Consumer complaint received 2022-11-03
Product: Mortgage — FHA mortgage
Issue: Applying for a mortgage or refinancing an existing mortgage — 
Company: Movement Mortgage LLC (NC)

I applied for a mortgage loan with Movement Mortgage on XX/XX/2021 with XXXX XXXX XXXX in the XXXX, NC XXXX, one of your mortgage originators after talking with him on XX/XX/2021 about purchasing a home and my ability to be approved for a mortgage. 



After applying for the loan, I received a preapproval on XX/XX/2021 for {$360000.00}. Subsequently, I received another preapproval on XX/XX/2021 for {$370000.00}. I signed a purchase contract and put up {$15000.00} in due diligence. My expected closing date was XX/XX/2021. 



We went through with the process of getting the actual approval. The process was very confusing as I was asked for the same documentation several times and asked to explain XXXX XXXX for minimal amounts, such as {$5.00}. Although confused by the requests, I provided what was requested. Per request, I also uploaded pay stubs for the months of XXXX and XXXX. I work XXXX different contract jobs, XXXX as a XXXX employee and XXXX as a XXXX employee. On XX/XX/XXXX, I uploaded pay stubs from both of my jobs. After explaining my contract employment to XXXX XXXX, he advised me to only submit the paystubs for the XXXX position and not the XXXX position, so after that conversation, I only uploaded the pay stubs for the XXXX job. 



XXXX day before the projected closing date, everything started to go downhill. XXXX XXXX informed me that I would not be able to close on XX/XX/XXXX because the title had not been cleared by the attorney because they did not contact the attorney within a reasonable time. He contacted the closing attorney at XXXX XXXX on XX/XX/2021, just XXXX business days before expected closing. I was very upset because I had no clue that we were behind in our timeline, because on XX/XX/XXXX the original closing attorney notified XXXX XXXX and his team that they would not be able to handle the closing. XXXX XXXX and I had a conversation, I communicated to him to then reach out to XXXX XXXX to handle the closing. XXXX XXXX said that he had personally spoken with Attorney XXXX XXXX at XXXX and XXXX and he was told that she would handle the closing. However, on XX/XX/XXXX, the sellers listing agent reached out to confirm closing and he was made aware that the original attorney from XXXX and XXXX would not be able to handle the closing. 



Therefore, I was forced to ask the selling agent for an extension. I received that extension and the new closing date was scheduled for XX/XX/2021. On XX/XX/2021, we were still not able to close, for reasons unknown to me at that time. However, the seller went to the attorneys office and signed closing documents, leaving me with a 7-day window to close before losing the due diligence monies of {$15000.00}. On XX/XX/2021, I reached out to XXXX XXXX many times via phone, text and email but I received no response. 



On Friday, XX/XX/2021 ( after our second prospective closing date ), XXXX XXXX contacted me via phone and let me know that there was a problem with finalizing loan documents. He stated that because I am a contract employee and my contract states that my end date for employment is XX/XX/2021, I would need to prove that my employment would not end at that time and that it was in fact indefinite. XXXX XXXX also sent an email following up on our conversation that further stated XXXX been instructed that even if they said its an indefinite contract, that would work. ( this email is attached for your review ) On XX/XX/2021, XXXX XXXX contacted my recruiting agencys HR department and asked if the employment is indefinite. Because this was a holiday weekend, XXXX XXXX did not receive a response until XX/XX/2021. The response was there is a situation in which her employment contract could keep getting extended but XXXX hesitant to say indefinitely as were at the mercy of the client in that regard. But is there a possibility of her remaining an employee of ours for a very long time, yes, there is that possibility. 



On XX/XX/2021, I went to the Movement Mortgages XXXX, NC XXXX and asked to speak with someone in regards to my loan because I was not receiving any communication from my loan XXXX and at this point, we were on a race against the clock. There, I spoke to XXXX XXXX. XXXX informed me that we were looking to close on XX/XX/2021. However, I could not go off of XXXX words. I needed a concrete answer in writing. XXXX let me know that the underwriters were reviewing my file and I needed to wait for a response. At XXXX on XX/XX/2021, XXXX XXXX texted me and stated that he would call me shortly. I waited for his call for an hour and then I texted him and asked when he was going to call. He called me directly after that. He let me know that the response from HR was not sufficient and further clarified to me that the underwriters wanted to see the term indefinite. 



