Consumer complaint received 2015-07-07
Product: Mortgage — Conventional fixed mortgage
Issue: Application, originator, mortgage broker — 
Company: Finance of America Mortgage LLC (CA)

In XXXX 2015, I applied for a HARP XXXX refinance mortgage with XXXX with a 3.625 % no cost, locked interest rate. I was told I was approved and XXXX DID NOT require an appraisal for my home.When it came to funding, XXXX said that they would not fund my HARP XXXX Plus without an appraisal ( XXXX Plus XXXX did not require an appraisal ). I told them this to no avail. They said that they still would require an appraisal even though this is not what I was told originally. Nothing had changed concerning my home since my last XXXX refinance with XXXX XX/XX/XXXX. I believe this act was against the full intent of the Harp loan. 
XX/XX/XXXX the rates where much lower for a conventional loan 3.25 % with points ( more money to XXXX ), so the loan officer told me he would switch the loan to a conventional loan since XXXX was forcing me to have an appraisal anyway, even though it is not in the XXXX guidelines. If I still wanted the loan I had to agree to the appraisal. I agreed, not knowing what else I could do since the interest rates on the open market rose dramatically. My lock was for XXXX days. After waiting XXXX weeks for XXXX to send over their approved appraiser, I was already smelling a skunk in the room. Then I received an email that the appraiser sent to XXXX that stated he was not qualified to do the appraisal!! Then XXXX said they would send another appraiser but they wanted more money to extend the loan lock even though it was their fault. 
Then after one week of me calling XXXX ( with no response ) because no appraiser had called me yet, I received an email stating that the new appraisal co. XXXX wanted more money for my appraisal {$640.00} instead of {$440.00} that I was originally quoted. I checked out XXXX reviews and they had negative XXXX stars so I requested a different appraisal company. XXXX told me that there was only one approved appraisal co. that they had that would do my appraisal. I was forced to agree if I wanted the refi. so I did. One more week passed without a call from XXXX new appraiser. No one returned my calls that the appraiser had not called yet. I finally received a call from an appraiser but he said he could not do the appraisal for XXXX weeks. I told him that I needed someone sooner. He said he would notify XXXX and they would call me or XXXX would call me to get an appraiser immediately. I did not here back from anyone. I called and emailed XXXX for XXXX more week with no answer. I finally received an email that was for more points to extend the lock again ( more money for XXXX ) .and that the appraiser was the only one approved to do my appraisal, there was n't anyone else that they had approved. I was frantic at this point so I called a few local independent appraisers, just to see if it was normal to take a month and a half to get an appraiser to ones home. I received a call back from a local appraiser the same day and was told that the mortgage co was obviously trying to delay out of lock to get a higher interest rate and that the {$640.00} was very high cost. XXXX more week later, I finally received a call from the appraiser that had originally requested an expedited appraiser. He was frustrated to hear no one else had been sent to contact me. I set an appointment with him the soonest he could do it, one week later, XXXX days before my XXXX lock would expire. I still kept calling and emailing XXXX requesting a return phone call ( XXXX weeks now with no call back ). 
I finally contacted someone at XXXX. They stated they would not extend the lock even thou it was their fault and when funded the loan cost would be at the current higher interest rates plus an additional out of lock points fee added on! 
1 ) XXXX did not require an appraisal. 
2 ) Unreasonable hardship requiring their unqualified overpriced appraisal co3 ) Unreasonable delays causing financial hardship