing that I held a letter from USAA describing why they adjusted my line of credit. 

Of note is that when I received notice of this adjustment of my home equity line of credit, I was extremely angry. I told USAA that I was lied to during application and I was not happy. Conversely, when I attempted my refinance of my primary residence, there was no instance of anger and I was satisfied with the entire process and was happy to have my home refinanced. Therefore, it is not possible that this adjustment of my home equity line of credit occurred on or about the time my home was refinanced. This appeared to be another lie about my account and a pattern was emerging with USAA. Furthermore, I hold a letter stating that my home was reevaluated as a result of the economy and there is no mention of refinancing of my home - further evidence that these two situations were not coincident. The adjustment was a result of the economy crash and had nothing to do with my home refinance. Why would USAA need to cover up an adjustment to my home equity line of credit in response to an economical down turn? Is it possible that this was not allowed per the terms and conditions? I am researching that today. 

Now to this complaint. With this history in mind, I recently established a recurring automatic payment for my home equity line of credit to pay off the drawn out amount in specific amount of time. I set up this recurring automatic payment over the phone with USAA and specified that I wanted {$1500.00} paid all toward PRINCIPLE, and separate from my interest payment. This established the rate of payoff that I desired and kept principle decreasing at a specific rate as interest was applied and charged. 

Today, the second payment was charged to my account and I realized that USAA was taking interest out of my {$1500.00} payment prior to applying it to the principle. Only approximately {$1300.00} was being applied to the principle balance, reducing the rate of payoff and increasing interest revenue for USAA for the life of the loan. 

I called in and spoke with XXXX who turned me over to XXXX with Executive Resolutions. XXXX reviewed my notes and stated it appeared to be a " human entry error '', stating that it was set up as a, " Special Payment '' which involved removing interest from the payment at the time it was debited and applied to my loan. This is a very specific type of payment with a specific proper name - " Special Payment ''. At no time during the establishment of this payment was I told that is was a " Special Payment '' where interest was decucted prior to applying the payment to my principle. I specifically stated I wanted the payment to go to interest and THEN I wanted my interest payment changed from my savings account to my checking account. At no time was this procedure/payment summarized, specifically named nor identified as a split payment. This is, at a minimum, suspect, as USAA extends the life of my loan by decreasing my principle payment amount ; they increase their interest revenue by doing so ; and at the same time they are raising up my variable interest rate ... recently having changed from 3.65 % to 3.9 %. 

With the history of this line of credit ( false information at the time of application ; cover up of the reason for " adjustment '' of my loan amount ; and now, delay of my payoff while interest rates are increasing ) it is apparent to me that USAA seems to be practicing revenue maximizing at the cost of their members. They are doing this with false statements and " human errors '', all of which have increased their financial gain, at my expense. 

I was lied to at the time of application ; I was lied to at the time of request for reinstatement of initial amount ; and my payment was not applied as directed. All this resulting in increased revenue for USAA at my expense. 

This is low character business practice from a bank I trust to take care of my financial interests. 

Finally, I chose not to publish previous complaints about this loan to give USAA a chance to remedy the situation internally to my satisfaction. This is the path USAA has taken and this report and all future reports now will be published to the public regarding USAA 's handling of my financial accounts.

Company public response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
Company response to consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief