I applied for a heloc online after receiving a letter from regions inviting me to do so and requested $250,000. The purpose of the loan was to purchase a smaller home and then sell my existing home. The online rep, Sherita, took my information and over the course of several weeks, I submitted requested documentation of every kind you can imagine. The first thing I submitted right away were my last 3 years tax returns. I am self employed with investment income as well. I was told I was eligible for only about half of what I initially requested. Ok, fine. The underwriters kept asking for documentation to verify investment income deposited into my bank account even though they had that. The Monday before Thanksgiving, Sherita asks for more verification which is a vague statement but I went ahead and within 2 days faxed my bank statements thinking that might satisfy them. I waited and waited and finally Sherita called me and when I finally reached her days later, she said my loan had been canceled 2 weeks prior because I did not get them documents timely. Basically canceled on the Monday before Thanksgiving when she requested more documentation. I then went to the local O'Fallon, IL, branch to have them proceed with the loan and finish it. They opened a new loan and days later told me I was only eligible for about $20 to 30,000. So I went back online and requested that they open the online loan back up since they had no valid reason for cancelling it. I then worked with a rep named Ridha who had me fill out an online application and she already had all the previously submitted information so she did not need anything submitted. Within a day or two, she called me on Dec 16 and said I had been approved for $113,350 and I accepted that counter offer. She said the closing will happen the next week at a local branch and I chose the Fairview Hgts, IL, branch for the following Thursday, Dec 22. I heard back the day before the closing and was told it would be morning but did not get a specific time. I showed up that morning for the closing. No paperwork was sent to the branch so Nathan Steinkamp tried to find out what the problem was. While I was with Nathan, I told him the home appraisal was off by $100,000 because they had many of the facts about the home inaccurate. He said I could request an inhome appraisal and the amount of the loan could be raised if I needed more. Interesting to know. I heard back later in the day from Ridha that there were multiple applications open so it could not close. The first application was canceled by Regions so that should not have been open. The second application was at the O'Fallon branch so I told them to close that. End of problem...not. I heard nothing despite my attempts to reach someone for a week. On Thursday, Dec 29, I received a call from David Hill, O'Fallon branch, telling me that I was only going to be eligible for $20,000 something. He said he did not understand why the online rep would have "implied" that I had a closing for the amount I said. This was not an "implied" closing. I have the emails and Nathan Steinkamp was called the night before and told there would be a closing. David Hill proceeded to tell me that I was not eligible for the loan that I was told was approved because of my last 2 years tax returns which he said the underwriter had not seen before the rep told me of the amount that was approved. What??? So 2 online reps and 2 underwriters who all had all of my information, tax returns, P & L statements, investment income, and everything else required, all failed to see my tax returns which were the first things I sent 2 months prior??? And all 4 of these people said I was eligible for and then approved for a loan that was not correct and that was communicated to me without the underwriters reviewing all of the information??? Approved until it went to the local branches. Hmmm. I think the branches are threatened by the online loan process. Being a single, self-employed female, I am concerned about what other factors played into the branches overriding the online approved loan. Without a doubt, there is discrimination against self employed people at the very least. David Hill said if you are self employed they only look at the tax returns and they take the last 2 years tax returns and average them. That does not have any bearing on whether someone can repay a loan. It is what they are making now. They disregarded my current income because I am self employed. Remember that Nathan said my loan could be raised if my home appraised higher. So apparently, other information factors in to loans...other people's loans with other branch loan agents, just not my loan. They disregarded substantial financial assets and a home worth a considerable amount and that I was only going to have the loan long enough to buy a new home and sell my existing home and pay back the loan because you can't have a heloc on a sold home. read more