Complaint Review: navy federal credit union

I have been a member of the NFCU for 16 years. When I applied for a mortgage for my new home in 2002, and when I refinanced in 2003, they were efficient, customer-friendly and offered the best rates and terms. It was a pleasure working with them. When I applied for another refinance in June 2010, my experience was exactly the opposite, thus, echoing other complaints here.

I have an unblemished record as a mortgage, banking and credit card customer with NFCU as well as with other banks I do business with. My credit scores hover around 820-830. I have zero consumer debt. I have a high verifiable net worth as an investor/businessman. My equity in my house is two-thirds. Banks love to do business with me. NFCU, however, is a different story.

I first became concerned over my loan application when NFCU's loan officer kept losing the reams of documentation I sent in both electronically and by mail -- not once, not twice, but three, four and five times. Moreover, it took her on average two weeks to reply to anything I sent in. I became so exasperated that I lodged a formal complaint to NFCU's Special Committee which is supposed to act as ombudsman for NFCU customers. I suspected something was amiss with this committee when I couldn't find any contact info on it. Hours of cybersleuthing got me the email address of a Navy Dept. official who is on the board, whom I contacted. After a month, I received a canned response from the board obviously written by the same incompetent loan officer I'd been dealing with, instructing me to send in the documents she'd been losing. Exercise in total frustration.

Nonetheless, I continued to assiduously fulfill each request for information. But every time I submitted information, back came additional demands which over time became increasingly absurd. As I reached the sixth month of this charade, it became very clear to me that NFCU had no intention of approving my application to refinance at a full percentage point lower rate. The game they were playing was clear: henpeck the client to the point he gives up. My requests to speak to a supervisor were ignored. I finally issued them an ultimatum: they had more than adequate data proving my creditworthiness. Make a decision, I told them. Well, I received no response for two weeks. I had to goose them repeatedly for a reply. They sent me a form rejecting my loan application, checking every box available for the rejection. My impression was that they had great glee in throwing the book at me. And I am out of pocket for $850 in fees.

NFCU isn't the veterans-friendly bank it used to be. Something has changed. They now comport themselves like some fly-by-night scammer. I plan on removing my $200,000 in accounts from NFCU and to cease doing business with them. Moreover, I'm writing their management to inform them that I am reporting their bad faith practices to the National Credit Union Administration, FTC, FDIC, Federal Reserve, BBB and the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Moreover, I am writing to the respective oversight committees of Congress requesting that they investigate the lending practices of NFCU and other banks who are committed to lending, but who act in bad faith, a form of fraud. I followed this same route with another bank several years ago and got results.

I urge other NFCU members to follow suit. Make your voices heard. Also lodge your complaints in writing. A good place to start is: (((link redacted))).