Consumer complaint received 2025-10-07 00:00:00
Product: Mortgage — VA mortgage
Issue: Applying for a mortgage or refinancing an existing mortgage — Delays in the application process
Company: Copeland Mortgage Company
State: LA

Complaint narrative:
I am a mortgage loan XXXX .. On Thursday, XX/XX/XXXX, I received a call from a realtor partner of mine. She informed me that she had a buyer who already had title work, home insurance, and an appraisal done on the property. However, the home under appraised and the veteran 's original lender was unable to get his funds to close to a reasonable amount in which he could afford. She asked me if I could take a look at the file and see if there was anything I could do to help the veteran and close the deal. I agreed to reduce our company 's commission to a total of 1 % so that we could credit the difference of 1.75 % to help him with his closing costs. By doing this, I am able to get the veteran 's cash to close amount to a reasonable figure he can afford. On Friday, XX/XX/XXXX, I received the purchase agreement. Since the original closing date is XX/XX/XXXX, I promptly started working on the file. I requested the title work be revised to match the new mortgagee clause, I got a new insurance quoted finalized, and I submitted the loan to underwriting. The loan was submitted to underwriting at XXXX and we received a very clean approval by XXXX. We only had minimal conditions and at this point we were confident that we could still meet the closing date of XXXX. 

XXXX of the conditions that we knew we would need was a transferred appraisal. On Friday, at XXXX, my processor requested from the original lender that the appraisal be transferred to our name. We received an immediate response at XXXX stating that they will not release the appraisal without payment. My brokerage 's owner responded stating that once the appraisal transfer took place, we would receive the invoice and make payment at closing on XXXX. The original lender was still adamant that the payment would need to be received in order for her to release the appraisal. The weekend went by and Monday XXXX came with no trace of the appraisal. We reached back out to the original lender at XXXX and we stated that the veteran was willing to make payment as long as he would receive a paid in full invoice or zeroed out receipt. We requested that they send him the invoice to make payment. We did not hear back. We followed up at XXXX, no response. We followed up again at XXXX. No response. We called the VA and they said that : According to VA Circular XXXX ( dated XX/XX/year> ), and reaffirmed in subsequent updates, a borrower has the right to request in writing that the VA appraisal be transferred from XXXX lender to another. The circular specifically states : " Upon receipt of a written request from the borrower, the lender must comply and transfer the VA appraisal to the new lender. The original lender can not withhold or refuse the transfer of the appraisal. '' We had the veteran submit a formal written request at XXXX via email with the original lender 's entire team XXXX XXXX in the email. No response. It is now XXXX, XXXX, and we have no appraisal, no invoice sent to the veteran, and no communication from the other lender. When she demanded payment, she was prompt in her response, yet when the veteran was ready to pay, she went quiet. She is intentionally withholding the appraisal to delay his purchase process and she is in direct violation of VA Circular 26-19-31. There was social media content made from someone in her office regarding the matter on XXXX as well. They made a video about the veteran and myself.

Company public response: Company believes complaint is the result of an isolated error
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation