Consumer complaint received 2023-07-17
Company: PulteGroup, Inc.
State: FL
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Applying for a mortgage or refinancing an existing mortgage

Complaint:
We purchased our new construction home with Pulte Mortgage. They assured me that they would price match my employer 's discounted rate in order to stay competitive as I work for a lender. After already being under contract and providing a substantial XXXX, we received rude and unprofessional communication from the processor. Due to us shopping around still, the processor tried to steer me by telling me that we needed to show the Underwriters that " we were serious '' about purchasing the house by providing additional documents. The file already received loan commitment from their Underwriter and no official closing date had been provided yet. Once it came time to lock our interest rate, the lender stated that their pricing was already better due to the " incentive '' we received from them as the builder 's lender. That's not price matching, that's bait and switch steering. At this point we were too far along in the process to use my employer as the lender due to delays it would cause with closing. 
I had to constantly remind them that I worked in the industry and that what they were doing was unethical and illegal. They didn't seem to care. Underwriters were asking for items that weren't needed according to XXXX XXXX as well as documents that were already provided. On closing day, we were told that we wouldn't be closing due to them not being able to issue the Clear to Close in time. Their excuse for this delay is documents the Underwriter claimed that were needed but had already been provided to them months prior. This resulted in extreme physical, mental and financial stress as we had to re-arrange and re-schedule all of our moving plans and deliveries for that weekend. 

I feel that Pulte Mortgage deliberately delayed our file from closing on time as retaliation for pointing out their illegal and unethical business practices. The mortgage file will show that Pulte Mortgage had enough time to issue the the Clear to Close and chose not to. They deliberately waited until after the title company was closed to issue the CTC that same day. Due to it being a Friday, we were forced to wait until Monday to close. Pulte Mortgage lied, deceived, steered and targeted our loan. 

After communicating our disdain for the situation to the title company, they shared that this is a common issue with XXXX Mortgage. They shared a story where a similar situation happened to another family that forced them to sleep in their XXXX over night due to their closing being delayed. 

XXXX Mortgage has clearly displayed a lack of industry knowledge, ethics and competency. XXXX XXXX should not be allowed to practice in the mortgage industry. The processing XXXX even admitted that they made the mistake by delaying our closing. 

Also, incentivizing consumers with a " builder credit '' that's from a builder that's owned by the same parent company as the lender is literally steering. Then wrapping that incentive up in your pricing is bait and switch. XXXX XXXX as a whole need to be held accountable.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation