Long story short: we are buying a 1.7mil house with a 1mil down payment. Our closing date was supposed to be this coming Monday. Our current house is pending sale with a closing date of mid-August and we have about $200k left in this mortgage. We have about 6 weeks when we carry both mortgages. We’ve been in communication with Citizens bank and I and my wife are both very organized people. We keep pushing the loan officer to get everything finalized by Wednesday for a Monday closing date (which is required by law). By Wednesday, nothing. Thursday, nothing. Friday morning, nothing. Friday at 2:35pm, they told us we have to pay off our current mortgage before we start our new mortgage on Monday. It was 1hr and 25 mins before market close. We had to sell about 230k of stocks to get to 200k after short-term capital gain taxes. In addition we had to delay our closing date to Wed (it takes at least a day for money to get from Vanguard to Citizens bank) and the seller wants to charge interest for the extra 2 days. During our phone call to the loan officer, he lied to us “I thought it was VERBALLY agreed between us that you had to pay off this mortgage”. Nope, we have everything in writing, it was a lie. On the call to our real estate agent, he said “it was in WRITING that they have to pay off their current mortgage”. Straight lie. We are not going to take any actions against him for now and will proceed with the new closing date of Wednesday. I’ve spoken to 2 lawyer friends and we might not pursue any legal actions due to the lengthy and complicated process. What is the best way to file complaints to get the bank to compensate for our loss? We have all the email exchange logged. Is the better business bureau the only option?#mortgage #housing PS: we didnt have to sell that 230k worth of stocks and lost 30k for taxes. Our parents had cash and they asked to help us paying the the rest of our current mortgage. We can pay them back when we close on the house in 6 weeks. We politely refused because we thought we didnt need it. PS2: thanks everybody for your comments, we really appreciate that. I totally understand that sometimes bank has to re-evaluate the risk but not at 2:35pm on Friday for a Monday closing. By law they already missed the 3-day closing rule. We are pretty certain that we wont file a lawsuit and just go on and enjoy the new house (this is our dream move). However, I am certainly going to file a formal complaint to the branch manager and the FDIC bank regulator. #mortgage #housing
Start by making a formal complaint to the bank. While they are unlikely to pay your full costs, this costs nothing for you and sometimes they do give you some money (few hundred bucks). Also, you could get that POS loans officer in trouble with it :)
Depending on the size of the bank find the specific regulator that manages them and file a complaint with that regulator. It could be the OCC, FDIC etc. but finding that particular regulator and filing a formal complaint will get a lot of attention.
Just had a look at the OCC website and helpwithmybank.gov. Thanks for guiding us in this direction. I really appreciate that.
If you think you are right, you must file a lawsuit
No, absolutely not. There are many options for them that don't involve a lawsuit. Why do we as a country always jump to a lawsuit as the first step?
Agreed @Yoyo81. This attitude is exactly why lawyers will be the ultimate winners in this country for most things
Keep all communication and go through it to see if they ever mention this and whether you have proof from your side that you did not need to close other mortgage. Engage a law firm that only goes by commision so You only pay say 30-50% of whateve amount you get out of the suit
Fortunately we do. We have the closing disclosure issued last week that was $190k lower than the one at 2:35pm today. This is a very strong case of “our logged email exchanges and documents” against his words. Its just whether its worth our time pursuing that.
Absolutely, pursue the litigation route. Attorneys would love to work on contingency if its a doc trail vs words situation
You sold at the high
The bank is definitely not compensating you unless you sue for damages. They definitely screwed up but it’s not their fault you decided to liquidate your stocks - that was your decision.
We didnt have a choice. We need to close on the house. Going with another lender will take at least 4 weeks for the approval process. Could you pls explain why it was not their fault?
You could of not sold and escalated the situation. Delayed closing like you already did... Think you kind of lose your argument having sold. It's not like you got an unfair price at the specific point time, because you got market price. You had other options available including escalation, but you on your own chose to fire sale the stock. Shit situation all round, but I'd imagine you would hard time with lawsuit. You also potentially signed something about mediation before a lawsuit as well ...
Waste of time . Move on and enjoy your new house .
You’re right. That’s probably what we will end up doing. It’s still so fresh and I just couldnt tolerate his ass*** attitude. Filing complaints is probably the most we would do. We will try to refinance as soon as we close on our current house. We want no business with citizens bank from now on.
What's the issue? You lost a bit of money early to taxes and extra mortgage interests? Learn, eat your loss and move on with your life.
Through no fault of the OP, as it seems. What's the lesson then?
It doesn't matter the fault. That's for courts, 3 years later. The action is now. The lesson is to prepare contingencies, plan B and C so you're less surprised when it happens.
imagine spending a million on a home and still have a mortgage 😂
Seems difficult without a lawsuit. What happened to you is pretty common…