Consumer complaint received 2018-08-26
Company: LoanCare, LLC
State: CA
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint:
My wife and I recently went through XXXX to get our loan servicer, Loancare llc, to cancel our PMI. 

We submitted a written request for cancellation XX/XX/XXXX via email. An automated email response was sent informing us our request was received and we would be contacted by an representative within 5 business days. We did not hear from anyone until we received a letter in XXXX again acknowledging our cancellation request. The letter explained the requirements to qualify for PMI cancellation, which included a new appraisal at a cost of {$420.00}. We sent a check for {$420.00} shortly after, having still not heard from a representative. 

We finally received a call from loancare rep XXXX XXXX on or about XX/XX/XXXX, nearly 4 months after our request was submitted. XXXX asked for a non detailed list of property improvements and estimate of money spent. The list and estimate was provided XX/XX/XXXX. The rep responded XX/XX/XXXX stating that the quality of improvements was not enough to increase property value and our request was denied. 

Our response was incredulous. We knew this was incorrect based on the letter they sent in XXXX. It stated the requirements for cancellation and the property improvements and value added are to be evaluated by an appraisal. The loan servicer has no say in whether improvements are can raise property value enough to reach LTV threshold. That is the point of the appraisal. 

After we pointed out that her denial was inappropriate and wrong, XXXX went on to completely misrepresented the rules laid out in the XXXX XXXX Servicing Guide and  eventually passed us on to her supervisor, XXXX XXXX. 

We had a principal balance of {$230000.00} and needed a new appraisal value of {$310000.00}. So we needed an increased property value of {$64000.00}. XXXX picked up right where XXXX left off and claimed the entire increase in value must come solely from money spent on improvements and not from market increases. XXXX repeatedly, and incorrectly, referenced Part B-8.1-04 : Termination of Conventional Mortgage Insurance of the XXXX XXXX  Servicing Guide . When we made it clear we knew she was lying and we were not going to be misled she stopped communicating. She did not respond to emails from XX/XX/XXXX to XX/XX/XXXX. We repeated our demand for the appraisal on XX/XX/XXXX. She finally agreed to order our appraisal on XX/XX/XXXX but continued to claim it would be denied. 

Our appraisal was completed and the report came back XX/XX/XXXX. It appraised for {$340000.00} and our PMI was cancelled immediately, thus proving they had been lying the entire time. 

They lied and delayed our appraisal hoping we would give up. They used unethical and fraudulent tactics to delay the process for 10 months when it should have taken one. This  cost us $ XXXX/month in PMI premiums for 10 months. Thats {$3000.00} that we should not have had to pay and we should be reimbursed every dollar.

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