Suntrust Bank / SC
Bank Promised Fixed 30-Year Mortgage, Delivered 5-Year Fixed Rate

My husband and I sold everything we owned in NC to buy land and build our dream home in VA. Everything. We were led to SunTrust in Greenville, SC by the home dealership. At this particular time in our life, we were told that our beautiful 3-year-old granddaughter needed medical testing for tuberous sclerosis, a terrible genetic disease that causes autism and tumors of the brain, eyes, heart, skin and lungs and only gets worse with age. Needless to say, we were not ourselves and we needed someone to trust, as we had $100,000 to put towards land and a home. We were told SunTrust is the answer to our dilemma.

The woman at SunTrust answered all of our questions with the right words. We told her about our granddaughter so that she would know we were beside ourselves at this particular time. We had several questions. We put this lady on speaker phone, had a conference with her and told her we wanted:
1. A fixed loan rate with a 30-year mortgage.
2. An extension date if we needed more time to build our house.
3. More funds added to our loan should we need more, as we are builders and were going to build out of pocket as much as possible but wanted to be able to borrow more should we need to.
4. Escrow (insurance & taxes) to be paid out of our pocket and not added to our loan.

We were told YES to all of these questions.

The papers were sent to a local attorney. When we went to closing, the attorney had us sign the papers and did not go into detail about the loan. He was more interested in who had the right of way and in giving us waiver forms for his title company. Granted, we did not ask questions or read over the papers, as we were told yes to the above questions and SunTrust has a bank on many corners, so we did not figure they would be so dishonest. They did try to slide escrow papers past us, which I denied, and now they have to honor this.

Well, we got our date extension. But when we needed to borrow more than we had asked for, SC said they cannot lend any money past the amount borrowed to VA residents. They all knew in SC that we were buying and building in VA... Yes, they knew and they lied.

When I confronted these people, their reaction was: "I'm sorry, but that person no longer works here, and your file has been transferred over to the manager in that office." And then they told us: "You have some other land that you can borrow from, and if you want more money, you'll have to go through another loan process with more fees and costs."

Then to top it off, there was no fixed rate 30-year loan... It was a fixed rate for 5 years and then turns to an adjustable rate. Oh my god. So much for trusting SunTrust.

Their Greenville manager does NOT return my calls... NEVER. But when I had $100,000, we were king and queen, all my calls were returned and my questions were answered with a positive answer and a yes. There were a few people who were respectful but still said they were sorry and could not lend us funds past our original amount because we were building in VA... They all knew we were building in VA... They all knew. The bills came to our VA residence. The land and building location was in VA. THEY KNEW.

So we have had to borrow from property that we owed no money on and max out our credit cards, and this has caused our credit rating to drop, which does NOT qualify us for refinancing from another bank at this time.

Thanks, SunTrust. You are such a gem. Keep your rebuttals to yourself. The facts are as they are... You knew... You lied... And I pray that you do not prey on another family as you have this one.

Company: Suntrust Bank / SC
Country: USA
State: South Carolina
City: Greenville/Hiltoin Head
Address: 5 Office Park Road

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