Because this response was not sufficient, on XX/XX/2021, I reached out to the XXXX XXXX of the recruiting agency to clarify the issue of the stop date for employment of XX/XX/2021. He directly emailed XXXX XXXX and stating the way our system is set up we need to have a start date and end date for our contractors. The end date is an internal control that our systems require us to enter. XXXX XXXX role at XXXX is indefinite and there is a strong possibility they will bring her on their payroll. In the event that does not happen, we would place XXXX XXXX with XXXX of our other clients at the same salary if not more. If you have any questions please feel free to reach out to me. Once receiving this response, I forwarded to XXXX XXXX, she replied thank you for sharing this with me. XXXX and his XXXX are actively working with underwriting to review your employment and I confirmed that they have this information that you just shared. This has been escalated to the highest person in underwriting. XXXX will continue to keep you informed as soon as we have updates, but this is absolutely a high priority. 



XXXX XXXX also confirmed receipt of the email and confirmed that he sent the response to underwriting. I did not hear from XXXX XXXX throughout the day, I again went to the XXXX office asking to speak with someone in regards to my loan. There, I spoke with XXXX XXXX. XXXX immediately phoned XXXX XXXX. After speaking with XXXX, XXXX XXXX called me, while I was at the office and told me that I was denied the loan, for a number of variances. I asked him to clarify that. He then stated that my XXXX XXXX, my employment verification and my paystubs not showing XXXX hours a week were the reasons why I was denied. The paystubs provided to him showed : XX/XX/XXXX - XXXX hours XX/XX/XXXX - XXXX hours XX/XX/XXXX - XXXX hours XX/XX/XXXX - XXXX hours XX/XX/XXXX - XXXX hours XX/XX/XXXX - XXXX hours XX/XX/XXXX - XXXX hours XX/XX/XXXX - XXXX hours Furthermore, XXXX XXXX and his team had these paystubs throughout the whole process. 



I got off the phone with XXXX XXXX and spoke with his XXXX, XXXX XXXX. I let XXXX XXXX know that I have been a contract employee since the beginning of this process and nothing has changed, why would I be preapproved if this was an issue? She stated that XXXX XXXX did not know that I was a contract employee. I let her know that this was not true. Early on in this process, XXXX XXXX advised me on which job to use and we had extensive conversation about my contract employment. Her response was I dont believe XXXX XXXX did anything nefarious. However I stated, this is not about being nefarious but about XXXX XXXX negligence and inability to pre-approve and process loans successfully. 



On XX/XX/2021, the last day of having an opportunity to close, I received an email explaining my denial. What was indicated in the letter is temporary or irregular employment, insufficient stability of income. 



XXXX XXXX XXXX I am very familiar with the mortgage approval process and this was the farthest from fair and ethical. I have never seen someone get pre-approve and the loan fall through after signing closing disclosure and seller signing closing documents because of something that was the exact same at the beginning of the process. Evidenced by the reason for being denied, XXXX XXXX was incompetent in preapproving me for the loan. I have learned that per FHA guidelines ( the loan that I was applying for ), if a person is a contract employee, they would need two years history doing this type of work. At the time of pre-approval, I did not have two years of immediate history of contractual employment, however, I do have over 16 continuous years in this field working salaried and contract positions. XXXX XXXX was aware of that and still pre-approved me. I relied on his pre-approval and submitted a contract with {$15000.00} due diligence. 



There is no excuse to wait until a week and two days after the prospective closing, signing the initial closing disclosure, the seller signing the closing documents, home insurance documents were submitted and paid for, the attorney cleared the title, paying for the appraisal and home inspections, terminating my current lease, hiring movers, and giving away furniture, to then find out that I was denied for the loan. Additionally, the reason for the denial is XXXX that should have been addressed early on, prior to pre-approval. 


XXXX XXXX and his team lacked integrity, professionalism, knowledge, communication, dignity and morals throughout this process. I have been denied a loan for reasons that were the same when we began the process and all throughout. I have relied on XXXX XXXX negligent pre-approval and have handed over {$15000.00} in due diligence to the seller. 



I am appalled by Movement Mortgages business values and unprofessionalism. There was no concern and there was a clear lackadaisical attitude about my loss of due diligence monies. I had to go to the office to even get a response from anyone about the next steps after submitting employment information. This is the most unbelievable mortgage process that I have ever witnessed. As a consumer, we rely on the education and professional opinions of the loan officers and we suffer greatly when we are led astray by people who are unqualified and negligent in their performance.