Consumer complaint received 2021-03-30
Company: NORTHWEST BANCSHARES INC
State: MI
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint:
This is a complicated story, which involves a construction loan that converted to a traditional loan after our contractor abruptly abandoned our project, an acquisition of the initial bank we were working with, a fraudulent lien put on our house by the contractor who left our project ( and released once the courts took a look ) and now a bank who has been charging us interest and principal on {$80000.00} in funds that were never funded to anyone.

In addition to paying an interest rate far higher than current rates, the concept of paying interest/principal on significant funds we never saw, for 12 consecutive months, feels like a type of predatory lending and mortgage fraud. Additionally, we missed out on refi'ing at historic low rates in the 2 's recently, as they would not provide a payoff letter while in this dispute. The damages there are losing XXXX point cross 30 years and essentially we lost the ability to cash out at those lows we were at. 

While we did hire an attorney to try and resolve, they continued to drag things out, while we continued to make our full monthly payments on time, even though we knew we were overpaying each month, on a couple levels. First, we never saw that {$80000.00}. Second, we have been paying an interest rate of 4.875 %, far higher than market rates. Lastly, for the majority of last year we " appeared '' to be in greater debt than we were, as the whole $ XXXX loan was used as our principal balance, when, we only borrowed $ XXXX. This also caused issues during the refi process, as it was hard to explain to the underwriters why there was {$80000.00} in debt included that should have never appeared as a debt. 

We have been going back and forth with Northwest Bank since spring XXXX when they acquired XXXX XXXX. The people at XXXX XXXX were both helpful and sympathetic to our issues with the contractor who abandoned our project. While we were able to extend our construction loan term for 6 months initially, we were unable to extend it a second time, so the loan converted to a traditional 30-year fixed mortgage on XX/XX/XXXX. XXXX XXXX  took the time to explain our unique situation to XXXX XXXX XXXX ( Distr Construction Specialist II ) at Northwest Bank, and while they appeared to " get it '' initially, they did not treat us the way XXXX XXXX did. 

Without us asking for one, Northwest Bank had their legal team draft an initial agreement last XXXX ( XXXX ), stating they would credit our account the interest overpayments, if we signed this document essentially saying we'd pursue no future legal agreements. It is telling that they authored this agreement, as the previous bank simply credited our account when we explained the situation. We were expecting the same here, especially with the knowledge transfer that occurred between XXXX XXXX  and Northwest Bank. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX XXXX ( Regional Mortgage Operations Manager - NMLS # XXXX ) sent a revised Construction Loan Modification Agreement over, again, asking us to sign our rights away, for us to have {$3000.00} credited towards our principal ( less than they owe us ). I was advised by someone else to not sign this, eat the money, and file a formal complaint with the CFPB. i was also advised to report Northwest Bank to the FTC Bureau of Consumer Protection, Indiana Department of Financial Institutions, Indiana Attorney General, Pennsylvania Department of Banking & Securities, and the Pennslyvania Attorney General. IN and PA specifically b/c the local branch of Northwest Bank is in IN and their headquarters are in PA. 

In the end, they were waiting for our Certificate of Occupancy, which took forever to get due to the issues the previous contractor left unresolved and trying to work through all of this during a global pandemic. We provided the COO on XX/XX/XXXX, at which point, that {$80000.00} we never borrowed was quickly applied to our principal, on XX/XX/XXXX. 
However, we still made 12 monthly payments, never late, paying approximately $ XXXX more than our new loan will be, paying on what was borrowed, at current rates. 

We have also incurred legal fees during this ordeal, which was either caused by incompetence, negligence, or something else. We, the consumers, did absolutely nothing wrong during this entire fiasco. 

While we would like them to make things right financially, as they clearly took advantage of us, my wife and I would not want any other consumer to experience this. 
The constant stress and sleepless nights combined with the financial implications of overpaying each month, even though everyone knew it was wrong, should not be something that is permissible. 

We finally have our payoff letter and will be refi 'd with a reputable lender before our XXXX payment is due, however, we wanted to get our complaint filed while we are still a Northwest Bank customer. 

I realize theres a lot to digest here and I am happy to answer any questions over the phone ( XXXX ) or via email at XXXX. 
I also have countless emails on this matter and am happy to turn over whatever is necessary for this investigation. 

Thank you for being an advocate for the consumer, as it was clear, even with an attorney helping, this bank had no interest in doing the right thing and to this day, has never been able to explain why they kept that {$80000.00} they knew we were never going to need/borrow.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation