Consumer complaint received 2022-03-08
Product: Mortgage — Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Applying for a mortgage or refinancing an existing mortgage — 
Company: HSBC NORTH AMERICA HOLDINGS INC. (NY)

My wife and I applied to HSBC for a mortgage to refinance an expiring Home Equity Line of credit ( which was with another institution ). We were assured, from the get go, that our chances of getting this mortgage were excellent : our credit ratings are great, the ratio of amount requested to home value is 1:4, we have ample other assets ( worth over 7 times the value of the requested loan ), we have other sources of income. 

The loan was, after a long and painful process, denied. 

I am under no illusion that it's at a bank 's discretion whether or not to approve a mortgage. I am disappointed, of course, but more than that I am furious because of the WAY that this all went down. I will provide the basic outline of what happened : When we applied, a Mortgage Consultant ( I'll call him " XXXX '' ) was assigned to our case by HSBC. After hearing what we were looking for, he recommended a thirty-year mortgage with a fixed rate for the first 15 years, and floating after that ( we only intend to remain in our house for 5-10 years, so that's essentially moot ). He was polite, personable, and seemed knowledgeable. A few days after we started our application, with all the requisite ( and fully anticipated ) requests for documentation etc, XXXX called suggesting that we switch to a CEMA loan, something I had never heard of. The reason being that it would save us on closing costs. Of course we thought that was a better way to go, and resubmitted the modified application. 

As part of this process, we needed to get a home appraisal ( again, fully anticipated ), which we did. We also received a letter from a local lawyer informing us that we needed to pay them {$950.00} for some sort of title search. Sigh. Okay, so we did that. Around this time we also started receiving communications from a Senior Loan Processor ( let 's call him " XXXX '' ) at HSBC, again requesting yet more information. Some of which contradicted what XXXX had said, but so be it. 

And then nothing. No communications. Worse than that, both of them seemed to be ignoring my emails and phone calls. I received a communication from yet another Mortgage Consultant ( let 's call this one " XXXX '' ), who I contacted. He expressed surprise at having been assigned to this application mid-stream, and when I told him what I had been through thus far, he said, and I quote : " I can't believe that you're able to remain this calm. If this were me, I would have thrown the phone at the wall! '' ( at the beginning of every call with HSBC they tell you that the call is being recorded : I hope they are ). XXXX gave me the contact information for XXXX 's boss. We'll call her " XXXX ''. 

I wrote to XXXX, and also left her a voicemail, asking her to please get in touch with me so we could discuss my application. I had no response from her. In the meanwhile, the lawyer that I'd paid {$950.00} to contacted me to tell me that the title search that was being conducted was actually moot for a CEMA loan because my original loan was with an institution ( XXXX XXXX ) that didn't participate in XXXX. She offered to return the {$950.00} ( which she did in total ), but this left back a few steps. Again I tried to contact XXXX had initiated XXXX but had not, apparently, done his homework and XXXX, and XXXX. XXXX eventually called me to tell me that my loan was now " pending declination ''. 

After another 17 days not hearing from XXXX or XXXX, I left XXXX an exasperated ( but still calm! ) voicemail mentioning that I had escalated to XXXX ( his boss ). I also wrote to her, again. The following morning XXXX called, less friendly but still very professional ( to his credit ) to apologize and assure me that everything was back on track, and that he expected to hear back from " underwriting '' within an hour, and that we'd close on the loan " in eleven days ''.

It's been a week, and no call from XXXX. I called XXXX ( the second Mortgage Consultant ) again. He gave me the name and email address of XXXX 's boss, " XXXX ''. In the meanwhile, I received yet another communication, from yet another Mortgage Consultant " XXXX '' which consisted of just one word : " Cancelled ''. 

What? Having basically had it at this point, I wrote to XXXX ( this was yesterday ) and laid out the entire sorry tale to him, using the real names of the people I'd had dealings with, and also letting him know, gently, that I was reluctant to throw people under the bus, but that I felt I had no other recourse. And also, that if I didn't receive some sort of apology or explanation or review, I would come to the CFPB. I have had no response. 

Finally : right after I sent XXXX the email, I received a letter from HSBC in the mail informing me that the loan has not been approved. The reasons cited make no sense, but given how screwed-up the overall process was I have no doubt that the underwriting department was acting on flawed and incomplete information. 

Suffice it to say that I'm disgusted by HSBC 's utterly incompetent and rude handling of me. By the time yesterday 's rejection arrived, I had already secured a loan through a different institution ( and with better terms, to boot ). Even had the loan come through, I had ZERO intention of taking it after what I've been through.