Consumer complaint received 2020-12-25
Company: CITIZENS FINANCIAL GROUP, INC.
State: NJ
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Applying for a mortgage or refinancing an existing mortgage

Complaint:
On XX/XX/2020, I submitted a mortgage loan application with XXXX XXXX of Citizens Bank -- a preferred lender of the seller. After completing the initial steps of the loan application I received a break down of the closing cost fees associated with the property. One fee that stood out that I had not seen on previous closing quotes was the Transfer Tax ( over {$4800.00} ). This raised a red flag since New Jersey standard has the seller typically pay this fee when transferring the title over to the new owner. I'd also had a quote from another preferred lender that showed this cost as one that was in fact covered by the seller. When I asked Mr. XXXX why this exorbitant fee was listed he advised that this is standard for any new construction. I told the loan officer that everything would be placed on hold until I conferred with my attorney. I immediately declined all documents sent over from the loan officer at that point. I reviewed this with my attorney who stated that the seller was not only responsible but their legal team also confirmed that this was being covered by the builder. Mr. XXXX reached out about a week later to ask where I was at in the process and that he would be scheduling an appraisal on the unit. I told him not to schedule this at which point he replied that my credit card he had on file for the appraisal would be charged {$550.00} even though I had already advised him not to do anything unless he heard back from me. I called my credit card to freeze it and 20 minutes later received notification that he attempted to run the charge anyway. At that point Mr. XXXX started aggressively pursuing me. Once again, I expressed that I did not want this application submitted. A few weeks would go by and Mr. XXXX would continue pressuring me about the loan application. I would ignore his initial attempts in hopes that he would stop reaching out. He did not stop. He would call and email multiple times a week. The next time he reached out, I confirmed once again that I would not be moving forward with Citizens Bank. In fact, I had already processed my application with the lender of my choice. He then insisted on my reasons since he had spent " so much time '' on this. In hopes that he would stop harassing me, I simply advised that his fees were much higher than any quotes I'd received from other lenders. He quickly replied and referenced the transfer tax fee explaining that regardless of what my attorney was stating or other lenders were claiming that I would have to pay this. I did not feel the need to continue going back and forth with him on something that I had already made up my mind about. I called the sellers agent and expressed my concerns on how this was being handled. Not long after, I received the following email from Mr. XXXX ; ****** XX/XX/2020, XXXX XXXX ( 10 days ago ) XXXX, as a follow up, the underwriting department actually just approved your loan and have issued the loan commitment. Ive looped my assistant XXXX in onthis email chain-he can go through the commitment and will outline what we need from you at this point to work towards clearance. If you want us to have the loan withdrawn, just let us know. 

To be clear-if you really are NOT paying the transfer tax, we will update the figures on our end to reflect that, once we get confirmation from all parties that that is the case. 

Regards, XXXX ****** Mr. XXXX decided that even after I advised that I would not be moving forward with the application that did not matter. He would process it regardless. 
Since then, I continuously receive emails regarding my application. Recently I received a " notice of denial '' since I'd stopped responding. On the notice, I am expected to sign off on the reasons for the banks denial of an unauthorized submission from the loan officer. Mr. XXXX listed reasons for denial as " insufficient available funds '' and insufficient financial proof of financial institutions. This could not be further from the truth. This implies that Citizens Bank denied my application rather than me declining to move forward with their application. If I sign off and agree to this -- I receive this message daily -- then it remains on my credit report for 2 years and may also impact the current application I have in place as well as my credit score. 

I have made several attempts to reach someone in upper management at Citizens Bank loan departments but have been unsuccessful. 

Loan officer information : XXXX XXXX The XXXX Team NMLS ID # XXXX Loan Officer XXXX XXXX XXXX Citizens Bank XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, NY XXXX XXXX Office : XXXX Cell : XXXX

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation