BCI Financial Corporation

Review: When I researched Reverse Mortgages (HECM) I found BCI to be in CT and with a good Revdex.com rating. I proceeded with BCI to acquire a reverse mortgage. I went through the required counseling, and the required property appraisal. Meanwhile there was a list of other items, such as title search and others that were listed on the original papers, that needed to be done. I received a report from the appraiser and was awaiting the rest of the items. Then I received a letter from BCI stating that I withdraw from the reverse mortgage!!! why would I withdraw? I had just spent money for the counseling and the appraisal. There were still items that needed to be done, ie title search and others.Desired Settlement: I request BCI to complete the process. I entered into the process in good faith with them.

Business

Response:

I am writing this letter in response to the complaint regarding a Reverse Mortgage (HECM) loan application from early this year.

The customer completed and signed her Reverse Mortgage loan application with our loan officer on Saturday, March 14th, 2015. The appraisal and title search was ordered on March 17, 2015. The borrower paid for the appraisal and was not charged for the title search. The borrower stated that she thought her property was worth $250,000.00.

The independent appraisal was completed on March 24, 2015 and the appraised value was $125,000 which was much lower than the borrower’s estimated value of $250,000. The appraiser also stated that the customers property is legal non-conforming to local zoning and indicated there were restrictions on re-building and also the property required several repairs. [redacted] (the lender) required proof from the local zoning or building department confirming that the property can be rebuilt to its current specifications and use.

The loan officer emailed the borrower on April 1, 2015 stating BCI received the appraisal and requested her to call BCI regarding the appraisal. The loan officer also e-mailed the borrower on April 3, 2015 stating her property is legal non-conforming to zoning and indicated restrictions on rebuilding and the lender ([redacted]) is requiring a letter from the local zoning or building department confirming the property can be rebuilt to its current specifications and use. He also stated that the property required a number of repairs. The loan officer also sent a follow-up email on April 8, 2015 because he was unable to reach her by telephone.

The borrower and loan officer finally spoke on April 14, 2015 regarding the customer getting proof from the local zoning or building department and the borrower stated she would contact the local zoning or building department. They also discussed the appraised value of $125,000 along with the condition of the property and required repairs. Based on the valuation and other issues, we stated that the expectation was that the loan would take extra effort to get approved, but nothing could happen if we did not get the zoning letter very soon. We clearly told the customer that quick response to our lender is very important.

The loan officer did not hear back from the borrower. The loan officer tried to contact the borrower on a number of occasions, but was unsuccessful. The lender ([redacted]) contacted BCI requesting the status on the loan. As there was no conversation with the borrower in a 30 day period, the lender is required to make a final lending decision and the loan was withdrawn.

This entire process happened in March/ April 2015. Since that time, until the Revdex.com letter was received, BCI had no correspondence with this customer.

BCI called the customer on October 2, 2015 and left a detailed voice mail and an invitation to return our call. However, her only avenue is to get the letter from zoning, make the required repairs to the property and start the process again, as appraisals are only good for 120 days under current mortgage guidelines.

Review: Their initial inability to initially set up auto loan payments with my account. Their more recent inability to keep the account set up with auto payment. Their unapologetic response to their mistakes. Calling during times that they where told where work hours. Telling me that my problem was "impossible" for three months before expecting immediate action on my part. The websites low security policy when handling my personal banking information as compared to the near inaccessibility of the portion of the site that shows me my current loan status and account balance.Desired Settlement: More security in areas that have my personal banking info (routing number and account number) more akin to the many questions and security barriers that are present in the account balance section. A type written apology for the banking over draft on official company letterhead, and a return to my regular pay schedule.

Business

Response:

BCI Response to the complaint # [redacted]

For five years we were handling [redacted] account in a special manner as we were taking half of a payment twice a month from his checking account. We typically take a full payment only once a month.

Due to a system change, we did not take the payments in the manner that were doing previously. This was an error on our part, which we did apologize to [redacted] for, when we determined the error.

Our last partial payment was January 30, 2014. [redacted] was called on March 21 and March 24 to straighten it out and he never returned the call. On April 9, customer called after 7 pm. We called back and left messages a number of times. Then on April 30 we called him again, we apologized again, we returned all late charges. We asked him if he wanted to go onto ACH at that time and he said that there were no funds available in his checking account, so he could not go onto auto payment. Therefore he promised two payments on 5/15/14 for January and February and two more at the end of May for March and April. (We did get 2 payments on May 15 as promised) Due to other payments made by the customer, he is now up to date and next due for August 30. Attached to this e-mail is an apology letter which includes our intent to remove any additional late payments from his account and to show all payments made as agreed on his credit bureau.

Regarding the security on our payment portal, please be assured that we take this very seriously. We have state of the art security which includes 128 bit security, masking of account and routing numbers as well as requiring password and account number for access. In fact, our system is so secure that our staff cannot access checking account numbers or routing numbers due to masking technology.

Please let me know if you need anything else on this matter.

Sincerely,

President and CEO