My jurisdiction is: Alabama
My wife and I applied for a mortgage with a mortgage services provider on April 22nd. We received their offer of 5% down, 30-year fixed mortgage at 4.875% on April 27th, with an anticipated closing date of May 29th. We have verified that they had all of the information they needed by May 5th. On an email with our assigned representative on May 13th, we were assured that we would have a final answer by May 15th or May 18th at the latest. Having not heard anything by May 22nd, I called and waited on the phone until I got someone who could answer my questions, as I had been unable to further contact our assigned representative. I was told that there was a hangup in the appraisal in that it inidicated the market of our purchase was in decline. I insisted on seeing a copy of the appraisal, and counted 8 different places within the 27-page appraisal where the market was described as stable. I asked for a clarified response, and was informed that I would be contacted by a supervisor. When a supervisor called the afternoon of the 22nd, I had just been involved in a traffic accident and was unavailable. In the 7-minute window between the call and when my wife was able to call him back, he had already left the office. I finally got in touch with our newly assigned representative on Tuesday, May 25th, I was informed that due to the appraisal, we would now be responsible for 10% down, 3 days before closing. We agreed to this stipulation if we could still close by May 29th. Earlier today, we were contacted by the representative and we were told that we would be required to put up 20%, two days before closing, unless we were willing to change the terms of our original offer, though we should know that interest rates have increased since our original offer. This seems like a rather clear case of predatory lending. The only caveat is that there is a clause in the original quote that the terms of the loan may change if the property is shown to be in a declining market. But this is contrasted by the copy of the appraisal explicitly stating that the property is not declining. Do I have any ground to stand on?
My wife and I applied for a mortgage with a mortgage services provider on April 22nd. We received their offer of 5% down, 30-year fixed mortgage at 4.875% on April 27th, with an anticipated closing date of May 29th. We have verified that they had all of the information they needed by May 5th. On an email with our assigned representative on May 13th, we were assured that we would have a final answer by May 15th or May 18th at the latest. Having not heard anything by May 22nd, I called and waited on the phone until I got someone who could answer my questions, as I had been unable to further contact our assigned representative. I was told that there was a hangup in the appraisal in that it inidicated the market of our purchase was in decline. I insisted on seeing a copy of the appraisal, and counted 8 different places within the 27-page appraisal where the market was described as stable. I asked for a clarified response, and was informed that I would be contacted by a supervisor. When a supervisor called the afternoon of the 22nd, I had just been involved in a traffic accident and was unavailable. In the 7-minute window between the call and when my wife was able to call him back, he had already left the office. I finally got in touch with our newly assigned representative on Tuesday, May 25th, I was informed that due to the appraisal, we would now be responsible for 10% down, 3 days before closing. We agreed to this stipulation if we could still close by May 29th. Earlier today, we were contacted by the representative and we were told that we would be required to put up 20%, two days before closing, unless we were willing to change the terms of our original offer, though we should know that interest rates have increased since our original offer. This seems like a rather clear case of predatory lending. The only caveat is that there is a clause in the original quote that the terms of the loan may change if the property is shown to be in a declining market. But this is contrasted by the copy of the appraisal explicitly stating that the property is not declining. Do I have any ground to stand on?
