Consumer complaint received 2021-02-09
Product: Mortgage — Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Closing on a mortgage — 
Company: FIFTH THIRD FINANCIAL CORPORATION (FL)

- Last XXXX XXXX XXXX ) I started the mortgage refinance process with 5/3rd Bank. I started with an employee of theirs named XXXX XXXX. I believe he was out of your XXXX office and he was fantastic. He helped me work through the best options for our particular circumstances. XXXX told me that loans were taking about 90 days. I said fine, I was in no particular hurry. 
- At some point ( maybe XXXX? ) a lady named XXXX XXXX told me she was taking over my account as XXXX was no longer with the company. She said things were taking longer. I again said fine. I realize there is a lot of demand for refinances. 
- In XXXX XXXX XXXX told me the loan was ready to close and has the disclosure documents sent to me. After a review, I noticed that some of the fees has gone up and I contacted XXXX. That was a XXXX  night. ( XX/XX/XXXX I believe ). She said that she was going golfing that night and could she look into in on XXXX  and get back with me. I said fine. Basically, that is the last time I have ever heard from her even though I have left numerous emails and voicemails. 
- I next contacted a lady named XXXX XXXX because she was listed on the disclosure documents that I had received. I again explained about the increased fees and she also said she would look into it. In the meantime, the loan was scheduled to close, but I declined to proceed because I had not received an explanation of the increased fees. XXXX then got back to me and said after review the fees were correct. Even though I did not agree I asked what was the next step in the process. Even though no one asked me, she said the loan was scheduled to close on XX/XX/XXXX and was this OK with me? I said NO, not until I see the closing documents to insure that I was not getting more surprise fees. That was also the last time I heard from XXXX ( XX/XX/XXXX ) even though I have left numerous voicemail and email messages with her. 
- When XXXX XXXX was discussing the options with me, he told me I would have an opportunity to lock in a lower rate if rates went down. When XXXX XXXX took over the account, I asked her about this and she told me that was not an option. When I later contacted XXXX XXXX she told me this only applies if rates went down by XXXX of a point. I suspected that this did happen over the 6 months that I have been trying to get this refi done, but that option was never offered to me. 
- One of the fees that I objected to is an additional {$140.00} for a Final Appraisal approval. I was told that this was because the original appraisal had to be updated due to the length of time it was taking. I was originally told the loan would take 3 months to close. I dont think it was my fault that it took 5/3rd 6 months to close the loan, yet you are making me pay for the additional appraisal fee. Please note that no appraiser even came back to our residence. This was strictly a paperwork fee.

- Another fee that went up by a large amount from the initial disclosures was the " Lender Title Insurance ''. The disclosure documents I received on XX/XX/XXXX was for this fee to be {$640.00}. The final closing documents from XX/XX/XXXX had this fee at {$1300.00}. 
- We originally purchased our condo for {$350000.00} on XX/XX/XXXX. In the four years since then property values in XXXX XXXX have steadily gone up, yet our condo only appraised at {$350000.00}. On XX/XX/XXXX a condo that is almost identical in size and layout to our condo ( unit A-304 ) sold for {$370000.00}. This condo is two floors below out condo. We have been let to believe that you can generally add {$10000.00} per floor to the value of a condo. We believe that the A-304 unit has had no upgrades since it was built, whereas ours has had numerous upgrades and renovations. Given these facts, we believe our condo was appraised way too low. Since we were doing a cash-out refi, this impacted how much cash we were able to receive. 
- I was next contacted by the notary from the title company. I told her that I would agree to show up at the closing ONLY if she gave me time to review the closing documents because I NEVER received a copy of them. At the closing I decided that I would proceed even though I did not agree with some of the fees. At this point I realized that if I cancelled and started over with a new bank, I would have lost several XXXX dollars in fees and lost 6 months in time. 
- I came to closing with account numbers and bank accounts of where I wanted the proceeds deposited. I was told by the agent that I need a blank check and that the closing agent should have told me this. Of course, that did not happen. Therefore, my only option was to agree to overnight delivery of a bank check. That closing was on XX/XX/XXXX and I never received the check until XX/XX/XXXX.