Consumer complaint received 2021-04-06
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: WA
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Applying for a mortgage or refinancing an existing mortgage

Complaint:
In short, I am stuck in this re-fi application for 7+ months and it's still going, everyone I have worked with in CITI bank ( the mortgage manager I am working with, the loan processor, their managers after the issue has been escalated since beginning of XXXX ) has been extremely hard to work with. They : have giving inaccurate info and false promises ( we'll get to your application real soon but no exact ETA ), are hard to get a hold of ( irresponsive on chats and emails constantly, always giving excuses like being out of office but without giving any notice or backup plan ), and often provide false information without verifying or straight up lying ( would tell me I am the 2nd on the re-fi list after a 7 months wait, then weeks after, come back and tell me I'm 4th on the list ). 

I am happy to provide more details of each interaction/conversation upon request. Below is the rough timeline of events. 

Last XXXX I got in touch with a mortgage adviser at CITI bank ( recommended by a realtor I worked with ) for a refinance ( specifically, it is a cash-out refinance for my current primary residential address which currently has no mortgage on it, to pay off mortgage of my second property which currently has a mortgage on it, then, the plan is to switch it to a non- cash-out refinance to even further lower the rate, all were planned with the same mortgage adviser at CITI ). I submitted my application early XXXX of last year. It was a incredibly frustrating experience because I not only have to experience this huge delay and also don't have insights into what I'm waiting on, I was also encouraged to stick to this application instead of shopping else where because I was constantly told this process will be done soon without actual ETA. The mortgage manager and the processor were both constantly out-of-office and not being responsive to emails or other communication channels ( XXXX is the real time chat app we use to communicate ), and at the same time, they would ask me to constantly refresh my documents without sending any ACK on reception of the docs or letting me know things like " now we are good '', " now we are just waiting on xxx to happen ''. So I am constantly asked to refresh my documents but at the same time in the dark on whether they will be any useful or whether they are going to get stale without even being looked at by underwriters. The whole doc collection process has also been done very unprofessionally, they would for instance, constantly ask my insurance agent the same documents over and over, reach out to me for the same documents even after having gotten in touch with my insurance agent, etc. 

Starting from fall last year, I have been told that my application was just pending for the final approval but 7/8 months have passed by and I am still here without loan getting properly processed. During the process I have expressed my concern on the delay and my frustration multiple times, without getting any sufficient resolution. At the beginning of XXXX, I asked the mortgage manager to escalate this issue to her manager, and her skip manager, who for the first time was able to explain what's going on with the underwriter shortage, but still wasn't able to explain why as top of the oldest re-fi files CITI has, can not get prioritized properly with such amount of wait. I decided to be patient because I was told that I was top 5 ( then, 2nd ) in the queue and my file would be processed in the next 2 weeks, that was at the beginning of XXXX. Now we are here, 4 weeks later, not only my process was not moved forward, I was also told I was now 4th in the re-fi queue without further explanation. I understand new purchase can push re-fi files later in the queue, but I don't understand how my files can be pushed down the list even within the re-fi queue. It doesn't seem like my application is going anywhere and I am now stuck, with the financial loss ( what I could have saved, going with a speedier mortgage company ) and mental torture ( the frustration I am dealing with ).

Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation