Consumer complaint received 2024-08-14
Product: Mortgage — FHA mortgage
Issue: Closing on a mortgage — Delays with the closing process
Company: NEW YORK COMMUNITY BANCORP INC (OK)

Details listed below from an email I sent the loan processor and officer. To summarize Flagstar continually failed to communicate items needed. The only time I would get the information is when I would ask what is next. When it came to closing we had the all clear to close. My wife and I show up to close to find out that Flagstar canceled the closing. After further review that afternoon my wife caught an error with Flagstar date that we had to close by. It was brought o their attention and they neglected to fix the situation or coordinate another closing. Now they are refusing a refinance. After multiple attempts to have a manager call me the loan officer and processor have refused to pass my information to them.

To follow up on what my wife sent earlier, I wanted to follow up with an email since we did not receive a call back regarding our refinance today even after being told that I would receive a follow up with a status update. The last communication was that XXXX was trying to get the refinance set for this evening since we had all the issues during this process. I am appalled at the lack of organization, transparency and overall care with our refinance. This refinance should have been closed 2 months ago but here we are today XX/XX/XXXX still not closed and being told we have to go through more hoops in order to refinance. Below is a recap of the events that relate to our refinance process as there are inexcusable issues to look back on. 

I submitted my online application on XX/XX/XXXX and I never heard from Flagstar until I reached out to XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX. My credit was initially pulled on XX/XX/XXXX, but it didn't get a thorough look until XX/XX/XXXX ( that is according to XXXX on the phone today ). It shouldn't take a week for a follow up phone call/email in reference to someone wanting to do business with you. From the start when XXXX asked for documents, I got the requested documents within a week and had them uploaded. There were a couple documents that I told her would take a couple more days and I kept her informed on when I uploaded those. All documents were submitted by XXXX. At the end of XXXX, XXXX called to discuss some of the documents and by the next day I had the requested information. At the end of these conversations, I asked if there was anything else needed and received an answer of no or no answer at all. I didn't hear anything for about a week and we were in the first part of XXXX. That is when I was told about gathering my insurance information ( flood and home ). I questioned XXXX for a start date since the insurance companies were asking for it. She said I needed to make it effective immediately, which I did. XXXX even spoke with one of the insurance reps to explain the refinance. At this time, it communicated for the first time that I needed to pay for an appraiser. I paid for the appraisal that evening and followed up to find out when the appraiser would be out. The appraiser came out on XX/XX/XXXX which was within a week of me paying for the service. I wasn't happy about who the appraiser was since she went to high school with my wife and was still holding on to childhood issues toward my wife but I didn't want to disrupt the refinance process. After questioning XXXX for over two weeks about the status of the appraisal report, in which all I was told was they were waiting for the report and nothing was said about a normal timeline or expectations, even though I was asking for updates. We received the notes from the report on XX/XX/XXXX. I had all requested repairs completed by XX/XX/XXXX and the appraiser came back out on XX/XX/XXXX to verify all repairs were completed. I verified with the appraiser that she was satisfied with all the repairs and asked if she had any further requests to comply with FHA. She said everything looked great but she wanted a letter from the repair company that fixed the roof stating that it was good for at least 2 years. I inquired with the company and they provided a letter that said the roof was good for at least 5 years. I had the required paperwork that the appraiser asked for on XX/XX/XXXX. So, for two weeks we sat in limbo waiting for the underwriter and the appraiser to finalize everything. After not getting any answers, I finally contacted the appraiser myself to find out what was taking so long. She said the underwriter wanted a new inspection completed, and scheduled time to come back out to the house. She took no pictures or recorded anything, just walked through the house and was gone within 5 minutes. 

That brings us to this week XX/XX/XXXX, since the underwriter and appraiser finally came to an agreement from what I was told. So now, the question of our insurance ( flood and homeowners ' insurance ) was brought up. I notified both the officer and processor on XX/XX/XXXX that the homeowners quote would be expiring XX/XX/XXXX if the lender didn't contact them since the policy was put to be effective in XXXX. It was now obvious that no one contacted them to update them on the refinance status. It was also found that the flood insurance wasn't up to date since Flagstar called them to make the change of house valuation but no one communicated to us that {$100.00} was due to the flood insurance company to bring the policy to good standing since Flagstar wouldn't pay the difference from the escrow account. Remember I had both insurances setup in XXXX as requested. I called the home owners insurance company and they gave me grief over Flagstar not contacting them, so I moved to a different company for home insurance and I got that taken care of within XXXX business day. I had everything completed by XX/XX/XXXX. I verified that everything was taken care of on XX/XX/XXXX and tried to close that evening but XXXX was adamant to close on Friday XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX. I took off work this afternoon XX/XX/XXXX to complete the closing. I sat at my house for XXXX minutes waiting and I finally reached the notary to which he told me that Flagstar canceled the closing this morning. 

I switched to calling XXXX due to the fact I haven't heard anything from XXXX since XX/XX/XXXX. XXXX has been doing all the contact since I switched. Today XX/XX/XXXX, I voiced my dissatisfaction with the refinance process and no one contacting me to inform me of the cancellation to XXXX. The appalling part of this conversation was when the transparency was finally told that Flagstar had issues with the appraiser. If there was such an issue with Flagstar 's selection of the appraiser back in XXXX, then a new appraiser should have been assigned. This was not mine or my wife 's fault, the appraiser is the vendor for Flagstar. I gathered that the underwriters along with XXXX were having issues with the appraiser. The reason the loan wasn't complete on time was due to the vendor that Flagstar called in to do the appraisal, based on this conversation with XXXX. It was explained that since we applied for credit on XX/XX/XXXX that we had to close by XX/XX/XXXX which meant we would have had to sign the paperwork by XX/XX/XXXX with the three-day waiting period ( XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX, and XX/XX/XXXX ). However, when my wife checked my credit report and then verified the dates that were given to me over the phone, the date was wrong with the underwriter and XXXX. The actual date was XX/XX/XXXX and the review of our credit wasnt complete until XX/XX/XXXX. Sure, it was by XXXX week but we could have closed today and been fine. The actual last day to close should have been XX/XX/XXXX. XXXX apologized for the mistakes from all areas but the apologies do not help that we were told that we would be followed up with today XX/XX/XXXX and the fact that we have not closed due to the errors of Flagstar and its vendors.

So, Flagstar 's negligence with our refinance has resulted in the closing not occurring for months and then this week not happening at all. It is truly disheartening that we have been a customer for years now and we tried to keep our loan with Flagstar and we are treated this way. Please forward my notes to your management as I would like to have a response from someone on how this will be rectified since this was not mine or my wife 's issue.