New Penn Financial LLC Refinance Gone Bad - Quoted a rate, changed it twice. Then set a settlement date outside of the last rate lock. Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania

I have read New Penn Financial's response to my complaint and accept their rebuttal.  The loan was honored per the original agreement.  Mark Evans, Sales Manager, assumed responsibility for closing the loan, always kept me abreast of all proceedings via phone and in my opinion did a superb job.  In the technology age we live in we often forget or fail to appreciate the skills required that are not related to technology.  Mr. Evans demonstrated calm under pressure and communication skills that others often don't have or fail to use wisely.

New Penn Financial, LLC (NPF) has provided the consumer with a 30-year mortgage with a fixed interest rate of 3.375%. NPF fully honored the terms of the Good Faith Estimate (GFE) that the consumer received at the time of application. The "bait and switch" of which the consumer complains was, in reality, a result of a miscommunication. 

The circumstances that gave rise to the consumers complaint are as follows:

On or about February 1, 2013, when she first approached NPF to inquire about a refinance loan, the consumer was looking to pay off both a first and second mortgage on her residence. Under mortgage industry underwriting guidelines, the money used to pay the junior mortgage must be treated as cash out to the borrower (even though the borrower does not actually receive these funds as cash). Accordingly, the interest rate on the loan should have been the price for a cash-out refinance, which is more expensive than a loan with no cash out.

NPF erroneously disclosed the loan to the consumer with an interest rate of 3.375% and issued a rate lock agreement quoting 3.375%. We should have disclosed the prevailing rate of 3.50% for this loan product. When situations such as this arise, in accordance with applicable state and federal law, it is NPFs practice to absorb the cost of our own mistakes.

However, on or about February 28, 2013, due to a miscommunication between our sales department and our disclosure department, the consumer's loan was re-disclosed at 3.50%. Our disclosure department believed that the consumer had requested a change in loan program from no cash out to cash out. If this had, in fact, been the case, it would have been a cognizable change of circumstances under the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) thereby justifying re-disclosure.

The consumer was justifiably upset when she received these new disclosures. NPF sincerely apologizes to her for our error.

As set forth above, when the consumer brought the problem to light, NPF honored all of the terms of the GFE she received on February 1.

The consumer also complains about delays in processing this loan during the month of March. We believe that she now understands that NPF encountered some complications while verifying her tax returns. These delays were not caused by any negligence of the part of NPF.

In conclusion, NPF is pleased that we were able to provide this consumer with a loan that reduced her fixed interest rate from 5.75% to 3.375%. Her monthly mortgage payment of principal, interest and property insurance has concomitantly been reduced from approximately $1,559 to approximately $787.