Consumer complaint received 2019-05-14
Product: Mortgage — VA mortgage
Issue: Closing on a mortgage — 
Company: Rocket Mortgage, LLC (NC)

Quickens Loans NMLS # XXXX Working with our mortgage broker, XXXX XXXX, we locked in an APR of 4.25 % with a lender credit of {$3600.00} on XX/XX/2019 in order to allow us to be refunded our {$3000.00} in earnest money. We selected the higher rate specifically because it had a higher lender credit and would allow us to get our earnest money refunded. On XX/XX/2019 we were informed by Quicken Loans that based on updated calculations at our current rate we would have unused lender credit so we renegotiated our rate to 3.99 %. On Friday, XX/XX/2019 we agreed to the Closing Disclosure Package which stated {$3200.00} would come back to borrower. Then on Monday, XX/XX/2019 a new Closing Disclosure Package was sent to us that stated {$42.00} back to borrower. I immediately addressed this with XXXX XXXX as this was a drastic difference from Friday, XX/XX/2019. 

XXXX XXXX began looking into the issue and contacted Quicken Loans to find out why they sent out a new Closing Disclosure Package on XX/XX/2019. This caused Quicken Loans to cancel the wire transfer to the title company on XX/XX/2019 resulting in closing on XX/XX/2019 at XXXX CST to be rescheduled to XXXX CST to allow time to resolve the issue. 

On the evening of XX/XX/2019, I was informed that someone internally at Quicken Loans received a closing disclosure ( CD ) from the title company that reflected transfer tax ( figure listed in box E of the Loan Estimate ( LE ) and the CD ) being paid by the seller. That triggered the Quicken Loan employee to remove the transfer taxes which should never be done. Once the transfer tax was removed it created a scenario where I was receiving more credit from the lender and the seller than there were closing costs to apply it to. Because of this excess credit the lender forced us to lower our rate to remove the Lender Credit portion on XX/XX/2019. With the transfer taxes eliminated, the lower rate still reflected I would receive my earnest money back at closing, which was the initial Closing Disclosure I received on XX/XX/2019 showing {$3200.00} back to borrower. When the closer and the title company began balancing the Closing Disclosure, someone realized the transfer taxes were missing and added them back and sent out a new Closing Disclosure on XX/XX/2019 which reduced my earnest money refund from {$3200.00} to {$42.00}. 

I asked how they could change the terms of the loan after we had already negotiated the terms of the loan and agreed on XX/XX/2019. I called Quicken Loans and spoke with XXXX XXXX at XXXX on the morning of XX/XX/2019. XXXX said he was the final decision maker and would review our complaint. XXXX acknowledged that someone at Quicken Loans had made an error and added an additional {$1000.00} to the refund of {$42.00} for a new total of {$1000.00} while he continued to review my complaint. A new Closing Disclosure was sent out shortly before XXXX CST on XX/XX/2019 reflecting the updated refund to borrower. XXXX said our options were to sign the paperwork as is or wait three days while they changed the rate from 3.99 % to 4.25 % to get the original refunded that was agreed to on XX/XX/2019. I stated I had travelled from out of state and could not wait three days to close and this feels like punishment since the error was on Quicken Loans which caused us to renegotiate our rate on XX/XX/2019 in the first place. I would have stayed at the higher rate if I had known I would be refunded my earnest money as originally planned. I felt like I had to choose between accepting the current document with only {$1000.00} refunded or not sign and lose the house. He said those were the options but he would continue to look into our complaint and get back to us on XX/XX/2019 if any additional refund was warranted. The new wire transfer was sent on XX/XX/2019 and didnt arrive at the title company until shortly after XXXX CST when we had already arrived to sign the paperwork. 

On XX/XX/2019 I called XXXX at around XXXX EST since he had not followed up. He stated the {$1000.00} they added to our closing was all their error warranted and they would not refund any of the remaining funds originally annotated on XX/XX/2019. I told XXXX I would be filing a formal complaint with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. He said thanks for the feedback and ended the call. 

Quicken Loans never mentioned the name of the individual who made the mistake but they did admit it happened and they admitted that new training was to be implemented so that this was avoided in the future on other files. Their policy is to never reduce transfer taxes by more than {$100.00}, they obviously failed to adhere to this policy. 

I believe Quicken Loans is in violation of TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure ( TRID ) rules, because they released the Closing Disclosure to me without the transfer tax and box E is a zero-tolerance field, which means they are not able to make changes to this field once the borrower has acknowledged a Loan Estimate or Closing Disclosure.