Business ProfileforFirst Choice America Community Federal Credit Union

In August of 2023 I spoke with Albert *** ********* from First Choice America Credit Union in Wheeling, West Virginia. I started the conversation with “Mel” by letting him know that I was interested in acquiring a home that is for sale and would like to inquire about some sort of borrowing options. During this conversation I explained to Mel my credit score, credit history, and income and asked Mel if a personal loan would be the most efficient option. He challenged my proposal and asked if I owned any assets. In which I stated no, but I do live in a home that is owned by my mother. It was at this time Mel was extremely passionate about me reaching out to my mother in regard to signing the deed to the home over to me. Out of curiosity, I had asked why that would be beneficial to my circumstance he then replied “we could take out a line of credit and use your home as equity and get you approved.” A few days later Mel calls me and he started asking questions about late payments on my credit and charge offs – which I found extremely odd considering that I never once gave Mel or FCA permission to run a hard inquire on my credit. I explained the situation to Mel. A few more days go by and Mel had asked that I meet him at the credit union to sign off on the application process with $600 - $450 to appraise my home (which was given back) and another $150 to run the application. After numerous days go by, I reached back out to Mel for an update in which he responded “I just talked to my underwriters and they reviewed your loan request and said it was denied due to past due’s and charge off.” First Choice America Credit Union should be penalized for running a hard inquiry on my credit report without my permission and should be obligated to repay back the $150 that they robbed from me. FCA never once took equity into consideration and based their denial decision solely on credit history and I find that totally unacceptable after following the advice given to me by Mel