Consumer complaint received 2023-02-13
Product: Mortgage — Other type of mortgage
Issue: Applying for a mortgage or refinancing an existing mortgage — 
Company: GUARANTEED RATE INC. (WI)

Hello, Back in XXXX during Covid I had my house up for sale and in XX/XX/XXXX I was going to take it off the market as the 6-month renewal with my previous realtors was going to expire as it was on the marked from XX/XX/XXXX, I believe it was. 

I received a flyer in the mail from XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX stating they could sell my house for me, etc. The person who was doing business on behalf of them basically said they would buy my house and I could move into my " dream home. '' It turned out this was all a scam, the guy frauded me and has yet to pay me the {$100000.00} he owes me, and he does this to many people as he sets up LLC 's and when people try to sue him, there is no money in the LLC to claim as there is no value to them. Many judgments against him. 

The concern I have is that in order to work through the process of being able to move into this 2nd home, I needed to do a cash out refi. I am clueless and ignorant when it comes to all these numbers and how things work. I only owed {$60000.00} on my house and when I talked with my own bank about doing a cash out refi as that is what I was told by this XXXX XXXX that I needed, my loan officer said I would not qualify as my house was not off the market for 90 days. I also reached out to XXXX XXXX and they said the same thing. 

After telling this XXXX XXXX, I could not make it work as I didn't qualify for this type of loan and basically telling him it wasn't going to work, he said he could make it work. He then introduced me to this XXXX XXXX of Guaranteed Rate. ( I have emails I can share with you and needless to say, she no longer worked there when I reached back out later in the fall of XXXX. ) Needless to say, she did a cash out refi for me and again, not being savy to what any of this meant and her knowing I could not afford two mortgages, she worked it out by saying XXXX XXXX would take over the one loan in the amount of {$180000.00} I believe it was for my XXXXXXXX XXXX  home, and he would take over payments by making monthly payments to me making it look like he was leasing the property from me. So, this created an " income. '' I think had another loan for around {$290000.00} ( not exactly ) for the new house I wanted to buy. What I found interesting was that my XXXX, XXXX house appraised for a lower value, so this XXXX XXXX lowered the agreed price he was going to pay me that we agreed upon, but now I was already in agreement with the other sellers on new house in which my appraisal came in at exactly the sellers asking price of {$450000.00} and the appraiser never even went to inspect the house. Interesting on how one uses the excuse of covid to not go inspect and how convenient that the appraisal comes in at asking price, yet the other appraiser came out to my house, inspected inside and outside, made mistakes on her assessment yet they wouldn't change the report by only a XXXX XXXX XXXX. 

I was to close on both homes on XX/XX/XXXX. XXXX changed the date of closing to make sure I would own and close on the new home so he then could try and pull things by adding stuff to closing agreement that I never agreed to. He ripped me off initially by dropping agreed price from {$400000.00} down to {$180000.00}. 

So, here 's another interesting fact. I reached out to XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX to make a complaint about XXXX and his practices. They of course would not take any responsibility for how does business nor would they put me in touch with a manager. I finally found out who the manager was. It is a XXXX XXXX. Here is another interesting note, the vice president for Guaranteed Rate is XXXX XXXX. He approved of my loan. Is this just a coincidence? Are they family? 

There was a lawsuit against Guaranteed Rate in XX/XX/XXXX for allegations that violated false claims act of XXXX. ( You can find it on the internet ) and I wonder if my loan is not one of them. My home loan was set up between XXXX XXXX of Guaranteed Rate to allow XXXX XXXX to obtain my home from me by doing this cash out refi. My house was never leased nor were those the intentions. It was all fabricated to provide me these two types of loans which again, I was told by two other mortgage companies that they could not do these loans for me since my house was not off market for 90 days. They would get in trouble. Yet XXXX XXXX very confidently says he can get me one. The bank makes money, XXXX made money, and they all think I was happy about it as I supposedly got the home I wanted. Not hardly. XXXX later took the home out of my name ( fraud ) and has not paid me the balloon balance after he sold my house. I filed a lawsuit against him at end of XXXX, last year in XXXX we went to mediation, came to another settlement which again was another {$20000.00} lower than what he owed me again now robbing me of over {$50000.00} to what was agreed upon, he failed to pay off that balance in agreed time and now pays me nothing. My lawyer says I will probably not see a dime because he sets up all these LLC 's and moves money around and those who sue him get nothing because there is no value or money in the LLC 's. If they do sue him personally ( if judge agrees to it ) you are waiting in a long line to get money as he has so many judgments against him. As stated, XXXX is no longer with Guaranteed Rate but is with another mortgage company. I have reached out to her manager at Guaranteed Rate and he claims not to know anything or is hiding information. He claims to not know who XXXX XXXX is, the vice president of Guaranteed Rate.