Consumer complaint received 2018-11-24
Product: Mortgage — FHA mortgage
Issue: Applying for a mortgage or refinancing an existing mortgage — 
Company: PRIMARY RESIDENTIAL MORTGAGE (GA)

We applied for an FHA home loan through XXXX XXXX XX/XX/XXXX because we were told by our realtor if we used them the builder would pay {$4000.00} towards closing, so we called XXXX XXXX   and applied with XXXX ( loan officer ). At the time we were having problems because I was an XXXX employee for less than 2 years. Oddly enough my previous employee contacted me and offered me a position back with his company being a XXXX employee making very good money. I then reached out to XXXX XXXX and asked if this would help and XXXX said " Absolutely! '' i will no longer need the XXXX 's. She asked my owner to write an offer letter proving this, so he did! This letter was sent over on XX/XX/XXXX. I started my new position on XX/XX/XXXX then was pre-approved that day then our realtor wrote the contract on XX/XX/XXXX. Now we were told we needed to put down a construction deposit of {$7000.00} which we didn't have at the time. My wife asked her company if we could get her 401k money and her company asked for a letter stating we are trying to buy a house. We got that info together and got {$5000.00} from 401k and we personally put {$2000.00} out of our pocket to make {$7000.00}. We wrote the check to XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX for the full amount of {$7000.00}. Before we handed it over to our realtor XXXX XXXX with XXXX we asked the question would get this back if something fell through, she said yes! as long as we didn't back out and or it will be used towards our deposit at closing. So everything was good as we thought! Now we are dealing with XXXX XXXX. We had to write letters explaining our taxes we owed that we are paying, explained my job history. So we got all that stuff together and sent it in. Then we had a problem about month later with 2 XXXX 's we didn't file so we were asked to amend our taxes and file them, we did just that immediately! We were able to write them completely off, then we mail them in to the IRS and sent a copy to XXXX XXXX. After that we received a phone call and email on XX/XX/XXXX saying we were approved with stipulations. Stipulations were explanation of job history again and why I got such a large increase in pay at my new job and why some employer addresses were different on from one document to another. Once again we jumped right on that. Then on XX/XX/XXXX I received another phone call from XXXX saying we had an issue. The issue being my 2 XXXX 's we amended, those employers didn't claim me to the IRS. She said it didn't look good for us now. She said the IRS transcripts they ordered didn't even show where we amended our XX/XX/XXXX taxes, which she told me those wouldn't transcripts would not be available until mid XX/XX/XXXX so I asked then why are we even talking about this now. She said this is good and they can't do anything for us so then I asked for a straight yes or no on approval and she said " fine we can't do it! ". Now the real issue ... ..my {$7000.00} construction deposit is all of a sudden non-refundable! {$7000.00}? thats all we had! I asked XXXX to please send over a denial letter and to please start working getting our deposit back because we didn't back out, we were denied after 3 long frustrating months. XXXX then said oh I have nothing to do with that deposit. So now I call XXXX XXXX with XXXX and ask her to please start working on getting our deposit back since nothing has been built and we were denied, now she starts telling me it's non-refundable ... .we go back in forth about it and how this is stealing and very wrong that we can't just pay {$7000.00} to be to no we can't buy a house and help someone else build their dream home. XXXX said I will talk to the builder and see what he says. I then said please please do that, we need that money! She call me back on XX/XX/XXXX and asked if I would be opposed to talking with another lender and try to get approved so we didn't lose everything we were trying for, I said yes absolutely. On XXXX XXXX XXXX from XXXX XXXX  called and we discussed everything that has happened to us and that he maybe be able to help, so he sent us an application and we filled it out the same night. Then the very next Monday XX/XX/XXXX around XXXX XXXX calls me and says he's only been working on our file for about 3 hours and can tell us that we should have NEVER been pre-approved because FHA loans require me to be on my current job for a minimum of 6 months, which XXXX with XXXX XXXX pre-approved me me day I started my job and then got me to start gathering our {$7000.00} to give to them. XXXX also said another red flag was the builder only has one lender which most builders have multiple. XXXX XXXX does not! 

I really feel the Lender, realtor and builder are all working together and scamming good honest people out of money. All 3 of them should have known right from the start that we could be approved for an FHA loan, especially XXXX being a veteran loan officer. I have been told to file this CFPB complaint. I have also emailed XXXX XXXX action news and XXXX XXXX to help get the word out and stop these thieves. Please Please help us get out deposit back! We now have to move because the rental house were are in is up for sale and we have to move into another rental for a year but we need our {$7000.00} back to help with 1st months rent and deposit, utilities and so forth. Not only that this {$7000.00} is our money and should never been ever giving out. We have children that this money can help with XXXX or XXXX  or can be saved until we can really get approved. This is a huge learning curve for us but we will be very cautious next time. 

Also we've been trying since the denial to get a termination/release form so the builder doesn't move forward using our money to build someone elses home. We have not received that letter as of XX/XX/XXXX thanks for the help in advance!