Consumer complaint received 2019-04-24
Product: Mortgage — VA mortgage
Issue: Closing on a mortgage — 
Company: CARRINGTON MORTGAGE SERVICES, LLC (FL)

My complaint is about getting a loan approval in the refinancing of my home and also getting a Closing Disclosure for the refinancing but then the loan got denied. The company is Carrington Mortgage Services and on XX/XX/XXXX, I received an e-mail from a XXXX XXXX. Her e-mail address is XXXX. In the e-mail there is information that there is a Pre Closing letter from CMS ( Carrington Mortgage Service ) and a Disclosure Cover letter from CMS. These two items did not need  to be returned. Then she wrote, instructing us to sign and return the Closing Disclosure. She included a link so we could get to the secure website so we could e-sign and view as well as download the documents mentioned. The Pre-Closing letter congratulates us on our loan being approved. This letter is dated XX/XX/XXXX and is on Carrington Mortgage Letterhead. The Closing Disclosure ( CD ) has as date issued, XX/XX/XXXX, Closing Date of XX/XX/XXXX and disbursement date of XX/XX/XXXX. I read through the CD and all the information agreed with all earlier loan information that we received from the Loan Originator, XXXX XXXX XXXX  ( XXXX ) of XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX, XXXX, XXXX   XXXX, ( XXXX ) XXXX, ( XXXX ) XXXX, XXXX, XXXX : XXXXXXXX. I then researched what a CD was and found that the lender had to send the CD at least three days before the signing of the loan documents. Since the disbursement date was XX/XX/XXXX that day would have met the three work day requirement. So on XXXX, XXXX, XXXX when I hadnt heard anything I contacted Mr. XXXX via email and he told me the loan was not done yet and the loan did not get funded. Then on the XX/XX/XXXX he asked me if we have a well or city water. I told him we have a well and he said the VA requires that private wells be tested. He couldnt tell me what to test for so I had to find that out myself by going to the EPA website. I contacted a well testing person and he told me that to get the test results back in three days instead of two weeks would cost {$160.00} on top of the {$220.00} just for the test. Otherwise it would take two weeks to get the results back. 
Now, we wanted to do the refi to get some funds to do some needed house repairs. We have been in this house for 14 years and it needs paint, inside and out and some of the carpeting is getting worn. On top of that we are raising XXXX granddaughters since their mother was XXXX in XX/XX/XXXX when they were just XXXX  and XXXX. The girls father disappeared into the wind so there was no one else to take them. Our daughter had not worked long enough for the girls to get survivors benefits and we made too much money for state aid. I am a retired XXXX XXXX XXXX, I was working a {$10.00} an hour job and my wife worked as an {$8.00} an hour XXXX XXXX. In XX/XX/XXXX the loss of our daughter was too much for my wife and she went on SSDI then in XX/XX/XXXX I ended up going on SSDI due to recurring health problems. So, financially it has not been easy for us and our credit rating is not good. The only real light has been the XXXX girls. They give us no problems and both are 4.0+ GPA students. They are also in the band and this year the band was taking a trip to XXXX XXXX and XXXX. SO we also were going to use some of the proceeds to finish off paying for this trip. It is really the only way we can reward the girls. The cost for the trip was {$1600.00} per student and we had been paying on it for eight or nine months and still owed about {$700.00} per girl. The total amount had to be paid by the XX/XX/XXXX. We explained all of this to Mr. XXXX at the very beginning of our applying for the loan at the beginning of XX/XX/XXXX and he told us that we should be able to complete the financing by XX/XX/XXXX. So, when we got into XX/XX/XXXX I held off paying the XX/XX/XXXX Mortgage payment to XXXX XXXX XXXX, expecting the refi to go through. So, when we got the approval letter and the CD on XX/XX/XXXX with a funding date of XX/XX/XXXX I used the XX/XX/XXXX Mortgage payment to finish paying for the Band Trip. Then we found out about the well testing. However, since we live on a fixed income and get paid at the beginning of the month, by the XXXX of each month there is not much money left, so I had to wait until XX/XX/XXXX to pull the {$390.00} out of our account that was when I made the XX/XX/XXXX payment to XXXX as well and they marked it as 30 days late. However it would not have been late if Carrington Mortgage Service did not reneg on the closing. As I understand from your website the Closing Disclosure is the last step before the signing of the loan paperwork and the disbursement of funds. 
I wish that was the end of the story but things just went downhill for us financially, after that. The payment to the water tester had to be cash up front and pulling the almost {$400.00} out of our account left our account short. We pay many of our bills by direct withdrawal ( ACH ). When they started hitting the bank many of them caused us to have to pay {$36.00} per NSF and for anything that got returned. So as a result we are now over {$1000.00} in the red in our bank account and Carrington denied our loan ( although they are blaming the VA ) even after showing them that we had no late payments for the previous 52 months. So, we are now just twisting in the wind trying to figure what to do next. I believe that what has been done to us is unconscionable if not illegal. Please give us whatever help you can. I do not know why they played this game but they did. It makes no sense. I was only able to contact Mr. XXXX. I have no idea who he was dealing with at Carrington Mortgage Services or the VA. Additionally, Mr. XXXX told me that the Closing Disclosure and loan approval letter were just preliminary documents however that wording is nowhere to be found on the CD or loan approval letter.