Consumer complaint received 2016-04-29
Product: Mortgage — FHA mortgage
Issue: Settlement process and costs — 
Company: MORTGAGE LENDERS OF AMERICA (FL)

I am an attorney and the settlement agent for a real estate closing on Florida property that " took place '' in my offices in XXXX on Wednesday, XXXX XXXX, 2016. The buyer, XXXX XXXX, had obtained a mortgage through XXXX, through Mortgage Lenders of America , LLC ( " MLA '' ). After signing all of the loan documents, we forwarded copies via e-mail to MLA and received an email from XXXX XXXX ( XXXXXXXXXXXX ) giving us authorization to fund the loan, meaning that they accepted the paperwork. The seller had already signed the deed conveying the property to XXXX XXXX, so we believed that we were closed. 
However, the wire from MLA, for the loan proceeds had not yet hit my XXXX ( Escrow ) Account. We assumed ( wrongfully ) that the wire had not been initiated until funding approval was given, so we expected that the wire would hit the account by XXXX XXXX the following morning. We found out Thursday morning that the wire which was sent through XXXX Bank was rejected by my bank ( XXXX XXXX XXXX ) because the initiator of the wire had NOT followed my written wire instructions. XXXX XXXX XXXX 's compliance department rejected the wire because the memo on the wire merely stated " XXXX XXXX ''. Our wire instructions specifically told them to put the following on the memo : File No. : XXXX XXXX : XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX, FL XXXX. Had they followed these instructions, the wire would have gone through. Because they did not follow the instructions, the wire was rejected, with questions to XXXX about the wire to see whether they would be able to accept it. No response was ever provided by XXXX. 
My office contacted numerous people at MLA ( including XXXX, the closing coordinator ) to explain to them that they needed to re-wire the money, using the correct information that we had provided. XXXX XXXX said that they would re-wire, but could only rewire using the same information that was on the previous wire. We arranged with XXXX XXXX XXXX to have that wire intercepted before it got to compliance, assuming that XXXX XXXX gave us notice of when it was being sent, so that it would not be rejected. The wire was NOT re-sent on Thursday, XXXX XXXX, 2016, despite the fact that the funds had been sent back to and apparently received by XXXX Bank on Wednesday, XXXX XXXX, 2016. 
My office has been e-mailing and on the phone with MLA and XXXX Bank all day today and as of XXXX on Friday, XXXX XXXX, 2016, we learned that XXXX Bank has NOT re-sent the wire, as they as still waiting for MLA to give them instructions to re-sent the wire. 
At this point, I have a seller that is ready to sue me and have my license to practice law revoked because of the lack of funds ( despite the fact that I have not released the deed for recording, nor released any of the original documents to MLA, letting MLA know that we would not release the loan documents until funding was received. MLA 's failure to timely correct their mistake is placing XXXX XXXX in jeopardy of being sued by the seller and me in jeopardy of having to explain myself to the Florida Bar. While I know that I have done nothing wrong, the time and expense of having to respond to something like this makes this highly stressful. 
MLA should, at the very least, be heavily fined for making a loan without funding it properly, for failing to timely correct its own mistake and in my opinion, should be banned from making loans in the United States. 
Please do something about this.