Consumer complaint received 2016-03-01
Product: Mortgage — Conventional fixed mortgage
Issue: Application, originator, mortgage broker — 
Company: Secure One Capital Corporation (NJ)

Our house was built XX/XX/XXXX and it is located in XXXX, XXXX, a town that has been entered onto the National Register of Historic Places pursuant to the National Historic Preservation Act of XX/XX/XXXX. We purchased our house in XX/XX/XXXX, and over our 25 years of ownership, our home has been completely renovated to exacting standards consistent with the XXXX XXXX era. I had refinanced my home mortgage loan in XX/XX/XXXX with Secure One Capital Corporation, XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX ( XXXX ) XXXX XXXX. This refinance was initiated by a " cold call '' suggesting that I refinance at a lower interest rate and that the loan would be structured in such a way that I could receive a cash out from the equity in my home. As is customary in refinancing, our house was appraised and a market value of {$440000.00} was established. The appraiser, XXXX XXXX, was selected by Secure One Capital and I paid {$550.00} for her appraisal fee. Although a bit unusual, Secure One Capital closed on my loan contingent upon us repairing sections of the house identified by XXXX XXXX as needing repairs. These repairs included adding vinyl siding to sections of the house where inside renovations had taken place ( windows added, windows deleted, walls opened up to accommodate XXXX Doors, etc. ). Secure One also insisted on repairs to areas of the basement foundation and fascia board replacements. The replacement vinyl siding was difficult to find and quite expensive as the existing siding was 10 years old and we wanted to maintain the aesthetics and consistency of the exterior of the house. We spent about {$20000.00} on those repairs even though we had already closed on the refinance and we could have ignored the agreed upon contingency repairs. Upon closing, Secure One immediately sold the mortgage to XXXX, XXXX, XXXX. Purely on a spec basis, the house was appraised in XX/XX/XXXX at a value of {$480000.00} by XXXX XXXX XXXX ( no fee ). My lender, XXXX, approached me for a refinance XX/XX/XXXX and had the house appraised at {$450000.00} by XXXX XXXX XXXX ( I paid the {$550.00} appraisal fee ) and they adjusted my interest rate down and included a minor cash out. XXXX then sold my mortgage to XXXX XX/XX/XXXX but they continued to service our loan. XXXX was then bought by XXXX, XXXX XXXX, XXXX. I subsequently received another cold call from Secure One XX/XX/XXXX with an offer to again refinance my mortgage with an interest rate reduction of 1 %. I again paid {$550.00} for the appraisal which was conducted by XXXX XXXX, the same person who previously appraised our home for Secure One Capital, this time under the company name of Secure One Capital Corp.-XXXX. It was my understanding that lenders/brokers were prohibited through Dodd-Frank from selecting or " steering '' appraisers. After nearly {$120000.00} invested in improvements in a XXXX market appreciating at 5.5 % to 9.9 % ( XXXX ), XXXX XXXX appraised the house at {$430000.00} or {$10000.00} less than she had valued the house XXXX year earlier. After voicing my concern, I no longer heard from anyone from Secure One Capital. XX/XX/XXXX we then heard from my contact at Secure One, stating that he was in the hospital with stage XXXX XXXX XXXX and he asked if would I consider staying with Secure XXXX. I did, I paid another {$550.00} for a second appraisal, and this appraisal came in at {$420000.00}. This appraiser was employed by XXXX XXXX XXXX ( one of many companies that XXXX XXXX was affiliated with and or owned by Secure One ). As such, the value of our house, appraised by Secure One with over {$120000.00} in improvements went from a value of {$440000.00} to {$420000.00} in under one year, while the house was appraised at {$450000.00} and {$480000.00} inside of that one year by other appraisal firms.