Consumer complaint received 2016-12-07
Product: Mortgage — Conventional fixed mortgage
Issue: Application, originator, mortgage broker — 
Company: CITIBANK, N.A. ()

I applied to refinance a property with Citimortage for a loan I already have with this vendor. I wanted just to lower the rage, I wanted no cash out. The loan to value is 20 %. I have an excellent credit rating of XXXX. The loan payment excluding the income from the property was less than 5 % of my monthly income. The home is cash positive just with the existing tenant rent. I was asked to authorize the payment for a credit check which I did, and this confirmed my excellent credit. They then debited my account for an Appraisal and a Property Inspection. This charge was {$730.00} USD and was never explained to me. I live in XXXX but I am a US citizen and I have owned this property for many years. First they sent me the loan package via regular email not via a Courier so by the time it arrived the loan application had already expired ( it expired on XXXX XXXX and it arrived in my possession on XXXX XXXX ). Then when I contacted them and complained they said they would keep it open but that I would have to agree to pay a large and undetermined amount for an International Credit Report. I had already been told that the Appraisal had been CANCELLED. 

It is worth noting here that the lady in their Processing section completely ignored 5 emails from me during this period over a series of days. So I could not get an answer on some questions I had to allow me to proceed. The man who took my application originally apologized for this and agreed that my treatment by them was not acceptable. 

I complained to them about the package arriving late and the appraisal being cancelled but they said it would stay open only if I first agreed to this XXXX Credit Report which was first said to be between {$5.00} and {$9000.00} XXXX. When I complained about the range they clarified to say it was between {$500.00} and {$900.00} XXXX, still a wide range. 

I complained to them that this had never been mentioned before as being needed, which is obviously true as they just then were asking for approval for this. And I complained that it appeared that they were trying to get out of the 90 lock on the loan - effective since XXXX XXXX - because they did not want to honor the lower interest rate now that rates have gone up since XXXX won the election. 

I told them I was not willing to pay for this XXXX Credit Report because it was never mentioned as a condition or a requirement to get the loan. I made it clear that I lived XXXX from the very first part of the conversation with CitiMortgage. There is no way they were not aware of this, particularly as they have my current mailing address in XXXX on file and I refinanced with them 5 years ago and have ALWAYS been in good standing. 

Their company is just too large. They did not consistently communicate with me and just kept ignoring my requests for answers. The person who originally took my loan was cooperative but only after the fact and he took more than a week off in the middle of this with nobody handling his emails. 

This is just bait and switch. Offer 1 thing on certain conditions including a 90 day rate lock, then try to do anything they can to get out of it. 

Once I told them I did not want to pay for the XXXX Credit Report I asked for my payment for the Appraisal and Property Inspection to be refunded. I understood that my XXXX credit report would not be refunded. 

They have since told me that this was not possible due to XXXX parties even though I was informed that the appraisal was cancelled. They are just trying to keep my funds and to get out of the lower locked in rate. This is pure fraud. They are trying to steal my money