Consumer complaint received 2017-05-11
Product: Mortgage — Other type of mortgage
Issue: Applying for a mortgage or refinancing an existing mortgage — 
Company: CITIBANK, N.A. (CA)

CitiMortgage  - in below-the-belt methodology - declined our refinance  13 - THIRTEEN  - weeks after we- existing  CitiMortgage  customers with an impeccable payment history - had initiated said refinance.  Citi 's p athetically egregious - not to mention unprincipled - " explanation '' for their delay in informing us that they had no intention of proceeding with said refinance was due to the fact that a "  PACE A ssessment '' is present on our property. CitiMortgage management going so far as to falsely claim the PACE Assessment was not " clearly present '' when we initiated the refinance process - This " explanation '' adding insult to an already insubordinate experience not to mention, a blatant lie on Citi 's part! CitiMortgage has continually and repeatedly articulated that they can not proceed with our refinance because  : 1 ) " we must follow the lending guidelines '' and 2 ) That Citi  must also follow " our own credit policy '' - Neither the " guidelines '' n or Citi 's " o wn credit policy '' have ever been supplied to the consumer as such should be, in a conspicuous manner and in writing! Nothing!    3 ) Citi ha s further repeatedly articulated that their " lending guidelines enforced by our investors '' prohibits  Citi from refinancing our loan with them. Obviously, Citi ' s " lending guidelines '' and or " credit policy '' fail and or forget to consider the fact that Citi was a beneficiary of a Troubled Asset Relief Program ( TARP ) and received   XXXX    XXXX  by  XXXX  of  XXXX  alone! With a market cap of   XXXX   XXXX   XXXX  in  XXXX  of  XXXX , the U.S. taxpayer effectively owned this lemonade-stand company lock, stock and barrel! Citi 's economic illiterates have the gall to tighten their lending criteria to customers with existing and outstanding payment history?! Hear me now, CitiMortgage ; we - my wife and I - ARE your shareholders!   Additionally, the data reflecting the increase to our property tax bill - resulting from the PACE Assessment - was confirmed by  a Citi Tax Department manager as taken in by CitMortgage 's Tax  Department several weeks before we initiated the refinancing effort! This increase to the property tax bill and associated data was sent directly - via electronic transmission - to  CitiMortgage 's Tax  Department by the  XXXX   XXXX   County Assessors office ; the county in  which the refinance was being sought!   Any clerk, associate, loan  officer, assistant loan officer, or escrow officer  worth their salary and capable of conducting the most rudimentary of Preliminary Title Reviews would have easily noted the presence of the PACE  Assessment two mon ths earlier! For this to have taken  thirteen  weeks, wrought stress related and fiscal damage upon us through  XXXX ,  XXXX  and the  XXXX   XXXX , not to mention crushing plans for paying off other, revolving debt. All the while, we were being assured by CitiMortgage that we were " good to go '' " you did a great job getting th paperwork to us in a timely matter '' and " yes, we did receive the subordination documents '' from the PACE creditor '' - What a sham!   Between  XXXX   XXXX ,  XXXX  and  XXXX   XXXX ,  XXXX  we sent ove r 300 e mails, spent countless hours on the phone with these Citi imbeciles, and this is how they repay us?   Repeating, the PACE Assessment and related property tax increase was/were not only clearly present on title, but was/were reflected - conspicuously and in writing - as an increase on our property tax bill as reflected on the amended Escrow Account Disclosure Statement which  CITIMORTGAGE PROVIDED US  weeks before our loan was declined!  Citi KNEW  of the property tax bill increase, or should have!   A sorry spectacle! A poor example of how American business has declined,  CitiMortgage i s the poster child for egregious, underhanded, and selfishly poor business practices. I would n't recommend them to a despot!