Consumer complaint received 2021-05-19
Company: WESBANCO BANK, INC.
State: MD
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Other type of mortgage
Issue: Closing on a mortgage

Complaint:
Around XX/XX/XXXX, I was looking for alternative financing to buy a primary home. My friend recommended me to Old Line Bank, because they were local and had given him financing for his real estate business. They offered a commercial line of credit that could be renewed annually as needed to buy a new construction or buy a new house. I offered two of my rental properties valued around {$920000.00} with no mortgage as collateral for {$460000.00} loan amount. At 50 % Loan to value ratio, the bank had very little risk of default. It wasn't until couple of weeks before settlement that I realized the bank will going to be difficult to work with. They requested additional requirements like land surveys and personal guarantors eventhough both properties were in my LLC name. The title company XXXX title was also not very trustworthy and caused a back and forth between the bank and title company. Ultimately, we had to delay settlement for two weeks. Even after the delay, they could not provide me with a final hud 3 days prior to settlement. they didn't provide the HUD until the actual day of the settlement. XXXX title tried to cheat us by overstating the transfer taxes in DC and other hidden fee, but we negotiated it for a lower commission and bought new title insurance. The real problem began after settlement, when my loan officer told me that they will only do the line of credit for one year! He was upset with the whole ordeal leading up to the settlement and didn't want to honor his original agreement. He expected me to pay him the entire {$460000.00} loan plus interest in one year. My wife and I listed our primary home for sale but there was no buyers in XXXX and we couldn't sell any other rental property because we had existing tenants. We managed to get a HELOC on the new home since it was paid in full with this OLD line bank loan and some personal savings. We immediately paid over {$200000.00} of the principal about 3 months after settlement. We made on time monthly payments, but we started to get threatening phone calls from our loan officer who is also a vice president of the bank. He told me that my 12 months is almost up and I need to pay off the loan in full or he will foreclose on my two properties. At this point, I owe them less than {$250000.00} and he wants to take my two houses worth over {$930000.00} because he didn't feel like extending my credit line for another year. I managed to scrape another XXXX by XXXX and was able to get a 3 month extension for another .5 % origination fee. I had XXXX months to pay off {$150000.00}, so I borrowed against my business and got unsecured loans like credit cards and personal loans to pay off the loan. During these last XXXX month, my wife and I was put under enormous stress, had XXXX XXXX and almost filed for divorce. This bank was holding us XXXX and they knew that they will profit from foreclosing on my two houses. This is the worst example of predatory lending that is. They took advantage of us and didn't allow us to see the conditions of the loan and then changed them when it was too late for us to change our minds. I even tried to go to one of their local branches and try to complain to a higher officer, but it backfired and I got another threatening email from my loan originator.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation