Consumer complaint received 2020-04-20
Company: ALLY FINANCIAL INC.
State: CA
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Applying for a mortgage or refinancing an existing mortgage

Complaint:
I applied for a mortgage to purchase a second home in early XX/XX/2020. I locked my rate of 3.875 % on XX/XX/2020 and paid {$550.00} for an appraisal. On XX/XX/2020, I received an email from XXXX XXXX, the " Licensed Loan Expert '' on my file ( cc XXXX XXXX, loan processor ) telling me " our Underwriting Team have asked for a change of occupancy on your loan file. I've adjusted the occupancy to reflect an 'investment ' property rather than a 'Second ' property. '' She also included 2 new rates - a 30-year loan at 5.5 % or 5.799 %, an increase of 1.62 % and nearly 2 %. 

I responded that same day to request the rationale for the change of occupancy. Ms. XXXX responded and asked what the purpose of purchasing the property was, to which I responded that it was intended as a second that I might be relocating to in the next few years ; it was not going to generate income and my mother would be living in it in the meanwhile. 

There was no response, so I followed up on XX/XX/XXXX, asking for an update and again asking for an explanation about the reclassification. Ms. XXXX responded and stated that she was going to have to contact the underwriter ; she promised to follow up on Monday. 

Having received no follow up, I reached out again to Ms. XXXX and Ms. XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX asking for an update on when I would get an explanation for the reclassification. I received a response from Ms. XXXX asking if I had spoken with Ms. XXXX ( I was unaware that I needed to speak with Ms. XXXX, nor had I received any communication from her since her XX/XX/XXXX email ). Ms. XXXX then stated that underwriting said that " we are capped at 70 % LTV and it has to be classified as an investment property and can not [ sic ] be considered a second residence. '' The 70 % LTV ratio could have been fixed by me merely changing the amount of my downpayment ( I had applied indicating I wanted to put down 30 % ) and I still did not have an answer to the question of the reason why the reclasification was necessary. I ceased communication with Ally Home Loans and started working with a different lender. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, Ms. XXXX emailed again and asked whether I intended to move forward with my current application. I responded that she should close out my application and that I would be sharing my experience with the CFPB as a potential violation of fair lending laws. That same day, my new lender indicated that I would need to pay them for an appraisal. I asked my new lender if I could use the appraisal I had already paid for with them and was told that Ally Home Loans would need to release the appraisal to my new lender. I contacted Ms. XXXX and asked her if this were possible and if so, what did I need to provide. Once I provided the requested information for the request, I received an auto-generated email stating that Ally Home Loans would not be able to transfer the appraisal to my new lender. 

Overall, I still have no indication of the reason Ally Home Loans arbitrarily changed the type of loan I was requesting or what eligibility requirements I met or failed to meet. In the absence of such information, I can only conclude that some form of discrimination was responsible since the classification change happened only after they would have received information about my race, gender and marital status. In addition, I have now had to delay closing and pay for an additional appraisal.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation