Consumer complaint received 2022-07-12
Product: Mortgage — VA mortgage
Issue: Applying for a mortgage or refinancing an existing mortgage — 
Company: NQM Funding, LLC (WA)

I recently retired from the military after XXXX years. In XX/XX/2022, XXXX months prior to my official retirement date, I decided that I wanted to take advantage of the equity in my house and do a VA cash out refinance. I wanted to pay off some debts and do some home improvements. 

I shopped around quite a bit and decided to go with XXXX XXXX XXXX out of XXXX, XXXX because they were offering the lowest rate ( with no points ) and reasonable closing costs. They also claimed to have exceptional service with VA loans. They proposed a XXXX fixed VA total loan amount of XXXX at 4.5 % with no points. Included in the XXXX would be around a XXXX cash out. This proposal was made on the XXXX of XX/XX/2022. I felt lucky to have locked in this proposal, because literally hours later, interest rates spiked. 

This decision was a HUGE mistake. I ended up going down a XXXX rabbit hole of unprofessionalism and incompetence with XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX 

The first red flag was poor communication. It was extremely difficult to get anyone to call me back or even send me a quick email or text. There were days and even weeks of radio silence from XXXX. Under normal circumstances, the poor communication alone would have been enough to go with another lender. However, I continued with XXXX because I was locked in as interest rates continued to rise. 

I immediately disclosed to XXXX that I was about to retire and that my income would decrease slightly. However, I would still have enough income as to not cause any debt-to-income problems. I was assured that my imminent retirement was not a concern because there was enough time to use my pre-retirement income to qualify the loan. I submitted all my documents and moved quickly to the " clear to close '' decision. Suddenly, my income, or better yet, verifying my income became a problem. Also, they NOW had to use my retirement income in order to approve the loan. OK. A bit frustrating and a huge waste of time but no problem. As I mentioned, I still had enough income to satisfy the debt-to-income requirements. I provided XXXX with more than enough documentation from the DOD and the VA to verify my retirement income. 

The underwriting department did not understand how military retirements and VA benefits work and they were unable to verify my retirement income to their satisfaction. When I COULD get someone from XXXX to communicate with me, they kept asking the same questions over and over. I would have to explain the same process multiple times. Ultimately, I ended up waiting over a month for the DOD and VA to issue even more documentation to satisfy XXXX. 

Problems continued when XXXX 's underwriting department would not accept my proposed ratings letter from the VA. I ended up waiting more than ANOTHER month for the VA to issue a final benefits letter and updated COE ( Certificate of Eligibility ) to proceed with the loan. 

I thought that all the documentation requirements and verifications were excessive. But I accepted it and again stuck with XXXX because interest rates had skyrocketed, and I was locked in with a good deal. I began to suspect that XXXX knew, as well, that I was committed. It would be difficult for me to find a better deal since interest rates had gone up so much after I locked in with XXXX. They used this fact to keep me on the hook as the slow rolling and lack of communication kept getting worse. I then suspected that XXXX had offered me TOO good of a deal days before interest rates exploded. They were dragging their feet purposely to get me to back out of the loan. Of course, it would be nearly impossible for me to prove all this. It was just a bad feeling I got because no established home lender with favorable reviews would be this unprofessional. Right? 

The run-around continued. More documents and verifications were requested. I started to do XXXX 's job for them. I was requesting updated payoffs ( since this had dragged on for so long ). I was spending hours on the phone with the VA and XXXX requesting documents. I was constantly emailing and calling XXXX for status updates with minimal response. Finally, in XX/XX/2022, I was assured that we were FINALLY close to getting the clear to close. I requested an updated closing disclosure. They would not send me an updated disclosure. Then, yet again, more documents and verifications were requested by XXXX underwriting. It became the definition of insanity : doing the same thing over and over expecting different results. I finally had enough and told XXXX to withdraw my application, which is probably what they wanted all along. There was no call or email from a manager. Just more radio silence. 

I ended up going with XXXXXXXX XXXXe who were good enough to nearly match what XXXX had initially offered me. They also offered exponentially better communication and had no problems with my documentation. 

I am filing this complaint because I feel XXXX XXXX XXXX acted in bad faith and monumentally wasted my time. They took advantage of the fact that interest rates increased significantly after I locked in with them. Subsequently, they did not have to provide me with professional service and good communication since I was probably going to stick with them anyway. I am also suspicious that at some point, they slow rolled the loan and intentionally made things difficult in order to get me to back out.