US bank / Firstar mortgage refinancing debauchery

Complaints.com received the following consumer message on June 24, 2002:

From: ken [Email User]

RE: US bank / Firstar mortgage refinancing debauchery

A CHRONOLGY OF EVENTS

My wife and I had discussed as to whether it might be worth taking advantage of the continuing interest rate decreases, and to refinance our home. Consolidating debt into an overall lower interest rate would save us over a thousand a month and put some money in our pockets for that so-called “rainy day”, or for some projects that we were considering around the house. This was approximately in September, 2001. I approached Dean -------, the Scappoose US Bank Branch Manager. We had some past history while he was at another branch and felt comfortable dealing with him. He indicated that because of Michele’s past bankruptcy US Bank would not consider a refinancing package. My income alone certainly would not qualify us to refinance for the amount that would be required. A side note comment in reference to Michele’s bankruptcy. It was nearly 12 years ago and was as the result of a failed marriage that ended in divorce. Since that time her credit had been good to very good. It must have been because we able to obtain a construction loan to build our home and the rollover to a permanent loan. Dean then indicated that all was not lost. He wanted to make a few phone calls, because there was apparently some other branches of US Bank that might be able to assist us. A few days later he informed me that he had made contact with the “Alternative Loan Division” of US Bank/Firstar, in Cincinnati, Ohio. His contact person was a loan officer by the name of ‘Ronda ______’. He basically had already taken it upon himself, and had furnished Ronda all the information necessary to render a decision one way or the other. That is to say a pre-approval. Which was granted. That exact date eludes me, but was sometime in mid October 2001. Dean made it a point to indicate the approval to me. I remember this because I had stopped down at the ATM one day on a very nasty, rainy day. Dean, had seen me and came outside to the ATM and told me that we were set. I told him that that was great but we were going to watch the interest rates a bit to see if they would go lower. It seemed that nearly every time I visited the bank over the few weeks Dean would question me as to whether or not I had contacted Ronda, finally asking me if it was alright for her to contact us. I said that would be fine. Over the course of the next several weeks we would receive a phone call or e-mail from Ronda trying to nudge us a bit into moving ahead with the refinancing. After we had met Pre-approval. October came along and my wife and I noticed a considerable slow down in the economy and possible career changes as a result. We thought it wise, at this time, to begin the process. And so we did. I sent Ronda an e-mail attempting to negotiate closing costs and points….to no avail. This process began around mid October. We provided all the information requested us in terms of tax documents, statements, and payment stubs via fax. Ronda was anxious to wrap up everything December 31, 2001. She was very anxious, almost pushy. She wanted to bring an appraiser in before Christmas, and we thought it better, between Christmas and New Years. There was a few household items that we wanted to complete prior to the appraisal. As I understand it now, most lending institutions provide a list of appraisers for a particular area and the borrower (my wife and I) get to choose one of them off the list. We never got that choice. Ronda, had one appraiser call me to schedule a time, but his ‘area’ so to speak was located more in the Tigard/Beaverton location, and was not familiar with our location here in Scappoose. Unfortunately, I have no recollection of his whole name. But his last name was “Smith”, 85% sure. Certainly it was a good opportunity for me to ask some educating questions for myself. I asked him about values and determinations, etc, etc. I particularly inquired as to the treatment of an area of square footage that was unfinished. A space, that if the proper permits were obtained could expand the overall living square footage. A daylight basement space, to be precise. My question was mainly this. Does that space account for any value within the overall appraised dollar amount. He rattled off some figures that I do not recall, but it was something like if the finished dollar value was 50 the unfinished value may be $8.00/S.F. I contacted Ronda and informed her that she would have to locate another appraiser that was more familiar with our area. She had a hard time finding one, and she kept saying that they were all very busy. Struck me kind of strange, because there was nothing going on at the time out in this area. Anyhow, she found an appraiser by the name of ‘Robert Bond’, and through several failed attempts of contact, finally we had a day and time set. He came out on 1/03/02 and spent maybe 30 minutes or so out here, paid him his check and that was it. Except his fee was 500 dollars which infuriated us. We were explicitly told that it would be no more that 350 dollars. We were set to close for the 1/04/02 but because Mr Bond was a day or two late that put us off. Additionally, there was certain verbage that somebody at US Bank/Firstar did not like because they were working to have Mr Bond change it in some respect. Precisely what that was I can not be certain. He contacted me the night before informing me that he appraised us at 440,000 with cost to cure not counting basement. But Upon receiving my copy from US Bank the dollar amount was now at 400,000. ????? We had received a letter indicating that the escrow account had been established, pay off statements had been obtained and all that was needed was the final appraisal. The next date of closing was for 1/11/02. We were getting pretty nervous now but were assured time and time again that all was well. It was just a matter of paperwork processing. All the in-house approvals were complete. Our premonition a month earlier that the economy was slowing suddenly became a reality. My wife who was a consultant at the time, and myself having my own business were finding ourselves in the position not being paid on our invoicing. Thousands of dollars sat out there that were trickling in two, three, four weeks late. Corporate taxes were due on 1/15/02….Those could not be late. On the 11th We were informed that the we would not be closed by the 15th and it would be a few days afterword. Well this suddenly panicked us, 7800 dollars. First thing we asked was for US Bank to extend us a short term line of credit to meet this obligation. That amount was already given to Ronda as a figure for disbursement within the refinancing package. Ronda indicated that a short term loan would have to be made at a local level, specifically by the district manager. She certainly empathized and volunteered to make the necessary contact to make this happen. The word came back that we were denied. We are pretty upset by this time, and upon further questioning discovered that the District Manager would have nothing to do in assisting anyone who was involved with the ‘Alternative Loan Division’. His opinion and I quote….was that he associated us as “LOW LIFES”…….We have attached a separate chronology of events on the local level, so as not to complicate this any further. Ronda then suggested that if we had someone we could find to borrow the money from that she would speak with and assure them that they would be attached to the disbursement package. I approached my mother and told her that Ronda would be in touch had she agreed, which my mother did. Ronda called her and told her that she had nothing to worry about. Everything was approved and that the final paperwork was being processed. Checks were going to be cut the following week and that her payback or 7800 dollars would be coming directly from US Bank/Firstar. She even walked my mother through exactly what she needed to do to get the money in KWD Design account. My mother is located back in Cleveland, so it was necessary for her to wire the money Western Union. The morning of the 15th found my wife in Seattle on business, and me enroute to the accountant to obtain the payment stubs. My mother was still not sure of what to do, and contacted Ronda for assistance. Which Ronda gladly did. We were guaranteed, promised and repeatedly assured that even given delays, every thing Would wrap up no later than the 15th. Additionally, that we were approved for and amount of no less than $368,000. Michele and I spent hours working out what we would actually borrow. Our figure was nearly $10,000 less than what we were approved for. On that basis, Ronda had contacted, or said that she had contacted, Washington Mutual (our mortgage noteholder) and US Bank regarding the credit line and the second that we hold with them. It was her suggestion not to pay these because the mortgage would transfer and the other accounts would be paid off. After the 15th the mortgage rolled over 30 days late as well as the second. Ronda without hesitation contacted the above noted parties and indicated that all would be done at the latest, the following Friday. 1/25/02. On the morning of Wednesday 1/23/02 I received a phone call in my office from Ronda. She told me that she had good news and bad news. The good news being that we were still set to close on that Friday: 1/25/02. The bad news was that the original dollar amount that we could borrow, $368,000 was lowered to $342,000. Although we had never intended to take the whole amount, it reduced us to less than we needed to take. All of a sudden the $1200.00 that we would have been saving per month dropped to under a thousand. The package deal was not so appealing anymore, but we had no choice but to proceed. Ronda informed me that unbeknownst to her, someone had ordered a field review and that is the reason for the drop in the amount. I understand that this is fairly common, and that also comparables can be a dispute. Of course the lender always goes with the lower of the two. I think that this is wrong, but understand that it is legal and the way that it works. So we had to chew that one, although, I did issue letters of condemnation included within. I pitched holy hell about this, and Ronda did not find that it was the right either , so she said