Consumer complaint received 2021-03-17
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: IL
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Applying for a mortgage or refinancing an existing mortgage

Complaint:
I have applied for refinancing of two mortgages related to my rental properties on XXXX, XXXX, XXXX. I have provided all documents as requested by CITI in a very short time and we paid for appraisals in XXXX, XXXX. The appraisals were conducted in XXXX, XXXX. 

I have followed up with the loan consultant at CITI ( XXXX XXXX ; see below for full designation and address ) on a regular basis ( see below his full contact information ) to make sure the loan processing is progressing in the right direction. 

XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX : XXXX CITIBANK , N.A . 
Mortgage Consultant XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. 
XXXX, Texas XXXX XXXX Nmls # XXXX In XXXX, XXXX, XXXX I reached out to XXXX to check on the status of the loan since it was already 2.5 months since the initial loan application ( See below ). 

From : [ XXXX.com ] Sent : XXXX XXXXXX/XX/XXXX XXXX XXXX To : XXXX, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX Cc : -- -- -- Subject : Re : ... Borrower - -- -- - -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- - XXXX XXXX, It is some time that we connected, and I am not sure what is the status of refinance with regarding the two loans that we applied ( -- -- - XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX and -- -- - XXXX XXXX, XXXX Unit -- -- - ). It is in XX/XX/XXXX, we initiated the application. Generally, the loan closes in 45 days and it is now over 2 months since we started the application. 

Please let me know what is the status of the refinance. 

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- XXXX responded to my email mentioning that refinancing is taking 90 days and a processor will be contacting me soon ( see below ) From : XXXX, XXXX XXXX Sent : Saturday, XX/XX/XXXX XXXX XXXX To : -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- > Subject : RE : ... Borrower - -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- - Loan Number - -- -- -- -- -- -- -- - -- -- -- XXXX XXXX XXXX  XXXX Happy New Year XXXX Yes we are at ~90 days on refinances currently, we have to do Purchases as a priorityas you may understand the processors should be contacting you regularly. 

Sincerely, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX Since I did not hear anything for another two weeks I contacted XXXX again regarding the loan application ( see below ) From : -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -> To : XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX : -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -> Sent : Friday, XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX XXXX CST Subject : Re : ... Borrower - -- -- -- -- -- - Loan Number - -- -- -- -- -- -- - -- -- -- -- XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX Hi XXXX XXXX We haven't heard anything about the refinance for the two loans we applied and it is now over 90 days. Please let me know the status of the loan application. I am wondering whether we made a mistake going with CITI to refinance our two existing loans. 

-- -- -- -- -- --. 

for this XXXX responded as below -- -- - Forwarded Message -- -- - From : XXXX, XXXX XXXX To : ' -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- > Sent : XXXX XXXXXX/XX/XXXX, XXXX XXXX CST Subject : RE : Next Steps with Citi And XXXX YOUR Loan Consultant Hello, I see this, I will look into your deals. The processor should be communicating. 

XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX We waited again for few more weeks and contacted XXXX again with another email that had a frustrated tone ( see below ) -- -- - Forwarded Message -- -- - From : -- -- -- -- -- -- -- > To : XXXX, XXXX XXXX Sent : XXXX XXXXXX/XX/XXXX, XXXX XXXX CST Subject : XXXX : Next Steps with Citi And XXXX YOUR Loan Consultant Hi XXXX, I haven't anything from you or anyone else even though you said you will look into it. Please do something since this is the worst experience I had with any banking institution. If you have problems please refund our appraisal cost so that we could find other institutions that could help us to refinance. 

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- - Since I did not get any response for ~ 2 weeks I emailed the mortgage consultant again -- -- - Forwarded Message -- -- - From : -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- > To : XXXX, XXXX XXXX Cc : XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ; XXXX XXXX XXXX ; XXXX -- -- -- -- -- XXXX XXXX -- > XXXX -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- > Sent : Sunday, XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX XXXX CDT Subject : Re : Next Steps with Citi And XXXX YOUR Loan Consultant Hi XXXX, It is on XX/XX/XXXX that you said you will look into the details of my loan application which is now 5 months old. Do you and others really do any work at CITI ( sorry I have to ask this question because it should not take 16 days to respond to a query ), even after sending you another email on XX/XX/XXXX. 

This is my worst experience dealing with any banks and I am not sure how you guys are keeping your jobs. It has to be a bad corporate culture that is leading to this level of inefficiencies. 

I am really frustrated and do not know what else I need to do in order for you guys to take any action. I will be taking this matter to higher levels at CITI ( who may care about this XXXX XXXX bank ). 

Obviously, no one cares at CITI but hopefully, some executives will pay attention to this level of inefficiencies. 

Frustrated Customer -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- - For this email he gave us a surprise response saying that the loan was canceled in XXXX, XXXX. 

-- -- - Forwarded Message -- -- - From : XXXX, XXXX XXXX To : ' -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -> Sent : Monday, XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX XXXX  CDT Subject : RE : Next Steps with Citi And XXXX YOUR Loan XXXX Yes , I Had seen that the loans were cancelled in XX/XX/XXXX. So I assumed you had seen documents showing that. I had heard your previous request, and forwarded it into our system. 

Sincerely, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX For this email I just responded as shown below few hours ago From : -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- > Sent : Wednesday, XX/XX/XXXX XXXX XXXX To : XXXX, XXXX XXXX Cc : -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- > ; -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -> ; XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX Subject : Re : Next Steps with Citi And XXXX YOUR Loan Consultant Hi XXXX, I am totally surprised to hear that my loan application was canceled on XXXX XXXX, XXXX. We were not informed about this news and it should not have taken 3 months to inform that the loan was canceled. 

We paid for the appraisals ( two loan applications ) and the appraisals were conducted in XXXX. If the loan was canceled in XXXX, XXXX why we were not informed about this by one email. 

I have sent emails/and phone calls in XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX, and XX/XX/XXXX and you have mentioned in XXXX, XXXX, XXXX that the loan is taking 90 days to get approved and the processors should be contacting me shortly ( please see below ). 

I spent close to {$1300.00} for appraisals ( two loan applications ) and now you are saying the loan was canceled without any reasons nor you have informed us that the loan was canceled. I want my appraisal fees returned since the loan was canceled without any reason and we were not informed that the loan was canceled for 3 months since the cancellation. 

This is an example of the height of irresponsibility and inefficiency in my opinion. This is totally unacceptable and disgusting way of treating your clients. 

I request that the loan application is reopened and do the needful to either refund our appraisal costs or take the loan application to closing. 


-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- - In my opinion, this behavior by the CITI loan consultant is totally unacceptable. It clearly shows that the loan consultant wasn't checking the status of the loan application before he was responding to our query. 

CITI bank should have the courtesy to process the application when the customer has spent {$1300.00} for two appraisals. They should have the minimum courtesy to respond to the email ( queries ) after reviewing the status of the loan. 

My situation should not happen for anyone else who is applying for a refinancing with CITI. The people responsible for this situation need to be accountable and CITI should take action against such inefficient and incapable employees. 

I request that a compromise could be reached and my appraisal fees returned so that I could apply for refinancing with some other organization. 

Thank you One frustrated CITI customer.

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 monetary relief