Consumer complaint received 2021-01-20
Product: Mortgage — Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process — 
Company: Guild Holdings Company (UT)

On XX/XX/XXXX we closed on our home with Guild Mortgage, who is also our mortgage servicer, it was a conventional loan where we put 5 % down, while we waiting for our other mortgage to sell. We were advised by our Mortgage Loan Officer, XXXX XXXX, that we would have to pay PMI, however, once we sold our townhouse and received the equity we had from that property we could put it towards our unpaid principal balance and the PMI would drop. These were her exact words and this was an explanation that we actually received multiple times. On XX/XX/XXXX we had an appraisal done on the new property we were buying, a necessary step in the closing process I do know this, the APIN stated on XX/XX/XXXX that the property was worth {$570000.00}. On XX/XX/XXXX we closed on the property and paid Guild 5 %, {$28000.00}, our original loan was {$540000.00}. On XX/XX/XXXX we paid an additional {$86000.00} to the unpaid principal balance, taking our loan down to less than {$460000.00}. At this point we were under the impression, based on the information and guarantee from our Loan Officer, the PMI would be dropped. And why wouldn't it be? We had closed less than two months ago with value in our property from an APIN as needed by the Bank, and we had reached at least 20 % equity. I submitted a request to have the PMI dropped but they stated on XX/XX/XXXX that while our current principal balance of {$450000.00} has reached the required 80 % loan to value threshold based on the original value of $ XXXX, we were still required to get, at our cost, a satisfactory BPO as evidence that our property has not declined. And right there in that letter dated XX/XX/XXXX, Guild clearly states that we reached the required 80 % loan-to-value threshold. But still we paid the {$100.00} to get a very unprofessional man to come take pictures of our home on XX/XX/XXXX. According to this man the property value is {$570000.00}. However, there are several home value sites that state our property is worth more than XXXX, one of those sites being XXXX, a site run by Guild Mortgage that creates home reports for previous buyers, it states the value of my home is {$570000.00} as of XX/XX/XXXX. So we are being forced to pay PMI on a property in which we do hold at least 20 % equity in, it just depends on the person you are asking, which isn't to us as borrowers who were told one thing and are having a completely different thing being done to us. Quite frankly what our loan officer did to us was predatory. XXXX told us, along with the Escrow officer, that as soon as we were able to reach 20 % equity in our house we could get the PMI dropped, there was no further explanation of how removing PMI would work. Guild as a servicer is telling us that we can pay the {$100.00}. fee again once we see the values increase on sites like XXXX or XXXX, or XXXX, and have another person come out to value our property again. Based on all of those sites I could pay the {$100.00} today and possibly get a higher value. It is not acceptable that we were lied to during our loan closing process, it is not acceptable that XXXX  did not take the time to help us understand all of the risks associated with only putting down 5 %. It is not acceptable that at closing our loan XXXX wasn't even in the room with us for us to ask questions regarding the PMI. When questions about the PMI were asked of the Escrow officer XXXX XXXX he answered that once we got to our 20 % equity we could ask to remove it. This is a trap to force people to pay for something that is a racket to being with. We have done everything we were told to do from a person we trusted to handle our situation correctly and because one man has an opinion different than another we are forced to continue to pay an unnecessary fee. It would have been better for us to do a VA Home loan, which we are qualified for due to my husbands service in the Navy, again something we weren't even told to entertain. 

Guild Mortgage serving has sent us, through email onXX/XX/XXXX, personal information regarding another person 's personal account. They sent me the loan information, including a borrowers social security number through email, have the sent out my personal information to other borrowers? That is a violation of privacy. 

On XX/XX/XXXX Guild Mortgage servicing sent me a recast agreement that would change our P & I payment stating that our new principal balance was {$470000.00} and our new P & I would be {$1900.00}. However, that was not correct to my loan and due to my job I knew this wasn't correct, I called them and did get an updated recast agreement to sign, the person who created our agreement transcribed the numbers. My point in bringing this up is how many other agreements have they transcribed the numbers causing a higher payment than necessary and borrower simply signed the agreement thinking the company taking care of them knew what they were doing? 

On XX/XX/XXXX the letter sent to us denying our request also stated they enclosed a copy of the PMI Disclosures signed at closing, this was not the case and was not provided. Additionally, Guild sent us updated closing disclosures after we closed as they noticed an error in what was disclosed, how, if my mortgage officer wasn't there at closing could I have known what was correct and was false? 

We have been with Guild Mortgage servicing for less than six months now and they have caused a lot of harm to our family, and potentially other people 's families had I not been an honest citizen. Guild is a predatory lender and should be reprimanded as such. The way we were lied to is unacceptable and the fact that we had no one from our mortgage team there when closing to answer our questions making us feel we had to accept the terms no matter what they said, is blatant proof they are predatory lenders.