Consumer complaint received 2018-04-12
Company: Synovus Bank
State: FL
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: FHA mortgage
Issue: Applying for a mortgage or refinancing an existing mortgage

Complaint:
On XX/XX/XXXX I contacted Synovus Mortgage because of a referral of a person I met in the First Time Buyers class. I was referred to XXXX XXXX, XXXX # XXXX because I was seeking to use XXXX XXXX  XXXX XXXX down payment, as well as, XXXX XXXX Down Payment Assistant. I spoke briefly with XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX and explained that I had been working on cleaning up my credit since XXXX. I decided to apply for a mortgage with Synovus on XX/XX/XXXX. My credit was pulled on XX/XX/XXXX. I spoke with XXXX after she pulled my credit. She stated that I was close to my debt to income limit for a loan. I asked if she was including to two credit cards that I am only a user on. She did some reconfiguring, and stated that it would work. I received a pre-approval letter for a FHA loan on XX/XX/XXXX. ( See attached ) With that in hand, I found a realtor. 
While house searching, we referred to the XXXX XXXX XXXX list for down payment assistance. I noticed that XXXX XXXX XXXX Payment Assistance was reduced from {$20000.00} to {$7500.00}. This concerned me, since my loan amount was contingent on the amount of down payment assistance that I would receive. I contacted XXXX to ask about this and was told that she did not know why XXXX XXXX XXXX was telling people that. They were wrong and not to worry about it. 
I signed a contract to buy a house on XX/XX/XXXX and forward it via email to XXXX that day. I referred to pre-approval email from XX/XX/XXXX that contained a list of items that she would need once I was in contract. I started faxing. On XX/XX/XXXX I emailed XXXX to let her know that I had faxed everything from that list and was waiting to hear from her on anything else she may need from me. On XX/XX/XXXX I received an email from her explaining that she had not reviewed all the information that I faxed, but would get back to me should she need anything else. ( See attached ) This email stated that there would be 3 secure emails over the next 3 business days that I would sign electronically. I received one of those on XX/XX/XXXX, but not the other two. ( See attached ) I did however receive an email from XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX with 3 documents that I printed, signed, and faxed. ( See attached ) XXXX XX/XX/XXXX I received an email from XXXX requesting specific information that was needed for the down payment programs, including applications for each program. ( See attached ) We had inspection on XX/XX/XXXX, and the house did not pass XXXX. ( File exceeds 10 MB limit, can not attach to this complaint ) The inspector further wanted a foundation inspection. This was done on XX/XX/XXXX. The cost for the XXXX inspection was {$380.00} and the cost of the foundation inspection was {$100.00}. The estimate foundation repair was {$22000.00}. The owner was not willing to make repairs, so we cancelled contract. 
On XX/XX/XXXX I entered a contract on another house. I promptly sent it by email to XXXX. At XXXX XXXX called me and said that there was a problem with FHA , my debt to income was too high.Nothing changed financially for me since XXXX. But she pulled my credit again, and since it was higher* we could now do a conventional loan. She said she would work on it and call me back. I called XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX and XXXX and left messages wanting to know if we were doing FHA or a conventional loan. I got no response. On XX/XX/XXXX I called XXXX at XXXX and left a voicemail asking if we were doing FHA or conventional, as well as, informing her that I was going to the title company to give my {$1000.00} good faith deposit. I got no response. On XX/XX/XXXX I called XXXX at XXXX, and once again asked if we were doing FHA or conventional. And again I did not get a response. I continued calling on XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX and XXXX. On XX/XX/XXXX XXXX and XXXX I left a message letting XXXX know that we were have an inspection the next day, XX/XX/XXXX, and we still needed to know if we were doing a FHA or conventional loan. On XX/XX/XXXX I called XXXX at XXXX and let her know we had just finished the inspection and we still needed to know what kind of loan we were going to be on. I called again at XXXX and XXXX. My phone calls and messages are still not being answered. The inspection fee on this house was {$380.00} and the termite inspection was {$100.00}. 
By XX/XX/XXXX, both my realtor and I are now concerned that maybe something serious has happened to XXXX. My realtor sent XXXX an email. I called and left messages at XXXX and XXXX. 
XXXX did not respond to my realtors email or my calls. I attempted to call XXXX for the last time on XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX. I then called Synovus Headquarters who gave me XXXX XXXX information and told me he was the Manager. I called XXXX and left a message on his voicemail. He returned my call at XXXX. He tells me that this is not how they do business and he will look into it. On XX/XX/XXXX I called and left messages at XXXX and XXXX. I did not receive a response. I then called again on XX/XX/XXXX and was able to reach him. He states that XXXX informed him that she told me that FHA was not going to work. I informed him that she told me that she could probably do conventional since my scores were higher and she would get back to me, but never even bothered to let me know one way or another. XXXX then looked up my file and said yes, you have a score that is OK for XXXX XXXX. He said he would work on it and get back to me. 
I called XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX and left a message to call me. He texted me stating that he was in a meeting and would call me back. I texted him back that I had spoken to my realtor and she needed a letter from Synovus stating that they could not qualify me for the loan so we could cancel the contract. I explained to him that I have been in contract for over 2 weeks and had given {$1000.00} good faith deposit. I needed this letter to recover my deposit. XXXX return texted stating that he could have the letter to me by the next day. He also stated that he personally worked on my file and could not get the conventional loan done for some reason, maybe credit scores. He was going to see if he could have the letter expedited. 
I texted XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX letting him know that my realtor was asking for the denial letter to cancel the contract. He texted back that he had requested it and would check on it. On XX/XX/XXXX I texted XXXX letting him know that my realtor was being asked for financing information that we could not provide by the sellers. I again asked when we would be getting the denial letter so we could cancel contract. I received no response. 
On XX/XX/XXXX I reached back out to Synovus corporate office. I was told by them that they could only handle problems with mortgages that have been closed on. They gave me XXXX XXXX name and number. I called and left a message. He returned my call on XX/XX/XXXX. After explaining the situation he stated that he would look into it and see what can be done to close this issue. On XX/XX/XXXX I attempted to contact XXXX and left a message. XXXX called me five minutes later. He explained to me that my information was put into a program that Synovus uses to qualify XXXX XXXX, but my information had never been submitted to the underwriters. Therefore, there wasnt a denial letter. He offered to send a report that is generated by the Synovus program. ( See attached ) I forwarded that email to my realtor, and she explained that this is not sufficient documentation to cancel the contract. I immediately emailed XXXX back and let him know that we needed a letter from the underwriters or XXXX stating that I did not qualify for neither FHA or conventional. On XXXX XXXX, I texted a message to both XXXX XXXX XXXX and my realtor stating that I had sent an email to XXXX the previous day and repeated what type of letter I needed from them. I asked if someone could please contact my realtor to get her the letter we needed to cancel contract. XXXX responded that he was working on my file and needed the address to submit to underwriting. He also stated that he would call my realtor about what actions were being taken. On XX/XX/XXXX my realtor sent a text at XXXX on the thread that I had started with XXXX and XXXX . She asked if we would be getting the letter on this day. The letter was emailed to me at XXXX from XXXX XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX. 
This was my first attempt at buying my first house. I feel that XXXX should have advised me based on information she had in XXXX, XXXX to wait another 6 months to get my scores up to secure better approval odds. 
I also feel as though XXXX does not stay up to date on changes with the down payment assistance since I was advised that what the XXXX XXXX XXXX told me about the XXXX XXXX XXXX payment program reducing what they were granting was incorrect. Upon researching, they were correct and that reduction happened in XX/XX/XXXX. She also failed to tell me that XXXX XXXX requires a credit score of XXXX, which I did not have in XX/XX/XXXX. 
XXXX was vague about any questions that I or my realtor had. She stated that she didnt know why my realtor was having me call her to ask questions, that my realtor should call her. My realtor explained to me that it was I that had the relationship with Synovus, but she contacted her anyway. 
XXXX completely dropped all communications with me without any explanations. I proceeded to give good faith money and pay for inspections while calling her on a daily bases explaining what was happening and asking about the loan she said she could give. At any point it would have been decent of her to call and let me know that there was not loan and to stop investing money. 
Based on XXXX word, I proceeded to invest money in making a home purchase that was not going occur. I trusted in her expertise and wasted over {$1000.00} and almost lost another {$1000.00} in good faith money.

Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief