Consumer complaint received 2017-04-28
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: ID
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Home equity loan or line of credit (HELOC)
Issue: Struggling to pay mortgage

Complaint:
This is concerning a HELOC originated by Citimortgage which was originated in   XXXX  . I was mislead by both  Citimortgage  and the  Broker  which Citimortgage was relying on at origination. It was not explained to me how this loan would reset and now I find myself with payments that have tripled and continue to go up as rates increase.    Citimortgage  sent me a letter about 7 months ago advising me of these increased payments. They also advised me to seek help from them if I felt it would cause a hardship. So 6 months ago I reached out for assistance and asked their customer service department what my options were. They advised me that a modification was my only option and that I should apply. I specifically asked them if I could convert all or part of this loan to a fixed rate. They advised me that it was n't an option and that I would n't qualify. I proceeded to apply for assistance and was told I would have an answer in 3 months. After over  75  emails,  100  documents, and numerous attempted phone calls, I was denied after them taking over six months to determine my eligibility. This after sending numerous duplicate documents and requests for statements that had nothing to do with my eligibility for a modification. An example of this is their underwriting departments numerous requests for ( where I sleep and spend the majority of my time between propertie s ) . Totally irrelevant to my qualification for a modification.   The single point of contact system with this company is non- existent, and totally unorganized. After over six months they finally advised me that I did n't qualify for a modification. They continually delayed this request for assistance and now I find myself in a position where I  may  default down  the road.  In fact today I received a call from them asking if I planned on liquidation or a short sale. This is 1 month after they declined my request for assistance. After consulting with my attorney, we determined that when I was inquiring with their customer service about my options of converting to a fixed rate  six  months ago, that I indeed would have been able to do that then. This after I was told I did n't qualify. In fact after reviewing the loan documents, I do not need to qualify at all since I have not been in default as of yet. I should have been afforded the opportunity to convert prior to the  3  rate increases since my initial request.  XXXX   XXXX  of their  executive  response team, to this day says I need to qualify, which is not true after reading the loan documents. In fact, on  3 oc casions I have requested a clarification as to how the conversion works with a request for corresponding rates to figure out what payments would have been. To this day they still have not done this. In effect they have taken away my rights that I am entitled to according to the loan documents. This company continues to deceive people and decline hardship assistance when requested to avoid default. They have not followed the decree that they agreed to abide by when the government mandated it. It seems to be business as usual with them.   They continue to stall, deceive and flat out lie when answering people 's complaints to appease the government and hope we go away.

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 non-monetary relief