that she would fax me a copy of the field review. Also, she asked that I not tell anyone, because as we had come to know much later, we were not entitled to a copy of the report. On Friday 1/15/02, two hours prior to leaving to sign the final docs. We receive a phone call from Ronda, telling us that she had bad news. Now they came back and said that in order to obtain a loan that was already reduced considerably, we would have to perform the cost to cure items. That entailed completing a finish items, and the completion of the master bath shower. The item that stunned us was that they were requiring us to pour a slab in our basement. They referred to it as “Deferred Maintenance”. That is when we lost it. Now would be a good time to describe our home. I designed and for the most part we took two years building it, and of course there are still some finish items to be completed. It is a very custom home with hand stained doors and large expanses of glazing to take advantage of a breathtaking view. The daylight basement area is an area that could be constructed into livable space, provided certain conditions occur. What they insisted as deferred maintenance does not even remotely relate. In reality it is a “CONSTRUCTION PROJECT”…period…… Our home was designed, permitted and built based on a first and second story livable square footage of 3000. To fulfill US Banks ridiculous requirement would first entail applying for and receiving building permits and paying the accompanying fees. Then the construction as follows: - haul in approximately yards of sands - haul in approximately yards of gravel - lay-in rigid perimeter insulation - lay-in a welded mesh or a wired mesh fabric - provide the sewer runs and stub outs - finally pour yards of concrete. A COST I CALCULATE AT OVER $10,000 It is curious to us that this all came about as the result of a comment made within the field review appraisal. That report being the one that I refer to above that we were not supposed to be privy to. Basically Mr. Brown indicated an add of $100,000 in appraised value should a slab be poured. To me there is something severely wrong with that!!! What does it mean for us? As soon as that slab goes in our square footage increases from 3000 to 4200. Based on an appraised value that had been radically altered. Thus increasing our property taxes. A refinancing is just that. Refinancing an existing structure. We were not applying for a home improvement loan. Here we are on 1/25/02 with a loan that was supposed to be for an amount of $368,000 and finalized at an absolute drop deadline of 1/15/02. We now were looking at $342,000 with two cost to cure items and a construction project at our laps. We would have to put out over $12,000 to even get this refinancing done which came about at the last minute. Ronda was not happy at all. She came right out and said that everything came back from the lender “Greenpoint” as being signed off on. She even commented that her and Margaret Strotman were surprised that there were no conditions. But never questioned it because it was approved. And that is how it stood around the 15th. She would be the first to admit that mistakes were made, and that they never had a back up plan. Well my wife and I were extremely distraught over this, and we freely expressed it. On the other end of the phone Ronda was literally in tears because she was upset as well. She knew it was not right, but her hands were tied. After all she had made all the commitments to my mother and note holders on the basis that we were all set. She knew we had gotten screwed. It was out of her hands and passed on to her supervisor, Margaret Strotman. A woman that I would personally enjoy seeing expelled from her position. She was supposed to contact us on 1/28/02, and if memory serves me correctly we spent a very tension filled weekend with the expectation of speaking with her on Monday, but not actually hearing from her until Tuesday afternoon. By then our nerves were frazzled and we demanded answers. She was, per Ronda, the woman who went up against underwriting, our knight in shining armor. Well the first item was to get answers on who was going to call my mother and explain to her. Tell her that assurances and “don’t worries” was unraveled. Together with my wife, in my office and on speaker phone with Margaret, she illusively avoided the topic. It then took close to an hour to even get Margaret to understand what a daylight basement was and what they were demanding was a construction project. The coversation ended with her finally admitting that they had made mistakes…..all she offered was that she was sorry. Sorry. We were in the financial toilet, and that is all we got was “SORRY”. Instead of freeing ourselves from debt, we suddenly found ourselves riddled with it . All of the obligations that Ronda had arranged were no good anymore. What are you going to tell Washington Mutual. “Sorry, we got delayed again, you will have to wait another …period of time.” We were stuck with over 30 days late on our mortgage, our second, our credit, and those were just what Ronda had obligated. Because all this dragged out well past the point that was assured we ended up paying out nearly $10,000 in