Consumer complaint received 2020-03-11
Product: Mortgage — Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Applying for a mortgage or refinancing an existing mortgage — 
Company: Richard A. Weidel Corporation (NJ)

XX/XX/XXXX My husband received an email from his nonprofit XXXX XXXX announcing their partnership with Princeton Mortgage ( NMLS # XXXX ) exclusively with Team Leader/Loan Originator XXXX XXXX ( NMLS # XXXX ). Princeton Mortgage was offering special rates for XX/XX/XXXX XXXX  personal on  mortgages and refinances. 
At the end of XX/XX/XXXX, I contacted XXXX for information on refinancing my primary residence. We had refinanced back in XX/XX/XXXX, but XXXX said he could beat my current rate of 3.875 % with 3.375 % for a 30 year fixed rate. I asked how he was able to get such a low rate and if points were involved. He said no points and Princeton Mortgage likes to take care of XX/XX/XXXX XXXX. I also inquired about closing costs which he responded ( email dated XX/XX/XXXX ) {$990.00} plus appraisal and title. Only thing out of pocket is appraisal. I asked if we could use the appraisal from XX/XX/XXXX, but he said a new one would be required. 
We continued to exchange emails and had many phone conversations. I asked multiple times what the principal and interest payment would be with the 3.375 % rate however, he would never respond with this information in an email. Rather he would call and verbally disclose numbers, but would always follow-up with that an exact amount would not be known until right before closing- everything quoted was an estimate. I also mentioned we had a rental property that was purchased at the height of the market and since has been under water in addition to a town wide reassessment. He said that we should proceed with both properties. Worst case the rental does not appraise, he would reimburse our credit card for the appraisal fee. He said, Ok I am going to save you a ton lol! ( Emailed dated XX/XX/XXXX ). 
We decide to proceed with refinance of our primary residence and rental property. On XX/XX/XXXX, we received the appraisals- our primary came in $ XXXX less than our XX/XX/XXXX appraisal and the rental came in $ XXXX to qualify for the refinance. I immediately called XXXX and expressed my concerns, as it was not possible for our property to have depreciated $ XXXX within 7 months with a booming housing market and economy. XXXX agreed and explained that I could appeal the appraisal, which we did on XX/XX/XXXX. 
On XX/XX/XXXX, I sent another email regarding the appeal and a follow-up email on XX/XX/XXXX, which upon he responded, Havent heard calling them now. ( Email dated XX/XX/XXXX ). I followed-up with XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX asking if the deal was dead and he replied, Deal not dead. Please give me some. I am trying to get done for you. ( Email dated XX/XX/XXXX ). We had a brief conversation on Thursday, XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX ET and he asked to call me back in 30 minutes. XXXX never called and I followed-up with an email on XX/XX/XXXX asking for an update and he replied he would call me that day. He never called and another follow-up email was sent on XX/XX/XXXX. He called and said that he did not respond because he was away on business and training new employees. I explained that I too work in the XXXX XXXX industry however ; his lack of communication and professionalism is unacceptable. If he did not have an answer or whatever the case may be, a simple reply would have been acceptable. 
At this point, XXXX was still working on the numbers. I was starting to get suspicious as to why he did not have the numbers. Never before have I worked with a loan officer that could not provide me the principal and interest payment almost immediately. Please refer to XXXX email dated XX/XX/XXXX. On XX/XX/XXXX, I followed up asking if he thinks he would have the numbers by Monday, XX/XX/XXXX and he said yes. On XX/XX/XXXX, he emailed me that refinancing XXXX would require me to bring $ XXXX closing. He offered to raise the interest rate on my primary to 3.5 % and give us {$6000.00} towards the investment property. As for the primary residence, the interest rate would be 3.375 fixed for 30 years. He ended his email by saying, The 10 year bond is lower today and I can possibly get you 3.25 will know that at XXXX ( email dated XX/XX/XXXX ). We spoke at XXXX and XXXX confirmed he locked us in at 3.25 % 30 year fixed. 
I replied that same day that we will proceed with the primary residence refinance and that we will revisit the rental property in 6 months. I asked if he needed my credit card to reimburse the {$500.00} appraisal fee. I ended my email by asking to please send the new mortgage payment including taxes escrowed ( email dated XX/XX/XXXX ). I never received a response, so I sent follow-up emails on XX/XX/XXXX and XXXX, XXXX. He finally replied on XX/XX/XXXX and followed-up by a phone call to go over the payments. He said that our payment including escrow would be {$3900.00} with P & I   {$2500.00}. I said that does not make any sense- why would I refinance to only save $ XXXX/mo. At this point, my level of concern hit an all-time high. We are scheduled to close in 4 days and he still can not give us a concrete monthly mortgage payment. I explained that this still does not make sense because I did my own due diligence- I was quoted 3.375 % 30 year fixed from another bank for a P & I payment of {$2500.00}. How is the one point higher rate {$23.00} less than his P & I payment? Again, he did not have an answer and asked to call me back so he could work on the numbers. He came back with a monthly payment including escrow of {$3900.00}. He also said he would give us a $ XXXX closing cost credit for all the aggravation. I just assumed this would reduce the money we would have to use for escrow since the closing costs he quoted in XXXX were minimal. 
On XX/XX/XXXX, we received the electronic loan disclosures to prepare for our closing scheduled on Saturday, XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX. Upon reviewing, I was alarmed by the following : 1. The closing costs were {$21000.00} 2. The $ XXXX credit and {$550.00} appraisal reimbursement was missing 3. The monthly payment was {$3900.00} 4. Points were included in the rate I asked XXXX to advice and he said he would call me later that day. Upon leaving work, I still had not received a call back. I contacted XXXX XXXX who was the senior loan processor I had been working with throughout this process. I expressed my above concerns and told her to cancel the closing. I also requested for XXXX manager to call me and refund us the two appraisal fees ( {$470.00} and {$550.00} ) as we never would have proceeded with Princeton Mortgage if we knew points were being charged to obtain the lower rate. I also followed up with an email to XXXX dated XX/XX/XXXX. About 30 minutes later, I received a phone call from XXXX. He was aggressive, nasty and condescending. He implied that I was stupid and I was well aware of points all along. I explained that I work in XXXX  and he is just mad because I read the disclosures and figured out his scam. I told him he was unethical for not disclosing the points and charging over $ 21k   in closing costs. I said no one would ever consider doing something like this because it is financially not perceptive. Why would anyone want to add on an additional $ XXXX on his or her principal amount? He got quiet, apologized and said that he wanted to make it right. He said he would honor the rate with no points and would reduce the closing costs. I said you are too late- you are only doing this because you were caught. He asked me to think about it and said he would follow-up with me the next day ( he did not ). I ended the call with please have your supervisor call me. 
On Thursday, XX/XX/XXXX, I received a call from XXXX XXXX who identified himself as XXXX manager. I explained what happened, requested the refund of appraisal fees and he asked that I send him copies of the email correspondence which I did on XX/XX/XXXX. XXXX responded that he could reduce the fees by {$7400.00} with a monthly escrow payment of {$3900.00} ( email dated XX/XX/XXXX ). I replied to XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX that my husband and I did not feel comfortable moving forward with Princeton Mortgage and to please refund the appraisal fees. XXXX never responded. 
On Tuesday, XX/XX/XXXX, I received an email from XXXX XXXX ( NMLS # XXXX ), Sales Support, and Manager. I  immediately called him, as I was very confused to his role. He said that he was XXXX manager and XXXX XXXX was just his team member. I explained everything to XXXX. He was very empathetic and agreed this was a horrible experience. He offered to close the loan, he would be our direct contact and XXXX would be removed from the file. He said he would reduce closing costs, honor the rate with no points, and would only charge {$500.00} in commission because his branch manager would be livid if he knew what happened. He said you know we need to make something off this refi. He also said that XXXX started this partnership with my husbands nonprofit XXXX XXXX in late XXXX. He said it has brought in 25-30 closings/month from its members and it would be detrimental if we contacted them about our incident. He said we were the first complaint received. My response was, that is probably because I am the only person that took the time to read the disclosures before electronically signing off. He asked that I speak with my husband in hopes we would reconsider. I explained that he is not going to change his mind however, I will speak with him. I ended the conversation that in the meantime he should start speaking to his branch manager on the refund of the appraisals. He said that was going to be a sore subject because the appraisal company is a third party. I said that is not my problem. XXXX, Princeton Mortgage, you or all of you should make it right. Perhaps even if that means coming out of pocket for the pain and suffering we endured over the past few months. He said he would work on it. On Tuesday, XX/XX/XXXX, I sent a follow-up email to XXXX asking for an update. He replied almost instantly and I responded a few minutes later- please reference email dated XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX for complete details. I received a response late afternoon, which included his National Sales Director, XXXX XXXX. He said, After going thru the loans in detail and speaking with everyone involved it has been determined that due to your house under appraising the loans didnt make as much sense as once thought. Since you were a XXXX member, we made an additional pricing concession on the primary loan to make it make sense for you and your Husband. You decided to not move forward and unfortunately, we will not be able to refund the cost of the appraisals. As a company, we did what was necessary to make it right by you people. I am sorry it had to end this way and wish you the best of luck. I have CCd our National Sales Director, XXXX XXXX on this email as he is aware of the situation. ( Email dated XX/XX/XXXX ). I responded stating that XXXX was unethical with his lack of communicating points were being used to obtain the rate and also was negligence on not disclosing the closing costs which were upwards of $ 21k. We disputed the appraisal and XXXX never mentioned that Princeton Mortgage was making an exception. It was our understanding the appraisal dispute was approved. I also included copies of the emails for their reference. Please refer to email dated XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX. 
To date, we have not received a response. In addition, to submitting a complaint with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, we have also spoken the XXXX XXXX New Jersey State Delegate and have left a message for the National President. We  will also be filing a complaint with the XXXX. 
In order to resolve this matter, we are asking Princeton Mortgage to refund us {$1000.00} for the appraisal fees on our primary residence and rental property. 
Thank you.