Consumer complaint received 2020-09-24
Product: Mortgage — FHA mortgage
Issue: Applying for a mortgage or refinancing an existing mortgage — 
Company: CrossCountry Mortgage LLC (NH)

In early XX/XX/XXXX, I was advised I would not be able to use a recommended mortgage company as my credit score did not meet their requirements and was referred to a contact at CrossCountry Mortgage as an alternative. 

In late XXXX I spoke with a representative at CrossCountry ( CC ) and confirmed I met their credit score requirements and discussed some of my credit history, including a bankruptcy I had on file. In addition, I had a foreclosure  on a previous property which I disclosed in the submitted application. 

On XX/XX/XXXX2020 I submitted an application to CrossCountry and clearly disclosed there was a bankruptcy and foreclosure  in the  declarations section as is required by law. I also uploaded several bank statements, pay stubs, etc. 

On XXXX, I followed up with the agent who confirmed in writing that I was " comfortably approved. '' He indicated we had received an " approved/eligible '' from the FHA automated underwriting system. 
It is our understanding that when a foreclosure is disclosed on an application, this information is flagged and manual underwriting is required and would have been clear to the agent. 

Our mortgage agent indicated some initial concerns about an overdraft on my statement from XX/XX/XXXX20 and suggested it was not " significant '' and they could " definitely increase our purchase price '' and he did " ... not have any areas of concern on our application ''. Given that we had disclosed everything on our application, we felt comfortable moving forward. We assumed he had done a thorough job reviewing our application given his glowing support and approval. 

We had been looking at properties for several weeks and were ready to move forward with an offer. Had CrossCountry expressed any concern about our application we would not have made an offer. 
On XXXX we asked our mortgage agent if a closing date of XX/XX/XXXX or XX/XX/XXXX would be supported. The agent replied it would and so we submitted an offer to purchase and added a few extra days, setting a close date of XXXX. 

On XXXX we received a loan summary from CrossCountry and exchanged phone calls	extsemails for a couple days regarding the details of the loan. 
On XX/XX/XXXX we were still negotiating the offer to purchase with the sellers and I contacted CrossCountry to see if they would be able to close by XXXX. 

The agent responded that would not be possible and they would need 30 days. I asked if XX/XX/XXXX was acceptable and he replied that they should be able to close in that time but appraisals had been causing delays. 

On XX/XX/XXXX I submitted a copy of the signed offer to purchase which had a financing deadline of XX/XX/XXXX and a closing date of XXXX. In the email, I clearly ask the agent to " take a look and let me know what you need. '' On XX/XX/XXXX I received a written response in email congratulating us with no mention of any concerns regarding the finance deadline. 

On XX/XX/XXXX I followed up with the agent as I received an automated request to acknowledge the loan disclosure from the company. The agent responded and made no mention of concerns regarding the offer to purchase. 

On XX/XX/XXXX I paid the appraisal fee after receiving an automated request from CrossCountry.

At this time, there had still been no mention of a finance deadline being in jeopardy or any other indication of loan issues.

There were several phone calls between the realtors, ourselves and the agent at CrossCountry regarding the appraisal. As suggested, the appraisal was going to take longer due to how busy the market was. 

On XX/XX/XXXX we discussed a desktop appraisal as an option and the agent at CrossCountry indicated they would pursue this option. 

At this point, the financing deadline had passed ( XX/XX/XXXX20 ) and our mortgage agent at CrossCountry made no mention of the issue. There were no further discussions of our credit worthineess or other documents needed by CrossCountry. 

On XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX XXXX I received an email from the Loan processor at CrossCountry who indicated we may be contacted by their Credit services and Title company. The processor further requested documentation of my bankruptcy, copies of recent paystubs, etc. 
There was no discussion of the disclosed foreclosure. 

On XX/XX/XXXX @ XXXX we received confirmation that a regular appraiser had been found but would require 2 weeks to complete. The search  continued for a desktop appraisal. 

On XX/XX/XXXX @ XXXX we received an email ( not even the courtesy of a phone call ) indicating they received a copy of the foreclosure deed from the title search and would not be able approve the loan. 
We called the agent to discuss the response. In our discussion we were told the foreclosure wasn't listed in the public comments section of the credit report so it was not noticed until now. 

This is preposterous. We clearly disclosed all this information on the application and at NO POINT in our discussions did the agent bring this up. 
Furthermore, from discussions with other loan officers and a direct FHA representative, this is information that is generated and flagged during automated approve review process. 
Additionally, our agent clearly fabricated an excuse by saying they received the foreclosure deed from the title company. The title company does not research the buyer 's property. Their job is to research the seller 's property to ensure a clean title can be provided. Furthermore, we are currently renting and had no property to sale or research as part of this transaction. 

After we called the agent, we learned about the potential option to secure a mortgage with extenuating circumstances. We then attempted to pursue this option with additional documentation submitted. 

We worked over the weekend and generated an 8 page pdf detailing every late payment in my credit report leading up to the foreclosure. We found over 40 supporting documents and provided a very thorough extenuating circumstances application to support our case. 

On XX/XX/XXXX @ XXXX XXXX, after receiving our initial denial and moving forward with the extenuating circumstances application, our agent FINALLY mentioned our earnest deposit was in potential jeopardy if we did not get the extenuating application submitted in a timely fashion. He insisted that he needed the documents ASAP in order to submit the application. 

On XX/XX/XXXX @ XXXX XXXX I confirmed everything had been uploaded to the mortgage website. 

After several days of waiting we didn't receive any additional requests until XXXX when we received an email from the agent requesting additional information. 
Despite the urgent jeopardy of our earnest deposit, and the request to get them the information ASAP, the mortgage company ignored our request for several days. 
We received a signatory request to release our tax transcripts from the loan processor, further showing how the company ignored the urgency of the application. 

On XX/XX/XXXX @ XXXX XXXX  we received an email from the agent apologizing for the " bad news, and the unprofessional fashion it was delivered, keeping you on ice for this long. '' We requested our tax file from the agent and took it to additional loan officers for review. 
Each officer reviewed and confirmed what we had already suspected, the CrossCountry mortgage did not perform their job correctly resulting in our loss of the earnest deposit.

It is clear from the chain of events that the agent for CrossCountry mortgage made several assumptions, ignored notifications and required documents, failed to review existing documentation thoroughly and in general failed to perform the functions of their position. 

At no point after receiving the offer to purchase did the agent question the finance deadline. It is clear they did NOT review the conditions of the FHA approval until AFTER the deadline had passed. 
It's clear they ignored the disclosures and declarations in the application and again failed to complete their job functions thoroughly and accurately. 

It is clear that XX/XX/XXXX was the first time they acknowledged the foreclosure, as evidence from their instant denial of the loan. 

It is clear they fabricated a lie to cover up their failures by claiming a title search identified the foreclosure. We were not selling any property and had no reason to have past property titles researched. 
In point of fact, this would have been immediately identified and documented by the FHA automated underwriting process on XXXX and clearly visible to the agent on XXXX, or in any of the additional 20 days after the application was submitted. 
The agent 's delay in recognizing the foreclosure and failure to notify us of such violates section 12 CFR 1024.38 ( b ) of the RESPA act for documenting Reasonable Policies and procedures. 
If the agent had notified us in a timely fashion, we would not have signed the offer to purchase and would not have lost our earnest deposit.

After receiving our loan denial, we attempted to recover our earnest deposit of {$5000.00} from CrossCountry mortgage.

It was clear to us, and other loan processors who later reviewed our application, that they failed to perform their job adequately.

The agent at CrossCountry denied our request for reimbursement, falsely stating we never disclosed the foreclosure to CrossCountry.

Furthermore, the agent at CrossCountry mortgage falsely stated  we had been previously denied a mortgage due to the foreclosure and implied we were not forthcoming. 

We have copies of the initial application with CrossCountry which clearly disclose the bankruptcy and foreclosure. In addition, our previous mortgage application with a different lender never made it to the FHA automated approval process as our credit score did not meet their requirements.

We were attempting to work with the previous company to improve our credit score when they determined it would not be at the appropriate level for several months.

It was this decision which drove us to apply with CrossCountry mortgage which had more lenient credit score requirements.

We have spoken with the CrossCountry agent who has denied any culpability as a result of their failure to perform their job functions.

We have called Senior management at CrossCountry and left  messages which have not been returned. 
We have emailed the agent and senior management multiple times and contacted their legal team. 
Neither senior management nor legal has chosen to respond directly to our request to repay the loss of our earnest deposit.

At this point, all we want is to settle our grievance amicably. The lack of response from CrossCountry mortgage is deafening. 

We would prefer to settle this issue outside the judicial system and will make all necessary efforts to recover our {$5000.00} earnest deposit which the seller 's chose to keep after we failed to meet the finance deadline.