Consumer complaint received 2022-08-10
Company: Rocket Mortgage, LLC
State: CA
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Closing on a mortgage

Complaint:
I initiated a mortgage with XXXX XXXX of Rocket Mortgage on XX/XX/2021. I had just paid off an interest-only mortgage and needed a new interest-only mortgage for a higher-value property, with a principal equal to the principal I had just paid off ( but at a lower interest rate ). A relative was a cosigner to take advantage of a program through the relative 's bank that shaves down the prevailing rate. 

I can no longer view the application on Rocket Mortgage 's Web dashboard, so there are some specifics I can not provide ( such as the exact interest rate we applied for ), or certain exact dates. 

XXXX did not like the personality of my relative and wouldn't return his multiple phone calls to discuss the mortgage. But we were left confused because XXXX kept asking for information that their Web portal didn't indicate we needed to provide. In some cases, the Web portal asked for the same thing multiple times. This was part of XXXX 's reply on XX/XX/XXXX by email when we continued trying to get clarification : " Im telling you what we need. The website is just automated. '' But XXXX asked for information that did not even apply to us. For instance, he kept asking for the relative 's apartment lease agreement. But the relative isn't leasing an apartment ( he is in a retirement home and pays a monthly bill, but it's not a lease ). XXXX never understood this, and refused to talk with the relative to get clarification. He even got the nature of my relationship to the relative wrong multiple times. 

Eventually, XXXX called me to tell me he was denying my loan. He must not have been allowed to do that because I then got an email hours later that they were scheduling an appraisal ( I had given them a credit card previously with a {$500.00} deposit for the appraisal ). However, it was abundantly clear that Rocket Mortgage was now going through the motions and fully intended to reject us based on a personality conflict. 

We had to escalate the issue multiple times within Rocket Mortgage and spoke with XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX, and XXXX XXXX. Initially, the escalations were ridiculous. XXXX XXXX, for instance, just kept referring us back to XXXX, who was clearly already bent on rejecting our application. 

They kept giving us different information, in some cases telling us that my relative 's XXXX IRA counts toward income, then telling us it didn't, then telling us it did again. Meanwhile, we learned that it took them at least THREE weeks after we opened the application to even send it to their underwriting ... all this time, the clock was ticking on how long they would allow us to have our application open for. 

The appraisal ended up evaluating our property for hundreds of thousands of dollars less than our neighbors ( based on other recent sales ), even though we have the largest property in the entire neighborhood. 

Meanwhile, they never understood our situation, did not provide the correct information on requirements, initially would not communicate with my relative, waited weeks to start the underwriting process, sent us multiple emails that we were conditionally approved, and eventually, the clock just ran out. 

They purposely dragged their feet to deny the loan because they did not like dealing with my relative. 

They NEVER sent a letter explaining anything when they finally closed/ denied our application. They did not provide copies of the credit reports. They kept our deposit money. 

We are now harmed given the increased interest rates.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation