Consumer complaint received 2018-02-06
Company: Pacific Union Financial, LLC
State: MN
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: FHA mortgage
Issue: Closing on a mortgage

Complaint:
When my husband and I decided to purchase a home, we were happy to learn that we qualified for down payment assistance. Through an online inquiry, I was contacted by a mortgage broker from Pacific Union Financial. This mortgage broker assured me that he specialized in down payment assistance financing and would help us every step of the way. 

We were approved for an FHA mortgage of up to {$340000.00} and down payment assistance of up to {$12000.00}. 

We eventually found a home and made an offer of {$330000.00}. Our offer was accepted the same day. We bought a house! Closing would be 6 weeks later, XX/XX/2017. 

Since the price accepted was well below the maximum amount of {$340000.00}, we had no worries that we would qualify for the {$12000.00} down payment assistance, and were reassured of that often by our mortgage broker. 

The home passed both inspection and FHA appraisal with no problems. We gave our landlord notice, hired movers and started to pack. We submitted all information requested and were given regular updates from our mortgage broker that everything was moving along well. 

On XX/XX/2017, 3 days prior to closing, my husband received a call from our mortgage broker with terrible news. The broker admitted that he had made a mistake in telling us that we qualified for down payment assistance. The home purchase price limit in the metro area where we were purchasing was actually {$300000.00}, not {$340000.00}. We no longer qualified for down payment assistance and would need to come up with {$10000.00} closing costs on our own. 

I can't begin to convey the panic that my husband and I, and our XXXX daughters felt upon receiving this news. We had nowhere near that amount saved and had no idea what to do. We immediately called our landlord to see if we could extend our lease and rent a few more months until we managed to find another house at a lower purchase price. We would lose our earnest money and the cost of the appraisals. Unfortunately, our landlord had already rented our house and the new tenants were set to move in. Our family was effectively homeless. 

The only option was to ask a family member for a 'gift ' of {$10000.00}. Fortunately, and after much consternation, we decided to ask an uncle for the money, and he agreed to help us. 
We closed on XX/XX/2017. 

I have two reasons for filing this complaint. The first is the misinformation that was given to us by our mortgage broker. We had complete trust in him to advise us correctly. After we were told that we didn't qualify for the down payment assistance, we researched online the income limits as well as the purchase price limits necessary to receive the assistance. It literally took a couple seconds to find the guidelines and limits. Our mortgage broker, who claimed to specialize in this type of financing, somehow didn't have this information himself. Even though the help from my husband 's uncle was a 'gift ', we intend to reimburse him eventually. You can't imagine how grateful we were to him. 

Secondly, because our closing was delayed due to the mistake made by our broker, we lost the lock on our interest rate. It went from 3.87 % to 4.50 %. This makes a huge difference in P & I. If we had closed as originally planned with the rate at 3.87 %, P % I would be {$1700.00}. At 4.50 % the P & I that we are currently paying is {$1900.00}. Over the life of the loan, the difference that we will pay is over {$40000.00}. This is roughly the equivalent of my annual salary. 

Since this is not an error that my husband and I were in any way responsible for, but will ultimately and literally pay the price for, I believe that we are due monetary compensation from Pacific Union Financial.

Company public response: Company believes complaint is the result of an isolated error
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation