Consumer complaint received 2016-04-03
Product: Mortgage — Conventional fixed mortgage
Issue: Settlement process and costs — 
Company: HSBC NORTH AMERICA HOLDINGS INC. (NY)

Re : Claim for repayment of unwarranted expenses which occurred during my mortgage refinance XXXX **Players and Background : ** HSBC, XXXX XXXX XXXX ( XXXX ), and a certain party dba 'Mortgage Family, ' provided a mortgage refinance for me, paying off and consolidating my XXXX residential mortgages ( XXXX of the mortgages was with HSBC and the other with XXXX. ) In the process, XXXX disturbing issues arose out of fraud, negligence, or human error, which caused me avoidable expense, wasted time, and aggravation. I point out XXXX issues below. 


**Issue I : Payoff Refused by XXXX Under False Pretenses** XXXX repeatedly claimed to have made a property tax payment on my behalf on XXXX XXXX which was not in fact made until XXXX XXXX according to XXXX XXXX ( XXXX DOF ). XXXX used this false claim as justification for XXXX to refuse to accept a payoff payment from HSBC on XXXX XXXX in the amount and on the date that XXXX itself had laid out in its payoff letter to HSBC dated XXXX XXXX, for my mortgage. 

Rather than XXXX accepting the payment on XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX held my money for a week, demanded additional interest and fees from me, which were paid on XX/XX/XXXX by HSBC and me, in full under duress just to stop the clock. Instead XXXX should have accepted the payment on XX/XX/XXXX and dropped its false claim that the payoff payment was insufficient due to XXXX 's XXXX XXXX tax payment, a claim that seems fictitious, wrong, or perhaps intramural and should have been reversed. 


**Issue II : Negligence in Informing Me and in Taking Timely Action to Address** As sketched above, HSBC/XXXX wired payoff payment to XXXX on XXXX XXXX. The first I learned of any issue with the disbursal was in response to my email to XXXX on XXXX XXXX. Neither HSBC/XXXX nor XXXX notified me of the week long delay. The negligence I would argue goes against a duty of both parties to inform me -- which neither side did. 


**Issue III : HSBC Illegally Closed with a Higher Interest Rate than the Agreed, Locked Rate** HSBC 's salesperson XXXX XXXX confirmed that I locked the interest rate at 3.819 %. This was then documented in HSBC 's Loan Estimate dated XXXX XXXX, XXXX, showing the agreed rate and that it was locked. The Loan Estimate further reads that " your interest rate ... can change unless you lock the interest rate. '' [ Italics mine. ] The rest of the Loan Estimate had major mistakes that I pointed out in an email the same day. 

HSBC issued a new Loan Estimate dated XXXX XXXX, XXXX, correcting the portions stating that I needed " {$330000.00} cash to close '' and that I was paying off " {>= $1,000,000} '' rather than the the actual {$870000.00} that had in fact been discussed. 

I failed to notice at that time that the locked interest rate had been changed to a new rate of 3.828 - and there was no notice to me and no discussion of a change. Unfortunately I did n't notice that change until after we closed. When I raised this with XXXX XXXX and with the Loan Processor XXXX XXXX, they both stated that it was in fact not a mistake but rather that the locked rate can change if internal estimates at HSBC change, which is why they purposely changed the locked interest rate. I told them that I doubted it was legal to change a locked interest rate, especially without proper notice, but they offered no adjustment.