Consumer complaint received 2017-05-20
Company: PNC Bank N.A.
State: VA
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Closing on a mortgage

Complaint:
I am writing to complain that PNC Mortgage extracted loan fees from us under false pretense. We submitted a loan application to PNC Mortgage on XXXX XXXX, 2017, requesting a conventional 15-Year Fixed mortgage for a total loan amount of {$94000.00}. After submitting all requested paperwork, we were told by XXXX XXXX, Loan Processor ( Phone : ( XXXX ) XXXX, Email : XXXXXXXXXXXX ) that our loan was " conditionally approved, '' and that we needed to pay an up-front appraisal fee of {$650.00}. I asked what the conditions were, XXXX credit card. after a couple days she said there was a {$2000.00} judgement on our title report that we needed to clear before the loan would be approved. I asked for information about the judgement, as I was unaware. The next day, XXXX XXXX responded that the judgement was not going t be a problem, and that there were no barriers to our loan. She then asked us again for the appraisal fee, which we paid via credit card. A month passes before XXXX XXXX contacts us again on XX/XX/XXXX to say that the underwriter would not approve the loan unless the judgement is cleared. I asked again for information about the judgement. She responded with : " XXXX, My apologies, you are correct! This judgment was cleared on your title. It was just not removed from the list of things we are paying off with your loan. Therefore, I mistook it as something still needing to be paid off. After further investigation, I noticed that the amount was the same as the judgment we cleared on your title a while back. The judgment will be removed from the list by the underwriter before closing. Again, my sincerest apologies for my misunderstanding. Regards, XXXX XXXX Loan Processing Associate PNC Mortgage, a division of PNC Bank, NA '' The following day, XXXX XXXX, Senior Mortgage Loan Officer, e-mailed : " Good afternoon, XXXX informed me what has transpired on your loan and Im sorry for the confusion. It appears that that judgment does have to be paid off prior to closing. Is this something you want to do? If not, we will not be able to close the loan per the underwriter. Thks XXXX XXXX XXXX Senior Mortgage Loan Officer Home Lending Center NMLS # XXXX " I replied : " As I explained to her, and now for the third time, we have no information about this supposed judgement, or why we are expected to pay it. This came up a month and a half ago. At that time I asked her to forward to me what information you had. After a day she said the matter had been cleared and was not a problem. This issue was apparently put aside in order to get me to pay for the appraisal, and then it could be brought up again at the last minute. Send me whatever information you have about the judgement. If I do not receive documentation within 48 hours, we will withdraw our loan application, and I will expect a refund of our appraisal fee, which I now believe was extracted under false pretenses. XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX responded with a New Jersey state courts case number, which the state court could not find when contacted by phone. Later a XXXX XXXX contacted me and promised to find our how we can clear the judgement from our records. Three weeks have passed with no response to my phone calls. This leaves us in a catch 22 : we can not complete the loan without clearing this phantom judgement from our credit report, and no one can tell us who we need to pay or why. PNC has now closed the loan application, and we feel we have been duped into paying loan fees based on deceptive statements when the bank had no intention of processing the loan.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation