First Citizens Bank Rip Off and Misrepresentation Hendersonville, North Carolina

We were living in Georgia and entered into a construction loan with First Citizens Bank for the construction of our home in Hendersonville North Carolina. Because we had never been involved in a construction loan before, we were concerned about the project and not being there to keep track of it. The construction loan officer and the vice president of the mortgage department advised us that their job was to take care of that. They were our eyes and ears and that we need not worry. Inspections of the building progress would be made and funds would only be released after we were advised of the progress and authorized disbursements in writting. The builder we chose went out of business and the contractor who took over his projects was not licensed. The bank had a contract in one name, the builder submitted a license in a second name, the license belonged to his friend, and he submitted insurance in a third name. We knew nothing of any of this. Only the bank had this information. The bank did not question this nor did they alert us.

The inspections that were performed by the bank if they were even done, paid for work which was not complete and several draws from the loan were issued without our authorization. When we found significant problems with the work we tried to take over control of the money and the bank continued to pay the unlicensed builder. When we found out the builder was unlicensed and alerted the the bank and denied the authorization of the most recent unauthorized draw, they froze the account but had already paid out 74% of the proceeds when about 50% of the house was complete.

The bank threatened that they would issue no additional funds unless we authorize the last draw even though the work had not been done. The bank states they were under no obligation to investigate anything, builder or their license.and do not have to provide us with any information as to how they spent the money. There are tiny fine print clauses in the contract that state that all such information is for the banks use and they have no obligation to provide it to the borrower. Their slogan of "Helping their customers achieve a lifetime of success" is just words on paper. We have lost all our savings, had to close retirement accounts and have had to try to get the house liveable on our own. First Citizens continues to bill us with inflated payment demands at the capped interest rate which is well above what rates are today for the entire amount including money we never took from the loan. Unbelievable but true. Be aware that if you enter into such an agreement First Citizens is not there to help you despite what they may say, they are only there to collect the money. We have had to hire an attorney to try to recoup what we worked 40 years to save. If you are looking for a loan, our advise is to go elsewhere.