Consumer complaint received 2020-11-11
Product: Mortgage — Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Applying for a mortgage or refinancing an existing mortgage — 
Company: CITIZENS FINANCIAL GROUP, INC. (PA)

On XX/XX/XXXX we entered into a purchase agreement for a home. The home was a short sale with 3 lenders involved. 

The 3 lenders are XXXX  ( the main lender ), Citizens Bank ( junior lender ) and XXXX  ( junior lender ). 

We sold our house in good faith and moved into a hotel on XX/XX/XXXX because we were told the short sale for our purchased home would be closing soon. 

XXXX, which is the senior lender, has been cooperative, as well as, XXXX, one of the junior lenders, throughout the entire process. Citizens Bank, however, has been giving us a difficult time, missing deadlines, dragging the process out, resulting in the expiration of approvals given by the other two lenders. 

The law firm which started the short sale process for the homeowners has already dropped the case as two of their workers experienced issues with Citizens Bank from the beginning. For example, Citizens Bank would say that papers were not received, or that the Short Sale Package was incomplete, causing the processors to resend duplicative paperwork numerous times. 

Due to Citizens Banks failure to act in good faith over the past seven months, we have been living in a hotel since XXXX of XXXX. All of this occurring during the pandemic, with no resolution nor any end in sight from Citizens Bank. Other than duplicative follow-ups, the only response we have received from Citizens Bank is we're reviewing it. 
As noted, the failure of Citizens Bank to provide timely responses, has caused original approvals to expire, requiring us to restart the entire process several times. Despite completing an appraisal during the first round, Citizens Bank has ordered another appraisal of the property since the previous one has expired. The relationship manager at Citizens Bank has verbally told our negotiator that the appraisal came back at XXXX, while our purchase agreement is for XXXX. The relationship manager then stated that she sent a copy of the appraisal to the purchase property address, which no one received because the property has been vacant for 3 months already. Although we never received the appraisal, Citizens Bank is refusing to share a copy with us.

We were told by Citizens Bank that we would have a decision on XX/XX/XXXX, but since that day Citizens Bank has been telling us that it is with upper management now and no decision has been rendered. This is another deadline missed by Citizen Bank. 

Citizens Bank is not following any banking and or government guidelines, which results in this process continuing with no end in sight. 

We are without a home during a pandemic. This is causing grave emotional stress and duress to me and my wife. It is interfering with our life and our well being. I feel I am being discriminated against by Citizens Bank because when I reached out to our relationship manager on XX/XX/XXXX, two days after their missed deadline, she started yelling and screaming at me. She kept repeating herself and yelling, asking how dare I call her. I tried speaking with her normally and she just kept yelling at me. The actions of Citizens Bank make me feel targeted. They have failed to show any good faith and fair dealing during this entire process. 

Our negotiator has been calling everyday with no positive outcome. The other two lenders have resolved their part of the process in a matter of weeks, while Citizens Bank has been stretching this out for over eleven months, without any willingness to cooperate.