Consumer complaint received 2019-06-03
Product: Mortgage — FHA mortgage
Issue: Applying for a mortgage or refinancing an existing mortgage — 
Company: Caliver Beach Mortgage, LLC (FL)

It is worthy to note that I did not reach out to this mortgage company. I am perfectly happy with my current monthly mortgage payments and can easily pay for them. 

This company uses predatory practices to lure people into believing the Federal Housing Administration has reached out to them, not a mortgage company. They do this by sending letters in the mail using the same font styles and letter head as a Tax Return, and they even claim they are the owners of the " FHA   Streamline Rate & Term Program, '' something only the Federal Housing Administration owns. 

When I called this company, the first thing they did was ask me for my Social Security Number in order to find my file, and because I was under the impression I was talking to a government agency, specifically the Federal Housing Administration, I gave it without second thought. Then as the conversation continued, they tell me they can lower my monthly payments by {$600.00}, or keep the monthly payments the same but take 5 years off my loan. This sounded great, but I was skeptical and asked to see the details of this refinance in person. They agreed, and said they would send a notary to my house and I could see and read all the paperwork in detail. But before the notary arrived, this company already pulled my credit. They never asked me for my permission, and I was never told the detailed conditions of this refinance or the cost of this refinance. 

This is a strong-arm tactic aimed to force me to give in to their terms since my credit has been pulled. I will not be strong-armed, and I will not be taken advantage of. I have opened over XXXX credit cards in my lifetime, and I have pulled my credit even more times than that, and EVERY SINGLE TIME this has happened, it has happened with my explicit authorization, either by paper or by phone. 

When it is done on paper, there is always a disclosure paragraph or disclosure document that informs me that they are going to pull my credit, and where I identify myself and sign agreeing to their terms. 

When it is a phone call ( like has happened with me with XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX, etc.. ) the person on the phone always informs me that they are going to record the conversation, that I must identify myself over the phone, and that they are going to read a disclosure that I must agree to using the words " Yes '' and that no other word could be used ( for example, I am not allowed to agree by saying " Uhuh, '' or " okay '', or " sounds good '' ). 

But none of this occurred, and yet they pulled my credit on XX/XX/19. This is not best practices, or even common practices. Common practice requires explicit authorization, but they didn't do that because they are a devious, dishonorable company. They knew that if they had asked for my permission to pull my credit, that I would deny them. They knew I would deny them pulling my credit, so they never asked. 

I then called them and asked them to remove the credit inquiry by sending a letter to the FTC admitting that they had made a mistake. They told me " no, '' and that they had the right to pull my credit because they had " implied consent. '' Those were their words, " implied consent. '' They admitted they don't have explicit consent. They tried to send me a voice clip of my " implied consent, '' but it was just me agreeing to having one of their agents come over so I can read the fine details of the refinance myself so I can be better informed as to whether or not I want to move forward with this refinance -- that is not implied consent, rather it is clear hesitation and doubt as to whether I want to proceed with their refinance. 

Never in my life have I dealt with a company like this. Every other company uses clear, precise language when talking about topics that can have my credit pulled. Every other company asks explicitly for my explicit permission to pull my credit. Every other company has protocols for how to legitimately obtain my explicit permission. This method of pulling my credit is deceitful, underhanded, and immoral. 

Everyone knows that in order to purchase a home through a lender, you need to be pre-approved before any seller takes you seriously. You can get pre-qualified, but that will not mean anything to a seller. The pre-qualification is just for you, so that you can determine if you are ready to purchase a house before your credit gets pulled during the pre-approval process. That's the kind of impression I had when I made this call. I made this call thinking I was talking to the Federal Housing Administration, and they were going to give me some sort of pre-qualification letter letting me know a ball-park amount of what my refinancing options are ( exactly how it happened when I got my pre-qualified letter while shopping for my mortgage lenders ). As you can see, it is common practice to give people a ball park estimate in the mortgage financing world -- this is called a pre-qualification letter. That is how they trapped me, they trapped me into thinking I was on the road to pre-qualification, not the road to a pre-approval. 

To this day, I have not given them permission to pull my credit, and I have not signed or agreed to anything else. I have never even met anyone from this company.