Consumer complaint received 2022-04-12
Company: PulteGroup, Inc.
State: IL
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Applying for a mortgage or refinancing an existing mortgage

Complaint:
I began my process with Pulte Mortgage on XX/XX/XXXX when I was asked to begin the questionnaire process and I was also required to send personal documents over before my loan consultant call. I uploaded every document that was requested before my call. On XX/XX/XXXX I had my first call with XXXX XXXX XXXX my Loan Consultant. On this XX/XX/XXXX call XXXX asked me an hour and half worth of questions. This is the first time me being a XXXX male came up, which in retrospect shouldn't have been even a question. I didn't think it was an issue since on XX/XX/XXXX I was conditionally approved for the full {$350000.00} that was required to complete construction on my {$500000.00} home with 30 % down. 

In XXXX I was introduced to my Loan Processor XXXX XXXX who was supposed to help me get all of my paperwork required for the loan in order. I had, at the onset of the loan process ( XX/XX/XXXX ), allowed for Pulte to access all of my XXXX Accounts per their request. According to XXXX it would make " my life easier because it would allow Pulte to pull the account information whenever they needed instead of me having to send documents daily. '' XXXX and I had our first phone call to go over paperwork on XX/XX/XXXX and she confirmed my account had been linked. 

During the next couple of months when XXXX and XXXX were pulling my financial data there were countless errors regarding the totality of my assets due to the inexplicable system issues linking Pulte to my XXXX accounts. This was never resolved. I kept being told the issue would be fixed and " everything is fine. '' However, I was also told " this has never happened before, but don't worry it would be fine. '' Also, unbeknownst to me at the time, another issue had occurred whereby my Loan Consultant, XXXX, inputted that I made over {$5000.00} a month in bonuses, which is neither true nor was it ever stated by me to XXXX or anyone at Pulte Mortgage. In order to get me past the threshold to be conditionally approved as a single XXXX male he had to fudge the numbers. Ultimately, having the correct financial data from XXXX would show otherwise, which would have put my conditional approval in jeopardy. It is all about how many conditional approvals you get as a Loan Consultant and XXXX subverted logic and diligence in his efforts to put another approval onto his quota - doing so without a care about the real life consequences and impact. 

From XXXX to XXXX XXXX I communicated several times, through email and phone, to XXXX and XXXX my discomfort with the data tool not functioning accurately. It was during this time frame that I also reached out to XXXX XXXX, the local area Manager of XXXX Illinois, to inform her of the problems I had been incurring. She told me she would look into the issues, get them resolved, and call me back. She never did. 

On XX/XX/XXXX I reached out to XXXX to ask about a long term rate lock because I had heard that Pulte had a deal in place where as a buyer you could lock in with a long term rate lock with no cost as long as you closed with Pulte. This would have locked me in at an interest rate in the very low 3 % range. This would have been fine if I was going to be approved, but XXXX knew that he put in the wrong numbers and the truth would come out once he went in for a rate lock so he told me that I could but he would wait. So I waited none the wiser. 

On XX/XX/XXXX I received a document from XXXX letting me know rates had gone up drastically and closing costs had almost doubled. I reached out to XXXX to ask how that was possible and to also go into a rate lock immediately. It was at this point that he told me he couldn't do that because he didn't have the required paperwork needed to prove I had the funds I stated I had originally. I was shocked as this didn't make sense considering I had been reaching out to XXXX and XXXX for months. I emailed XXXX and XXXX with the items being requested and also asked why I needed to send this information over. I also asked if the XXXX tool had been fixed as it had been 4 months since I granted access to XXXX for my accounts and due to the increasing interest rates this could no longer be a 'just wait, it will be fine situation. ' My closing was originally anticipated for XXXX and I was becoming nervous. I wanted to make sure we were okay to lock in. XXXX responded that I didn't need to send over any other data and that there still was not a fix in place to the technical issues. 

This is when I knew something was very wrong. Things that gave me pause for months were coming to a head, systems broken, documents not showing correct numbers, communications incorrect, questions about my XXXX, local level supervisors not returning calls and following up on investigations like they said they would. I asked XXXX and XXXX that same day, XX/XX/XXXX, to have a supervisor call me to talk to me about what was going on. 

There were back and forth emails from XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX, XXXX between XXXX, XXXX and myself. I was finally sent an email from XXXX XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX stating that she was going to contact me and then moments later I received a call from a gentleman who informed me he was my 'new ' Loan Consultant because XXXX had left the company and he hated to inform me that my Loan was denied. 

Now that I had uncovered the web of deceit, the loan and the person who was working on my loan both disappeared. ( I learned today, XX/XX/XXXX, that XXXX XXXX XXXX is still employed by Pulte Mortgage, confirming another lie was told to me. ) It is convenient that the loan went into underwriting after my months of questioning the process and financial data on the day a supervisor was supposed to call me to discuss the months of problems. Only after I had suggested that there was some kind of nefarious issues occurring. Up until that point nothing had been done, yet conveniently the SAME exact day that it was discovered that the financial data that was inputted incorrectly and other questionable activities were being questioned was the day that my loan was denied, wasting months of valuable and costly time for myself ( the consumer ). It was that same day when I was called by a new agent stating that XXXX left the company ( he did not and still hasn't as was confirmed by the Chief Compliance Officer of XXXX Mortgage ). The timeline of these events and my subsequent denial is very suspect. 

Once I was denied the loan I asked for more details as to why. It was at this point that I was told it was due to having too much debt. I further questioned how that was plausible for the denial when I was told by XXXX that I would be required to pay off the entirety of my car loan, which I had. I have zero debt. I was told I was denied a loan because XXXX inputted that I made {$5000.00} a month in bonuses ... as an educator... and was approved conditionally. Seriously? However, when they realized this was an error, 4 months later, it was fixed. Coincidentally the same day XXXX 'left the company ' and I requested to speak with upper management and a mortgage rate lock they had to deny me. I was also told this is the first time that this had happened so late into the loan process to a customer. When I asked the Chief Compliance Officer XXXX XXXX if she had ever spoken to a customer in her 31 years at Pulte Mortgage who was denied a loan after this many months after being conditionally approved she stated 'no, she had not. ' After 31 years, coincidently this single XXXX male was her first. 

I was eventually told they wouldn't take any fault for the denial of my loan and they ultimately blamed a {$25.00} balance on an XXXX credit card for the month of XXXX as the reason for denial per XXXX XXXX, Vice President of Pulte Mortgage Illinois. The reason I was denied a loan officially is : Excessive Obligations in Relation to Income. I have again {$0.00} in obligations.

I was told multiple times, after being denied, that the mistakes made were the fault of Pulte Mortgage employees and/or system failures for those systems Pulte Mortgage relies upon to get an accurate view of financial assets for potential home buyers. These mistakes have now cost me in the tens of thousands of dollars range due to the interest rates rising at such a high pace and the amount it will cost to rate lock in without this incentive program. I have tried to work with Pulte to settle this in good faith, but they have not wanted to work with me. They know that pushing their Loan Consultants to get conditional approvals in order to achieve unrealistic goals while asking demeaning questions about consumer 's sexualities can lead to situations like this, where consumers like myself are now scrambling to figure out how they are going to afford the house they believed they would be moving into. It is hard enough being a XXXX man in XXXX in XXXX, the last thing we need is to have a company like Pulte homes trying to string us along and hurt us mentally and financially with their games. It is unfair and should be resolved with compensation and an apology.

Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation