Consumer complaint received 2022-01-21
Product: Mortgage — Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process — 
Company: Rocket Mortgage, LLC (PA)

Hello, I am composing this email to you as I sit here very close to the end of maintaining any semblance of patience that I have left. Let me explain the situation, 15 months ago my fianc purchased a home with Rocket Mortgage. The loan was established with a construction loan attached for a total of approx. {$110000.00}. We were against a strict sellers deadline and had to push, beg, borrow, and plea with Rocket to meet that deadline or we would lose the home to backup offers. We hired a contractor, XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX XXXX which has turned out to be a living XXXX on earth nightmare. 15 months later and over {$75000.00} later we still do not have a home. We continue to bleed financially as we pay to live somewhere else and pay for the mortgage, utilities, and numerous out-of-pocket expenses for the project. We can only sustain this situation so long until we approach the brink of collapse in every way you can imagine and even cant imagine. 

We terminated the contractor on XX/XX/XXXX and have tried to contact him multiple times for a final invoice. He has ignored all of our calls and texts and only responded to the draw administrator at XXXX XXXX that he will have the invoice to her by next week. That invoice, however, is 3 weeks late from when he initially promised and the last time he ever communicated with us. This example of delay is the reason we are in this situation. We are at the mercy of our contractor and Rocket Mortgage/ XXXX XXXX XXXX 3rd Party Project Management company hired by Rocket mortgage ) as we yet again, approach the deadline of the 2nd construction loan extension with no end in sight. This contractor has been more than compensated for his work, actually overcompensated. We currently have hired a company to formally assess the valuation of work that XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX has completed. From the feedback we are receiving, the work is not to code and there is an additional 5k-10k in mistakes that will need to be corrected. I also want to take this moment to let you know that the initial company and owner we signed all paperwork with has been deceased for some time and his son is still operating and impersonating him. We have a complaint and full investigation with XXXX XXXX XXXX from the PA Attorney Generals office and The Bureau for Consumer Protection. 

My fiance and I spoke to XXXX XXXX at XXXX XXXX who escalated this urgent matter to her supervisor XXXX XXXX. XXXX was very helpful when we spoke on XX/XX/XXXX and explained that we are not the first or the last customer in this situation and also mentioned all of this is very subjective. XXXX informed us on this call that he has seen Rocket make a determination that the situation has gone on too long and allow the borrower to onboard a new contractor to continue the work regardless of the old contractor signing off on or completing the paperwork/ arbitration. The more interesting fact here is that the document referred to as the Homeowner Contractor Agreement ( HOCA ) has completely changed since my fiance and XXXX Repair and Remodeling LLC signed it. It is now simply a Hold Harmless and Indemnification letter. 

We spoke with XXXX from the Executive Research Team at Rocket Mortgage on XX/XX/XXXX and she assured us she would find all options and get back to us. Today XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX came back to us with the same answer XXXX XXXX originally provided which is to pay the contractor or go to arbitration. XXXX is a 3-6 month process and we are being told that no work can be done on the home until the decision is made. Our real estate attorney has advised us that we would not file for arbitration unless we are looking to collect money. He also explained that Rocket, being a national leader should have some sort of indemnification waiver or alternative solution to keep the project going. 

She failed to understand the position we are in financially, emotionally, and physically. She was robotic, she did not seem to care and we had to beg and plead with her to get contacts above her as she refused over and over claiming she was the only one in all of Rocket Mortgage that we could speak to. This situation is beyond escalated and we now taking it to the Better Business Bureau to fully enact the right that an agreement was signed with Rocket and the borrower, is paying for a service/ good that he can not live in or use for the payment as promised. To add injury to insult, apparently no one in the whole company that services millions of people who have also been in this situation- can provide a better answer according to XXXX XXXX 

The saddest part of it all is, all we want is to live in our home and all we want is to have the option to onboard a contractor and continue the work on the home with no disruption due to possible arbitration, to have someone hear us and understand. It is a shame we had to beg and plead with XXXX, XXXX XXXX, and Rocket Mortgage in recent days to even get an email or contact of someone within her leadership team. Their customer service and lack of eagerness to help their fellow human being are appalling.