Consumer complaint received 2021-04-02
Product: Mortgage — Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Applying for a mortgage or refinancing an existing mortgage — 
Company: FRANKLIN LOAN CORPORATION (CA)

The entire process of working with XXXX XXXX XXXX Franklin Loan XXXX has been a horrible process. Initially, I contacted Ms XXXX for a loan on a property that needed to completely rehabilitated, describing the condition of the property. I knew that we would not be able to get a regular loan due to the condition of the property. Her only response was that we would have to follow the appraiser 's recommendations to the lender. Thinking that we were applying for a loan to be able to purchase a property in this poor condition, I agreed to move forward. 
I applied through her company 's website, providing pdf copies of bank statements and W2s for both me and my wife. Ms. XXXX asked for more statements which I provided. Her email response requested that I send all the requested bank statements. I had but they were in a single pdf document. Ms. XXXX 's response was that she had looked through the entire pdf and that she had twelve files opened. 
This was a constant response from Ms. XXXX as the processing of the loan continued. Many of her email responses told me why she was not able to communicate regularly with me due to the l=file load that she had. In one email she complained that she was responding just after putting her children to bed which is why she couldn't provide me with up to date information though I had emailed her during business hours. Another email response came with her explaining that she was boarding a plane and therefore didn't have any information on my file though I had emailed her the day before. I felt I was constantly being chastised for asking for updates on our loan process and being reminded that I was only one of her 8 to 12 loan customers. 
XXXX XXXX 's emails criticized me for being from Texas and not form California. She mocked me for being in the real estate business and not knowing how the process of getting a loan took place. 
Though I received the Loan Estimate and the Closing Disclosure documents in a timely manner, neither of these critically important documents were reviewed with me or my wife. 
When the appraisal came in listing needed repairs, I reminded her that we wanted a loan to be able rehabilitate the property, Ms. XXXX told me that her company didn't do that type of loan. This was three weeks into the loan process. I had to terminate the contract and asked for the costs associated with the process with Franklin Loan XXXX to be refunded to me. In return I received an aggressive email from her blaming me for not understanding the loan process. 
XXXX XXXX referred me to her manager who only offered to transfer the appraisal to another lender to complete a conventional conforming loan that the property couldn't qualify for. Instead of any apology for miscommunicating their loan products, I was told how hard they had worked on getting the loan completed. 
To my surprise, two weeks later, the seller reached out offering to complete the repairs prior to closing as long as we agreed to increase the price to cover the repairs. Our loan would be more but still only around a 60 % XXXX. Sadly, we had lost the interest rate lock and had to pay a bit higher rate. 
Constantly through the process from this point forward I had to request updates from MsXXXX XXXX on where we were on the process of first reaching underwriting and then receiving approval from the underwriter. The communications that I received from her stated that underwriting would be 48 hours and that the loan had been submitted to underwriting only to learn days later that it had not been submitted. This process went on for several weeks. 
Through the process my wife and I began to wonder if the loan would ever close. Having no debt and a XXXX XXXX XXXX middle score ) of near XXXX I was amazed at the difficulty of getting approved for the loan. I had to supply and resupply the same documents. Ms. XXXX asked for documents in one file format only for me to learn after I took time to get them to her that she wanted them in a different format. 
After 2 1/2 months the loan finally closed and funded. We were done! Or so I thought. After closing and funding, I received an email from Ms. XXXX asking me for current a W2 for my wife and bank statements from the bank account the final wire transfer to the escrow agent came from. She explained that if we didn't supply these documents to her so that her company could sell the loan to an investor that Franklin Loan XXXX would force us to refinance the loan. 
I had never heard of such a thing. I called a lender colleague and a real estate attorney asking for advice and help. Both wondered how a lender could unilaterally force someone to refinance when none of the terms of the note have been violated. The attorney encouraged me to reach out to Ms. XXXX asking what document in our loan packet or what state or federal legislation allowed the lender to call the loan if Franklin Loan XXXX could not sell the loan to a specific investor. 
With her usual curt response, Ms. XXXX insulted my counsel and me and then went on to champion her own actions in getting the loan sold to the investor. She never responded to my inquiries about how the lender would be able to unilaterally make a decision outside the note and deed of trust agreement to accelerate the note requiring us to refinance. 
Thankfully or at least hopefully, this awful incident is now over. I have been afraid to reach out to the CFPB before now in fear of repercussion from MsXXXX XXXX and her company I am sending this complaint to you in hopes that others may learn from my mistake of hoping Franklin Loan XXXX and XXXX XXXX could make this dream of homeownership a pleasant experience.