Consumer complaint received 2017-01-11
Product: Mortgage — Conventional adjustable mortgage (ARM)
Issue: Settlement process and costs — 
Company: HUNTINGTON NATIONAL BANK, THE (OH)

I signed an interest rate lock agreement on XX/XX/2016 for a Conventional XXXX ARM loan at a rate of 2.955 %. The paperwork clearly states the rate lock is good through XX/XX/2016. Also, at this time my loan officer made me believe that we would have to bring around {$10000.00} to closing, which we agreed to. The loan estimate quoted {$17000.00} due at closing, but we gave our builder a {$7500.00} deposit that was to be subtracted from this amount once we had proof of payment. Also, at this time I was lead to believe that shortly after we closed on the ARM, we could lock in a rate for refinancing the ARM to get a 30 year fixed loan ( no mention of additional fees ). This was appealing to me as I was well aware of the ensuing interest rate hike in the very near future. The mortgage officer was aware that we were very pressed for time to close on the loan as the construction of our new home was to begin on XX/XX/2016. If we did n't close on our loan by this time, the construction of our home would have been delayed months because of builders schedules. 
The processing of our loan was completed XX/XX/2016 with closing date scheduled for XX/XX/2016 ( 3 days before our the construction was to start ). When I received the closing disclosure form on XX/XX/2016, my rate increased to 3.050 % and the money due at closing increased from {$10000.00} to {$20000.00}. Not only did my locked rate increase, but during the process I was lead to believe that I would get a reduced rate applied at closing because of a partnership my employer has with Huntington ( This was one reason I chose HNB ). Apparently, this offer expired and the loan officer never told me about it, or he never looked into it. I was told the amount at closing increased to {$20000.00} because there were several items we were purchasing independently ( Appliances, lights, front door and grass seed ) and I had to give HNB the $ upfront and they would put it in an escrow account and reimburse me the $ as I purchased the items. Being pressured for time as we could n't delay the start of our home, we reluctantly signed the papers. 
When it came time to get reimbursement for items I purchased, HNB told me they could n't reimburse me until the items were installed, which obviously would n't be until near completion of the home. We reached an agreement to get reimbursed upon purchasing items, but then they wanted to charge me a title search fee if I did n't submit for my funds to be reimbursed in line with my builders draws. This tells me there never was an escrow account, but they were holding my funds in their own account. 
At one point early in the process I was going to switch to a lender that works directly with my builder. The deceiving loan officer I worked with assured me that HNB does thousands of the construction loans and are very experienced at the process. He also assured me the loan would be completed by our deadline of XX/XX/2016 so I put my trust in him. He was nothing but deceiving through the whole process and confirms why I despise working with folks that work on commission. Not only did HNB make this process a miserable experience for me, but my builder was forced to do things that he said he has never had to do in all of his career. I have every email and document saved from the first day of contact with the loan officer to show how misleading things can be. 
I received a check ( {$1400.00} ) from HNB as they claimed fault for overcharging me closing costs. They found this in an audit they performed on my loan, but refused to disclose to me the findings which makes me believe there is much more to it. I received an email from the VP mortgage sales manger on XX/XX/2016 stating they would call me in a week to " try make things right '' and it 's now XX/XX/2016 and no call. Typical of this whole process with HNB.