Consumer complaint received 2018-05-03
Company: ETHOS LENDING LLC
State: PA
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Closing on a mortgage

Complaint:
I applied for a cash out refinance With XXXX XXXX, a division of Ethos Lending LLC. on XX/XX/XXXX. I was provided with a disclosure package that included the mortgage application and Loan estimate ( LE ) along with several other required disclosures. It was clearly stated on page 1 section 2 of loan application that the loan applied for was a cash out refinance. The loan estimate that was provided and agreed to shows a term of 20 years fixed, a loan amount of {$430000.00} and an estimated property value of {$720000.00}. The loan estimate showed the rate of 3.875 % and locked thru XX/XX/XXXX. The LE showed a lender credit of {$3800.00} on the bottom of page 1 as well as on page 2 secton J. These were the terms and conditions that i applied for and signed disclosures for. On XX/XX/XXXX i submittted all of the requested documentation. 10 days had past before i heard anything from the loan officer or the processor. On XX/XX/XXXX i received an introduction email from a closing specialist named XXXX XXXX requesting 4 additional documents as well as introducing me to the processor XXXX XXXX XXXX. Later that night i received a 2nd email Ethos Lending explaining that new documents were available to review. When i opened the file, i noticed they had changed the lender credit from {$3800.00} to {$2200.00} without any explanation. I immediately called and left a message for the loan officer XXXX XXXX as well as sent an email to XXXX, XXXX and XXXX requesting an explanation of why there was a change in the lender credit, as there were no changes in the loan terms and no change of Circumstance listed. On XX/XX/XXXX i received an email from XXXX ( the loan officer ) stating that the lock desk made a mistake on the pricing and locked the loan as a rate and term refi and not a cash out refi and this caused the lender credit to change. In addition, he informed me that due to the county i live in and the size of my home, my appraisal fee was being increased from {$430.00} to {$510.00}. My reply to XXXX was that I had applied for, been sent and signed a mortgage application and disclosure package on XX/XX/XXXX for a cash out refinance. If he or his lock in department made a mistake on the pricing and locked it in the wrong way, and then disclosed that loan to me, they have to honor it. This to me felt like a classic example of a bait and switch tactic. I then requested to speak with an operations manager. On XX/XX/XXXX i  received a call from a XXXX XXXX who introduced himself to me as a VP at XXXX XXXX. He tried to explain to me that there was a valid change in circumstance because the loan changed from a rate and term refi to a cash out refi. When i explained to him that the loan was never disclosed or requested as a rate and term and that all disclosure paperwork sent to me clearly indicated a cash out refi, he asked if he could call me back after review. He called back the following day and informed me that he reviewed all documents with his compliance officer and they all agreed that this was a valid change. When i pressed him on how they came to that conclusion as all of my initial application paperwork was clearly marked as a cash out refi, he tried to argue that the lock in agreement didn't specify that it was a cash out. When i informed him that a consumer lock in agreement wouldn't specify a cash out or rate and term, he got frustrated and said, I stand by my statement that this is a valid change, you can choose to take what we are offering or cancel the transaction. i pressed further and he agreed to reduce their origination fee from {$1600.00} to {$850.00}. To me this concession was an admission of guilt and still not acceptable, but at this point in the transaction i had already dedicated time and money ( {$510.00}, the cost of appraisal ) and didn't want the threat of losing the rate that they had offered due to rising rate environment, so i decided to keep going knowing that they had violated fair lending practices. After a couple of weeks of requesting an updated status on my file with very little response, i was finally informed the loan was ready to close and they sent me a Closing disclosure statement ( CD ) on XX/XX/XXXX. To my surprise, without any explanation, the lender credit had once again been reduced, this time to {$1100.00} and the promised reduction in loan origination fee was not there, it was still showing {$1600.00}. 
When I replied to XXXX and XXXX that there was once again a problem, they informed me that the decrease was due to lock extension cost and that there was never an agreement of a reduced fee. I asked him to have his VP call me to disuss. Why this extension fee would be on me is anyone 's guess, as i had been contacting them every few days for status updates and asking if anything was needed on my part. This loan closing was not delayed for anything that i had caused. XXXX did reply and said they were working to cover the extension costs. XXXX, ( the VP ) called me and informed me that we never had a conversation regarding reducing the origination fee and claimed he could go back an listen to the recorded call as proof. I told him to send me a copy of the recorded call so that i could hear for myself that nothing was promised. Within an hour, i received another call from him acknowledging he had made a mistake and i was right, he had offered to reduce the fee. The loan finally closed on Monday XX/XX/XXXX with a funding date of XX/XX/XXXX. When i called the title company on Friday XX/XX/XXXX to follow up on the funding wire, they informed me that they had not received it. I then contacted XXXX to find out what was going on and her reply was she was checking on it. When i followed up again towards the end of the business day, she replied the closer was working on sending the wire. The wire was never sent on Friday. I then sent emails to their closing agent on Friday night, Saturday and Monday morning. I never got a response. I sent another email Monday afternoon to XXXX and the closer requesting an answer. At this point XXXX Monday afternoon, the title company informed me there still was no funding wire. Finally at XXXX, i received an email back from XXXX that a wire was sent. It was Confirmed by the title Company on Tuesday morning that they had recieved shortly after XXXX on Monday. I then requested from the closer if i would be receiving a refund ( {$130.00} ) for the 3 days of interested that i paid on the new loan from Friday XX/XX/XXXX thru Sunday XX/XX/XXXX since they never sent a wire. I requested this information 3 times and never got a response. Needless to say, this was a terrible experience and this company clearly violated lending practices in my opinion.

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