bills that would have all cleared away for good had US Bank/Firstar fulfilled their obligations. The last $10,000 we could muster. It broke us…..flat…Additionally, and as a result, our credit was destroyed. The credit that found approval months prior was gone, all as a result of US Bank/Firstars mishandling, mistakes, and questionable tactics. February 22, I am informed that the issue of the slab has been thrown out. Well over one month after 1/15/02. So I guess that they admitted they made a mistake. Did they help from there….NO.. they still wanted the master bath shower complete. I guess that they figured admitting a mistake was enough. We were so at a loss that, I said fine we will work on it. What else could we do…the fight was gone….At least we had this to fall back one… So at that point we began to inquire, apply, beg for anyone to lend us line of credit based on the nearly $200,000 equity we had in our home. Nobody would have anything to do with us. Credit was destroyed, debt to income ratio had considerably changed. We were hung out to dry. It was then that we realized a lot of people, outside US Bank, cared a great deal. They would have loved to help, but their hands were tied by a credit point system that did not care why a persons overall score was low. They had to go by the grade…period.. I finally told my mother that she would not be getting her $7800.00 back anytime soon, if ever. She was very angry. I had left countless messages with Margaret Strotman telling her that someone had better call my mother and tell her why she would not be in receipt of her money. All to no avail. I finally gave the number to my mother and told her to call. She had called a few times and left messages, but got no response. Then on 2/22/02 I receive an e-mail from Margaret telling me that this is the first she has heard of the incident. This woman is a liar, repeat…liar. She knew full well as stated above in this letter. I gave her my permission and she called my mom, and lied to her as well, indicating again that she had never known about this until now. Then she told my mother, that we are all approved, the paperwork is on her desk awaiting the completion of the master bath shower. It has become a vicious cycle with US Bank/Firstar. They call me 5,6 7 times a day looking for their money on the credit line, the second, and the reserves. Again, all of which should have been paid off on 1/15/02. I, in turn tell them the story that I have just shared with you. Most are stunned, some even outraged. When I enquire to speak with a supervisor or someone in authority I either get a 1-800 number which leads me nowhere or an e-mail address, which never has drawn a response. There have been quite a few who were so outraged and sympathetic, that they promised me that they would get with their manager and that either that person or themselves would get back to me…..After 85 people, that’s correct 85 people over the course of 3 months. I got one call back, saying that we were not in the system. Even attempting to call back one of these individuals is impossible. First name and operator id is all you get. I can not tell you how many hours I have exasperated myself trying to work my way through US Banks pathetic Customer service maize of automated menus. It is criminal and disgusting. Two attorneys have indicated their very own frustrations with US Bank and hope that they get nailed against the wall for once. Last week, I made my way to the mortgage lending division of Firstar in Kentucky. It only took me 1 hour and 25 minutes. I have her name written somewhere around, I’ll find it later. Anyhow, once again I lay out my story. She almost thought that I was pulling a fast one on her, a candid camera of radio, so to speak. I think my trembling voice and utter despair showed through, and she was just dumbstruck. She asked to put me on hold. After 5 minutes or so, she came back on the line, and told me that there was nothing she could do. She then whispered, get a lawyer and sue. She then tried to steer me to the refinancing division where I had already been just prior to her. She told me in no uncertain terms and with a pretty sharp tone, not to allow them to transfer me back to them. That is it. I am getting to uptight to continue. I am sure there are details that I have left out. We are destitute, all as a result of US Bank. Everything we have worked for is nearly gone. I am a one-man business, but I can not even function at that anymore. This has destroyed my ability to even function in a manner that portrays myself in a professional light. Physically, I am sickly looking, tired, drawn and drained. Mentally, I am at my breaking point. Oh one final note…It has been learned that Ronda ______ has been transferred. My bet fired. Additionally that _____ from Transnation also is no longer there. Coincidence…I do not know. Thank you….Please help Kenneth W. Dost Michele A. Dost Hunter A. Dost Scappoose, Oregon 97056 A FINAL NOTE: This document was filed and accepted by ‘downtown’ law firm. Unfortunately, attorneys fees seem more relavant than the client. In other Words, 5000 grand to get in the door, plus monthly expenses….no contingency here….I guess the little guy loses again.