Consumer complaint received 2022-09-04
Product: Mortgage — Other type of mortgage
Issue: Applying for a mortgage or refinancing an existing mortgage — 
Company: TD BANK US HOLDING COMPANY (FL)

I applied for a HELoan in XX/XX/2022 with TD Bank as an individual female applicant. Prior to applying, my spouse ( XXXX XXXX  ) went into our banking office to ensure he understood TDs underwriting and processing standards as both of us are in the banking industry. The primary question asked was what type of appraisal will be used. The response was an AVM. Given our market, he then asked if we did not agree with the AVM value could we at our own expense have a walk through appraisal performed. TD told him yes. I then applied online. We went into the office the next day to have something notarized and again at that interaction with the BankeXXXX I confirmed we could have a walk through done. Following my loan submission XXXX XXXX XXXX contacted me and I explained the specific details of what I wanted to achieve with my transaction. I again asked at that point in time if the appraisal from AVM came in low, could I have a walk through appraisal conducted? He said yes. I said I understand that would be at my expense and he concurred. Fast forward, and I submitted docs and worked with a processor, XXXX XXXX. Again I asked XXXX when we spoke about the appraisal. She stated that we could have a walk through done and if the home value was less than XXXX, TD would pay for the appraisal. Eventually the appraisal came in in XXXX. It was substantially less than what it should have been based on the market. I spoke with XXXX and received the value and expressed we wanted to proceed with a walk through appraisal. He said he would look into the process to order it. At this point there were also communication issues between the processor and the MLO, so I had to resupply emails to XXXX, XXXX XXXX and he had to figure out why documents Id submitted had not been sent to my file. In this email I expressed we wanted to proceed with the walk through appraisal. At that point in time, XXXX for the first time said that the only way to have a second appraisal would be if we showed improvements or that there was an issue with the square footage of the home. I said I have never been told this. I then asked for escalation to a manager. The manager did not contact me until I contacted XXXX and XXXX a second time about the manager referral. I spoke with XXXX XXXX. XXXX repeated what XXXX had said. I said that is extremely deceptive as I was told multiple times I could have a walk through appraisal done and I even clarified that I had learned through that process it would be at my own expense. XXXX stated she would have to speak with her superiors and would contact me in a couple of days. She further told me it would be a fair lending issue if they did a walk through without justification. At this point I would like to clarify, it is industry standard for AVMs to not be reliable. They are the cause of multiple fair lending investigations at this time. Due to that, it is common for a borrower to request a walk through appraisal as well - as permitted in Reg Z. Should the walk through value be lower, then the lower of the two appraised values is the value used by the lender. XXXX contacted me 10 days later and reiterated TDs policy. I am extremely frustrated at the deceptive sales strategy used by TD. I have also been harmed because in the time I spent with TD for the application, I had a hard credit pull that impacted my credit score, and secondly by them not honoring what they said, I will have to reapply with another institution that actually follows market protocol and now face having a higher rate. Their process has been so slow and the contact so delayed, that there was another interest rate increase to prime. This entire process has been unfair to me and deceptive. It has cost me as a consumer. I am sure many customers of TD that are not so proficient in the industry have been abused by poor sales practices, lies, deception, poor and delayed communication, and overall inconsistent treatment. As a single female applicant, I feel that I was taken advantage of in order to make a sale. In fact I have had yet another XXXX redisclosed to me with no personal contact or email contact. This is simply a violation of my rights as a consumer and poor business.