Consumer complaint received 2022-08-02
Company: PRIMARY RESIDENTIAL MORTGAGE
State: RI
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Applying for a mortgage or refinancing an existing mortgage

Complaint:
I recently purchased a condo in XXXX XXXXXXXX RI. I am new to the area ( I moved here from XXXX XXXX ) and am unfamiliar with state regulations or local common practices for real estate transactions. I relied on my realtor to recommend a mortgage lender for the purchase, and he suggested XXXX XXXX. At the time of our purchase process ( XX/XX/2022 ), XXXX worked for XXXXXXXX XXXX in XXXXXXXX RI. In the early stages of the purchase process, after XXXX had given us a mortgage pre-approval and we had secured a purchase agreement, he switched companies to Primary Residential Mortgage, in XXXX, RI. 

In the end, we ( my husband and I ) were so disgusted with XXXX 's incompetence and dishonesty that we ended up paying cash for the condo instead of taking out a mortgage, but I want to make sure there is record of his behavior. It caused us a lot of stress, and ultimately a very different purchase process out of a desire to avoid getting stuck with a mortgage at a much higher rate because of his incompetence and dishonesty. 

After signing a purchase agreement on XX/XX/XXXX, I had hoped to hear quickly from XXXX ( our realtor emailed the signed purchase agreement to XXXX on Sunday, XX/XX/XXXX ). After 2-3 days without hearing from him, I reached out via text to see if he had locked our interest rate yet. He called me and left a voicemail ( sadly, I didn't save it ) saying we needed to discuss the rate lock. He texted me that day ( XX/XX/XXXX ) also, saying he would call me the next day ( XX/XX/XXXX ). He called the next day and gave some story about how he had recently changed companies but rates were changing and we could sign some preliminary docs for disclosure but they were not 'final ' and our rate could change. The docs he sent had a much higher rate ( 5.75 % ) than I expected and I asked him about it, and he said that was really high but not to worry about it because it wasn't locked and it was just a number to get the disclosure forms in place. He brushed it off as just a formality to get the mortgage underwriting process started. I questioned the rate being so high, and he sent me a bunch of technical explanations that I now see as manipulation. I continued to ask him daily about locking in our rate, as national news outlets and economists talked about the 'feds ' getting ready to raise rates soon. By XX/XX/XXXX, we were still not locked in despite my regular inquiries and regular push for locking a rate. I was worried about rates continually climbing and possibly making our purchase too risky for us financially. On XX/XX/XXXX, I texted yet again, asking why we were not locked in yet, inquiring about the current rate he would offer, and questioning his constant delay. He said he would 'work out a couple things ' and 'get back to me with options ' by end of day. He never called or responded. On XX/XX/XXXX I called my realtor and told him I was done dealing with XXXX because he kept making promises both in text and in phone calls that he never followed through on, and that we were 15 days from closing with STILL NO RATE LOCK. My realtor called XXXX, then XXXX texted me with a XXXX story about how he was waiting to here the fed announcement to see if rates would go down afterward. He offered a rate of 5.875 % fixed that day, which was higher than rates were when we started this process on XX/XX/XXXX, and higher than when I asked him to lock on 2 days later. He said he would call me that day, which he did not. I texted him and asked him that night why he was waiting for the feds to raise rates, as it seemed that would make our rate even higher, to which he responded in complete opposition to his previous statements/actions- he said fed rates have no correlation with mortgage rates. While that may be true, that was his reasoning for not locking us in the few days prior. So, which is it??????? He was basically trying to fix his error - since he had not locked us in when we first signed the purchase agreement, he was trying to get us a rate with the least amount of loss for his firm now. I didn't know that quite yet. I told him I no longer wanted to work with him, that I did not trust him. I asked for his supervisor, who finally called me 2 days later. I asked XXXX to provide me with their company 's rate sheets from XX/XX/XXXX, the day I first inquired about locking a rate, and I asked for his company to take the mortgage in house to clean up their mess. He gave a bunch of excuses about how he understood that I didn't trust him anymore and he was doing his best to fix things, and he was trying to clean up the mess, but that 'they don't print out their rate sheets ' so he claimed he couldn't provide me with that information. He never did. His boss never did. And the best they could offer was 5.875 % fixed, which was not nearly as good as it could have been if they had done their job back at the end of XXXX/early XXXX. He admitted in a text that this was all his fault. 
On XX/XX/XXXX, 6 days before closing with still no rate lock, we decided to pay cash instead of dealing with XXXX any longer. He is a terrible, unprofessional lender and should not be dealing with customers. His boss didn't do much for us either. f I can provide snapshots ( with date/time stamps ) of our texts if you like.

Company public response: Company believes complaint represents an opportunity for improvement to better serve consumers
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation