Consumer complaint received 2020-05-21
Company: Rocket Mortgage, LLC
State: FL
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: FHA mortgage
Issue: Applying for a mortgage or refinancing an existing mortgage

Complaint:
Quicken Loan offered me the best rate/closing package by far for the purchase of my first home. I am a licensed professional in Florida, had waited many years to be ready, and had many options for lenders. Every time I told Quicken ( XXXX ) that had a better offer, she sweetened my deal, she blew up my phone repeatedly making me offers for mortgage. Finally I applied, I made the worst mistake of my life, and chose Quicken Rocket Mortgage. My experience preparing was a miserable and torturous process, working with XXXX, my mortgage adviser, nobody at Quicken ever answers the phone, lack of communication throughout. In the midst of my purchase COVID hit, I am a XXXX, everyone 's life changed, but as a XXXX, I was still employed, thankfully, even got additional income ... .but my employer wrote in my verification letter that I had been previously paid through company payroll, but at some point in XXXX, during our " shelter-at-home '' my employer wanted to pay me through their personal account for logistics, the employer submitted that in writing to Quicken. I was approved and received my Clear to Close. Quicken never said it would be problem. Then, literally the night before closing, my seller who had lost his employment, defaulted on the contract and refused to sell! Quicken assured me if I found another property, they could close it quickly, and could " transfer my whole file right over to a new property '' Although it had been a miserable process and I was unhappy dealing with Quicken, I stayed with them, it sounded like the easiest path to least resistance, as I had my " clear to close ''. I found another property, submitted everything that was again requested, no " transfer '' of file ever occurred, I spent another torturous month submitting documents, every day I would wake up to find an email with another 5 things requested! As we finally neared the closing, someone re-verifiied my employment and instead of calling my employers directly which I had supplied, Quicken contacted the company HR dept, spoke to an employee who knew nothing about the fact that the owners of the company had moved me to their home, and I was still there everyday. I was still working, same job, but now I worked from employers home, and she told Quicken that I was no longer employed. Immediately my employer, their attorney, everyone possibly involved contacted Quicken to correct this misinformation. Quicken requested documentation, phone verification, which was AGAIN provided. So, On Monday night, three days before my scheduled closing, I had received a call from my Loan Rep stating that my loan was all set, and instructed me to purchase my Home Owners policy, and told me that if I could get the insurance policy to them by Tuesday morning, we were " all set to close '' On Tuesday morning they wanted to telephone verify my employment, My employer and the former HR employee both on conference call with Quicken once again confirmed my employment was the same, same pay, my Employer confirmed that NOTHING HAD CHANGED IN MY EMPLOYMENT, but reminded Quicken that I would be paid from my employers personal account during the COVID shelter-at-home period. Now, and only now for the first time, Quicken had a problem with this COVID plan. On Tuesday afternoon at XXXX ; XXXX I received a call from Quicken, Sage my Loan Rep, saying there was a problem. If i was being paid personally by employer, he explained, that would make me a 1099, and I would no longer qualify for my mortgage, since I had no history ( they required 2-years if you are self-employed ) as a 199 XXXX  person. I immediately informed Quicken that I had not received even one private-pay check yet, I reiterated that I was NOT self-employed that this was just my employers idea while we worked from home during COVIDF, and, I explained that if it was a problem, I would request my employer continue to pay me through the payroll system as I had always been. I explained that I was absolutely sure my employer would do whatever was needed, as Quicken would prefer, and that as of yet, nothing had changed, no private check had been given/taken by me. Quicken told me they would look into the matter and get back to me. Wednesday morning which was my scheduled closing day, I called Quicken Client Relations Team first thing in morning and requested to speak to Supervisor. I finally reached someone named XXXX, I told her the whole story, she knew nothing about it, I told supervisor what happened, and once again implored her to speak to underwriting and be sure they understood that my employer was absolutely willing to continue paying me through payroll system during COVID, and any problem they had with our temp plan during COVID would be immediately resolved! Initially she said she would get back to me within 24 hours. I informed her that in 24 hours I would be in default of my real estate purchase contract, I implored her to look at my file as she explained she needed to do, but that I desperately and urgently needed an answer immediately, at the latest I had to notify my Realtor by XXXX that day, if I would be denied, so that I would have time to put my mortgage contingency in place and officially withdraw from my purchase agreement, or request the seller give me an extension to close. I literally begged her to get back to me quickly with some information or I would be in Default of my contract. I spent the next 6 hours calling, emailing everyone I had ever been in contact with at quicken, requested to speak to supervisors, my loan officers supervisor, I even wrote the offie of the CEO of Quicken, begging them for information, and asking that they not allow me to Default from my Purchase Agreement, I needed an answer or explanation of whatever problem there was so I could either fix it, or withdraw. The entire day, I called one person after another, literally, nobody answered or returned my emails, nobody at this company that I had dealt with answered their phones hour after hour of calling, I kept leaving messages as the hours ticked toward XXXX. I received a call from the Manager XXXX XXXX, at approx XXXX and he said he had no information, but that XXXX who I had spoken to that morning was still researching a resolution. at XXXX I finally got someone to answer the phone by calling the main number and going through a client relations representative, who was finally able to trick the gal I had spoken with ( XXXX ) that morning, who although I had begged, never bothered to return my call all day ... .it was, when I finally reached her, XXXX, 40 minutes until Default time ... ... yet, she kept telling me in that phone call, that nobody had returned her call all day, she could not reach anyone, she had had other things to do that day, she had a meeting, she was busy ... ... .I would not allow her to hang up the call, as she insisted that I needed to speak to XXXX, who had answers, I explained that I had just spoken to XXXX, and he said that it was XXXX that was XXXX searching for a resolution to my mortgage status and closing '' he told me he knew nothing ... ... as I had been ignored all day, this felt surreal ... ..and by now, I knew, Quicken, unless they want something from you, they just do not answer their phones! I told her I would lose my deposit, which was my life savings if I did not withdraw from the contract by XXXX, yet she, nor any body at Quicken could tell me the status of my loan, which she told me was now officially in " suspension ''. I implored them to speak again to my employer, my job had not changed, my position had not changed, my income had not changed and I was NOT self-employed, never had been! We had notified quicken two month prior, in writing on XX/XX/XXXX, of our COVID temporary plan, they had had nearly two months prior to my XX/XX/XXXX closing to let me or my employer know they would not approve such a temporary plan to pay me personally, and instruct me to remain on payroll. They never said a word, having had that information for two months, but waited until the day of my closing, and the last possible day for me to withdraw from my purchase agreement to discover they did not like this plan. We offered to change back to payroll, but Quicken insisted that although I had not taken even one personal check yet, that I was now a 1099, self-employed person, and that was a problem. while speak to her XXXX informed me that she got an answer from underwriting, and they reported that my Employer had written saying I was no longer their nurse, but that I was " helping them around their home ''. I explained to XXXX that at some point in this process, when Quicken remote accessed my bank account, and saw an additional {$3000.00} deposit and asked what it was, I explained that while we worked from their home, my Employer had offered me an additional role, to deal with their home vendors, maintenance people etc., and they would compensate me OVER AND Above my XXXX salary, as an additional job! I explained that was an entirely different matter, for which Quicken had asked my employer to explain in writing, and I told XXXX I thought underwriting was confused, couldn't I speak with them to explain properly what was in my file, She refused. I begged XXXX, and then finally she said she had finally in touch with that Manger XXXX XXXX and would conference him on the line with us. I begged XXXX, that if they would deny my mortgage, then I must be notified of that in writing so I could legally withdraw from my purchase, or would lose my life savings in the deposit, and potentially be open to a Breech of Contract lawsuit, as I talked and watched the clock tick well past XXXX. He tried to lecture me on how " mortgage applicants don't understand the changing times that we were in '' and initially they both told me they were not authorized to issue me a denial, I was still in " suspension '' and not until the phone call got ugly, when I was tired and sick of listening to rhetoric, did XXXX finally inform me that in fact Quicken was denying my loan, and the notification was " on its way to me as we spoke ''. Well, long story short, I did not receive that Notification until hours after my contractual time deadline, Quicken had a copy of my Contract, and that I had spent nearly 8 hours that day warning them of my deadline, which they failed, or even seemed to care to meet. So, after three horrible, miserable and unprofessional months of processing my mortgage application, countless submission of documents, paying for inspections and appraisals, I have defaulted my contract, lost my " new home '' and on Friday when my lease expires, I will be homeless! These are the most unprofessional, inept, uncaring and thoughtless people I ever had the misfortune of working with. They purposefully ignore phone calls, they do not provide communication timely, nor communicate information pertinent to the outcome of one of the most important of all life situations, buying a new home! The final decision, which I was told that day was that " new COVID Guidelines that had been issued of Quicken '' " had now made my Application unable to be approved! '' I was all of a sudden, on the day of closing, undesirable to fund! Mind you, I had been approved two months prior having the same employer, same income, same everything, when my first contracted seller backed out of my initial home purchase, or I would have closed my mortgage, and now for the second time, although Quicken approved me at pre-approval, " they would transfer my whole file right over to the new property i found '', they spent another month looking at my paperwork, including two months in advance of my closing date, and in writing, the fact that I would continue working for my employer at home, just through COVID, and yet Quicken said nothing, never informed me that this would render me a " self-employed person '' and that it would cause them to deny my closing, until the night before my closing. However, then, even after changing their minds, Quicken did not have the courtesy, or humanity nor evidently the legal obligation, to advise me in a timely fashion of their withdrawal of my approval, so that I might properly and legally withdraw from my Contract, thus avoiding me from loosing everything I had, due to these mysterious " New Guidelines '' that now made me and my application for Mortgage an undesirable! Yet, when I finally received, hours later, my official " denial '' the reasons given were completely different than I was told by telephone! This should be criminal what they have done to me! This was the most ugly and despicable, miserable experience with this organization, and their " teams ''! I have never had such a horrible and unprofessional experience quite like this, it was my misfortune to have chosen to apply for mortgage with this company, and I pray they lose their license to be in the position to hurt people in this manner ever again!

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation