Consumer complaint received 2020-07-23
Product: Mortgage — VA mortgage
Issue: Closing on a mortgage — 
Company: CARRINGTON MORTGAGE SERVICES, LLC (GA)

While getting a VA loan, I had been directed to XXXX XXXX Mortgage ( NMLS XXXX ) a mortgage broker to assist with finding a lender for my loan. This broker had allegedly gotten " pre-approval '' for the loan based on my credit report on XX/XX/XXXX. I found a home and put in an offer on XX/XX/XXXX. The original offer was for the full price and the seller would pay {$8200.00} of my closing costs. The appraisal came back lower than the asking price and the seller countered with accepting the lower price but wouldn't cover any of the closing costs. I accepted that offer. My broker was upset about this but I couldnt figure out why. He then took a break for a week, immediately before our scheduled closing date of XXXX XXXX. He said he was going to be unavailable at all that week because he was going to be in the woods with no signal. When he returned he admitted that he couldve had me close on time if he hadnt gone offline for a week. 

As he was acting as an agent of Carrington Mortgage, they wouldn't allow me to speak with anyone there. I was informed that the broker was the only person that I could address any of my concerns with. 

My original closing date was XXXX XX/XX/2020 but was pushed back again and again until we finally closed on XXXX XX/XX/2020 ( 60 days exactly from when I submitted the offer ). During the back and forth with the broker regarding information that he had already been sent, I received a number of Closing Disclosures varying in cash to close of anywhere from {$2600.00} to {$19000.00}, finally settling in at XXXX after being told by the mortgage broker on XX/XX/2020 that my closing costs would be {$5900.00}. My final Closing Disclosure, which increased my cash to close by over {$300.00} that had to be wired from my credit union or in a cashiers check from my credit union account, was sent to me on XX/XX/2020 at XXXX ( EDT ) which was less than 24 hours before closing. 

I had asked repeatedly to have the discount points explained to me to no avail. Eventually one of the people at XXXX XXXX Mortgage did admit that the points were, in fact origination fees. 

After closing on the house and discussing this fiasco with a friend who works in the mortgage industry, she explained that there are a number of items that a VA loan borrower can not pay. One of those is the broker fees for a mortgage broker. Since the seller wouldnt pay any closing costs on the lowered price of the home, the  origination fees were fraudulently disguised as discount points even though my rate was still over 5 %. The attorneys fees were all fraudulently listed as Title in order to get by with charging me these fees as well. Since they didnt actually label the origination fees correctly, they also put underwriting fees in there as well. It looks to me like this broker did everything he could to subvert the rules that the VA has in place to protect the borrower and pad his own pocket. That explains why he was upset regarding me accepting the counter offer of the lowered price and no seller concessions. She also explained that, with my credit score, a 5.125 % rate was astronomical and that there wasn't any way that was a " discounted '' rate.