Consumer complaint received 2017-02-11
Company: FIRST REPUBLIC BANK
State: CA
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional fixed mortgage
Issue: Credit decision / Underwriting

Complaint:
I was brought into First Republic Bank by an associate there for financing a XXXX unit income property I owned. I knew the associate well and she assured me that First Republic Bank was a great bank that took very good care of it 's clients and offered very competitive financing for clients. After I started the loan process, she told me that if they were to extend me even more competitive financing than what she originally quoted me for my XXXX unit property, I would need to move my banking business to First Republic Bank. I thought it was strange that this was n't disclosed to me from day XXXX, but since the interest rate difference was significant I agreed. After about XXXX weeks of very time consuming work gathering hundreds of pages of documents, bank statements, tax returns, etc. I was told that the loan was approved, my rate/terms were locked and that I should pay for an " expedited '' appraisal in order to close the loan by early XX/XX/XXXX ( I began loan process in late XX/XX/XXXX ). I paid for the appraisal immediately and shortly thereafter, the associate who brought me in to First Republic, sent me a cryptic email stating that she was being pulled into a " project '' at the bank that would take up much of her time and thus was handing off my file to an associate of hers. The new associate sent me an email introducing himself. After XXXX weeks of very limited correspondence, updates or progress, I requested set timelines and deadlines from the bank ; by this point we were over XXXX weeks into the loan process and from what the initial associate told me my loan was to close in XXXX weeks from late XX/XX/XXXX. The associate responded to my requests with rude/unprofessional comments and even questioned what my intentions were for the refinance proceeds. I persisted, and he finally told me he would give me a set date for loan docs and loan closing date the following day. I emailed him the following day for an update and I received an out of office response that he was away for 10 days. Of course, I was very upset. He knew he was leaving for vacation the day before he told me he would have a set date for me and now I was going on XXXX weeks since I started the loan process. I then called his immediate supervisor who apologized for his lack of professionalism and follow through and said she would get me a confirmed closing date by end of day. At the end of the day, I received an email from her confirming XXXX more weeks but that my loan would not be pushed along any further. Just before the XXXX weeks were coming to an end, I emailed her for an update and her assistant responded by stating that it would be another XXXX weeks " due to restructuring in their loan department ''! By this point, I was furious. This would mean that my loan was going into it 's XXXX month without a set closing date. I then contacted the XXXX and XXXX 's offices at the XXXX XXXX HQ of the bank and spoke with the XXXX of the bank. He apologized for the behavior of the entire branch and assured me he would contact me the next day to resolve everything. He did not contact me. Instead, I received an email from the associate I was handed off to originally with an email stating " Regretfully, we are unable to accommodate your credit request at this time. We wish you much success in your endeavors as you explore other lending opportunities and thank you for the opportunity to be of service. '' This denial was shocking considering how much time I had spent working on this loan and the fact that interest rates had climbed substantially since I had locked my rate in XX/XX/XXXX-now I would have to go to another lender and spend more money acquiring a new appraisal and paying a much higher payment due to current interest rate levels. Additionally, the email denying my credit request was in direct violation of the XXXX and other regulations requiring a statement of specific reasons

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation