Consumer complaint received 2017-08-14
Company: Cadence Bank
State: TX
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Applying for a mortgage or refinancing an existing mortgage

Complaint:
This is a follow up complaint to my original complaint against Bancorp South Bank. Please reference closed case XXXX. In summary, my original complaint against Bancorp South Bank is my Loan Officer XXXX XXXX was negligent in the handling of the origination of my loan beginning XX/XX/XXXX specifically by not understanding his companies internal guidelines with respect to the short sale I had in the summer of XXXX. As a result, by loan was denied in Underwriting 3 days before closing resulting in significant financial harm to myself and my family. In summary, Bancorp South Bank 's response to my complaint was XXXX XXXX was up front with me from the very beginning starting with our first phone conversation back in XX/XX/XXXX that my short sell was problematic and could result in the denial of my loan application at the underwriting stage. In addition, me being an 8+ year veteran in the XXXX industry ( I work in XXXX XXXX, not XXXX XXXX ) should have knows that the short sale was problematic and I have should have prepared for such an outcome. My response : Bancorp 's response to my CFPB complaint XXXX is completely false and I can prove it based on written communications from XXXX XXXX and Bancorp South Bank and by XXXX XXXX 's actions throughout the loan origination process. I would like for Bancorp South Bank to respond to these specific points below : 1. I am establishing right here that XXXX XXXX and I did discuss my short sale and the mitigating circumstances around it ( I relocated from XXXX to XXXX  for work and as a result had to short sale my XXXX residence ) on our first phone conversation back on XX/XX/XXXX. Bancorp South Bank admits the same according to their first written response to me dated XX/XX/XXXX. Please see attached document titled " Bancorp South First Response Letter ''. As Bancorp South Bank has yet to allege that I misled XXXX XXXX in any way, shape, or form around the mitigating circumstances around my short sale back in the summer of XXXX, I am also establishing that I was upfront and honest about why I had to short sale my home during that conversation. 2. Based on my loan application, credit report, financial profile, asset allocation, and the information I shared during our first phone conversation on XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX XXXX pre-qualified me on two separate occasions for a purchase price of XXXX in late XXXX and XXXX in late XXXX for a 5/1 ARM 89.9 % LTV Jumbo Loan Portfolio product. Question : If XXXX was concerned that my short sale in the summer of XX/XX/XXXXwould be problematic, why pre-qualify me twice for a jumbo loan? Why not tell me to wait until such time that the short sale will not be problematic? Answer : Because XXXX was not at all concerned about my short sale being problematic. He told me during our first phone conversation that the short sale met his company 's internal guidelines and therefore, there was no reason for me to be concerned that the short sale was problematic. 3. Between XX/XX/XXXX which is when I signed Bancorp South Bank 's initial disclosures for purchase money financing on XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX which is when my file was submitted to Underwriting ( 4 business before my scheduled close ), there was never any written or verbal communication by XXXX XXXX or anyone else from Bancorp South Bank regarding my short sale. The Processor on the file ( XXXX XXXX ) even reached out to me on two separate occasions for two different sets of documentation either of which included any documentation related to my short sale. Question : Again, if Charley believed my short sale to be problematic, why did n't he reach out to me and inform me that I might want to consider exercising my funding contingency to get out of the purchase of XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, or get rid of some debt to improve my DTI or see if I can come up more money for a down payment? Answer : Again, because XXXX did not believe my short sale was problematic. His actions or lack of actions during the loan origination process demonstrate that. 4. On XX/XX/XXXX ( one day after my loan file was submitted to Underwriting ) XXXX XXXX finally reached out to me via email and asked for a Letter of Mitigating Circumstances around my short sale. Please reference the attached document titled " Short Sale Email Thread ''. His email implied that he should have already had it and asked me to " resend. '' I quickly responded and told him that was n't something that anyone had asked me for up until that moment but I could send an email shortly if that would suffice for the Underwriter. XXXX responded and said that would be fine and further added that this letter would have been something that we discussed back in XX/XX/XXXX. I did n't recall that being discussed in our XX/XX/XXXX conversation but even if it was, there was no way I would have known to supply that letter unless someone from Bancorp South Bank asked for it 3 months later. XXXX 's response was a little perplexing to me at that time but I shot him a quick email re-iterating what we had talked about back on XX/XX/XXXX regarding my short sale. I.E. I had to relocate from XXXX to XXXX for my job and as a result, I had to short sale my XXXX residence. Question : Why did XXXX wait until 1 day after my loan file was submitted to Underwriting ( and 4 business days before my scheduled close ) to ask for a letter of mitigating circumstances around my short sale? Answer : I offer this as further proof that that short sale never discussed beyond my initial conversation with XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX prior to my loan being submitted to Underwriting on XX/XX/XXXX. If it had, I 'm quite certain that either XXXX or the XXXX XXXX ( Processor ) would have realized they did n't have it and would have asked for it well before XX/XX/XXXX. 5. What was even more perplexing was XXXX XXXX 's response on XX/XX/XXXX after I sent him the email explaining the mitigating circumstances around my short sale. Again, please reference the attached document titled " Short Sale Email Thread ''. His exact response was " SO there was no medical, loss of job, divorce? '' My response was " No, although if I did n't relocate there certainly would have been a loss of job. '' No response from XXXX after that. I followed up with an email that asked if I should be concerned that my short sale was n't for any of those reasons. Again ... no response. Question : Why did XXXX ask if my short sale was the result of a medical issue, job loss, or divorce, when he already knew the mitigating circumstances around my short sale? Again, I have established that XXXX and I did discuss the mitigating circumstances around my short sale on XX/XX/XXXX and that I was upfront and truthful during that conversation. I never even hinted at the short sale being a result of a medical issue, divorce, or job loss. Answer : Because XXXX was just learning from the Underwriter handling my file that the short sale was an issue and there was back peddling happening XXXX 's response and follow up questions to my Letter of Mitigating Circumstances. I believe this is all the proof I need to show that XXXX had not been concerned about my short sale up to this point and therefore never posed it to me as a concern. Even at this point XXXX is n't telling me that there is an issue with the short sale even though I do suspect something is wrong at this point. Even if he did tell me on XXXX XXXX, I was all in and beyond the point of no return. 6. On the evening of Friday XXXX XXXX ( 3 business days before my scheduled close ) XXXX informed me that the Underwriter did not approve my loan do to " short sale seasoning '' and that my file was being escalated to the President of Mortgage Banking ( XXXX XXXX ) for a final decision on Monday morning. On Monday Morning XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX denied the loan for the same reason. " To close to the short sale. '' I was informed by XXXX XXXX ( through XXXX ) that if I could come up with an additional 15 % down ( {$93000.00} ), Bancorp South Bank would proceed with financing. Luckily, I was able to find a family member ( Father In-Law ) to gift me {$90000.00} so I could come up the additional 15 % down that I need to proceed with financing. If I had n't been able to do that, I would have been homeless ( I already sold my home to qualify for financing ) and I would have been in breach of my sales contract for XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX which involved a relocation company that was threatening to sue me if I did n't complete the purchase of the home. Question : If XXXX XXXX handled my loan correctly and was indeed upfront with me about my short sale being problematic, how did we get to that point? Answer : Because XXXX XXXX was never concerned about my short sale and never communicated to me any such concern. He was taken by surprise by the short sale being an issue either because he did n't understand his Bancorp South Bank 's internal policies regarding short sales or he did understand them and assumed that he could work his way around them ifwhen it became an issue. Either way, the end result is negligence on behalf of XXXX XXXX and Bancorp South Bank and financial damage to myself and my family. I had to tie up an additional {$93000.00} in the purchase of a home that I was n't expecting in a state that has very strict laws around cash out refinances. I wo n't have access to that money again for quite some time as it stands right now. Now that I have established that XXXX XXXX was never concerned about my short sale and subsequently never gave me any reason to be concerned, the only other argument that Bancorp Bank South has is that I am a veteran of the Mortgage industry and should have known that the short sale was problematic and the outcome that occurred was a possibility. To that I will say this : Yes I have worked in the XXXX industry as a XXXX XXXX for the past 8+ years. I am not in XXXX XXXX or XXXX so my area of expertise does not apply to those areas. What I do know however is that different Mortgage companies have different internal guidelines and when a Loan Officer tells me that my short sell meets the internal guidelines for the financial institution that he works for, I have no reason to doubt him. I am a consumer like everyone else seeking financing to purchase a home.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation