Consumer complaint received 2016-09-14
Product: Mortgage — Conventional fixed mortgage
Issue: Settlement process and costs — 
Company: CARDINAL FINANCIAL COMPANY, LIMITED PARTNERSHIP (VA)

On XXXX/XXXX/2016, I contacted Sebonic about refinancing my current FHA loan to a conventional. When I started the process with the first loan officer ( XXXX ), everything was great. After, his analysis and their team, he felt confident about closing the loan. He asked me to pay for the appraisal amount of {$490.00} which was done the same day and the appraisal came back with a value of {$20000.00} less that what the house was appraised exactly one year ago. I then engaged into an appraisal dispute. I provided them all the comps for my neighborhood and the upgrades made to the house. Nevertheless, we agreed to proceed with the refinance the since the appraisal value was {$1000.00} less than the proposed value when the loan was structured. I was given 3 options to choose from to close. After that i submitted all the documents with the underwriter conditions, the communication went silent for about more than 10 days. I contacted the loan officer and the underwriter ( XXXX ) several times to inquire about the status of loan and the appraisal dispute ( which by the way up to now was never revised ) no one ever returned my calls or emails. Frustrated, I contacted the cardinal bank ( financing company for Sebonic ) customer care to learn that the loan officer was no longer work there. So my case was reassigned to different loan officer ( XXXX ) and the processor ( XXXX ). I was contacting the new XXXX ( XXXX XXXX several times and he would never return my calls. Again I called the customer care which connected me to the processor. Initially, she told me that she can not use the {$5000.00} bonuses that I received last year and the {$1000.00} receives so far this year. She said in order to use it ; it had to be received for at least 2 years. So I asked about the average bonus count she said nope it does not apply in this case and beside that the DTI was above XXXX % and she can not close the loan anyway. She stated that she can only close if DTI was under XXXX % which made me wonder because the first loan officer and underwriter never mentioned anything like that. The following week, I contacted her again with documents to prove my DTI was now at XXXX %. She changed her language saying that now my DTI need to be under XXXX % and I would have to bring {$40000.00} to close or have my wife into the loan. I said no because everything was fine before until the first loan officer left. So I asked them a refund for the appraisal since the loan ca n't be closed. The loan officer told me they can not refund me since that was a third party service. My response was : " The appraisal was paid because you ( Sebonic ) requested it in order to finance the loan after analysis of my finance situation. If Sebonic had told me at the beginning when I applied that based on their analysis, this loan had a very high DTI and all the stuff that was added from nowhere ( bringing {$40000.00} at closing which does n't makes sense because I could use that money to pay off my car with remaining balance of {$16000.00} which consequently will bring the DTI to XXXX % ), we probably not be talking about it at this point. 
With the lack of communication and all the mistakes that were made in this loan, I as a consumer should n't be penalized for that. Not to mention my time and the stress Sebonic caused to me and my family, I strongly believe that asking for a refund for the appraisal ( which I never received a final answer after submitting my dispute ) or simply close the loan as promised is fair for now.