I would like to share my wonderful experience with the great company, Ameriquest Mortgage. The beginning of each year is a hard time for my business. At the start of I found myself getting a little behind and spending extra money on medical bills due to a really bad knee problem, which I have had for years.in February, I had to have surgery on the knee and was unable to make my mortgage payment to the current mortgage holder. I made an arrangement with them to pay 1 and 1/2 payments at the end of March and the end of April.
At the beginning of March, I received an email advertisement from Ameriquest, promising me a better rate and cash out and the chance to skip 2 payments. Well, I was in dire straights and this seemed like a good way to get caught up. My other loan would be paid off, my past due property taxes would be paid, and I could put some cash in my pocket.
March 22nd, Ameriquest sent a notary to our home to sign the papers. He didn't get to our home until 9:30 pm, so he had to hurry. We didn't get a chance to read anything, but he did tell us about the 7 day rescission period. The interest rate had gone from the 7% they promised to over 8%, and they wanted a loan origination fee of 4%. Our payments would have been $500 higher than what we were already paying. We only signed because it would temporarily get rid of our tax problem, and the payments we were behind on and we could skip the next two payments. I figured to have my business back on track by then.
After talking it over, we decided not to refinance, so I faxed in a letter of rescission on the last night we could do it. This was March 28th. I called the next morning at 8 am to make sure it was received and I was assured that it had been received and properly executed. They said they would take care of everything and that we didn't need to worry about anything.
In mid April, my wife, while checking her credit report online noticed that Ameriquest Mortgage had a loan for $462,000 reported on our credit reports. We immediately called to find out why. They told us they would find out quick.By this time, we had been approached by a friend from our church who said he could get us a refinance that made sense. He had us approved at 5.99% and would have saved us over $500 per month with a loan at $22,000 less than Ameriquest's offer. I wanted to get cash back, but he said no way because the house only appraised at $486,000. I asked him, "how can that be?". Ameriquest had appraised it at $550,000. Well, that certainly was a let down.
We didn't hear right back from Ameriquest, so we called the Title Company which was listed on the paperwork and they told us that Ameriquest had not notified them of the rescission until one week after the rescission was done. They had paid the property taxes and the insurance and they said they had funded my previous mortgage company. That wasn't right either. The other company never received any funds. That's probably a good thing. Then we found out, through our broker friend, that they had also filed a Deed of Trust on the house and that the county had 2 Deeds on the house now.
We had made the big payment at the end of March by getting a loan from a family member and had about $5000 left for paying off credit cards to reduce our bills. We needed to close by April 30th so that we would not have to make the other big payment on our previous mortgage. We frantically called Ameriquest telling them that they had to get this off our credit report and release the Title immediately so we could close the other refinance we were doing or we would be in serious financial trouble. I talked to Chad in the Office of the President, and his answer was always the same. He said they knew we rescinded properly and that an error had been made, but they would not release anything until they got their money back from the Title Company. The Title Company told us they couldn't pay Ameriquest back until they got their money from the county and the Insurance Company.
We had to use the last of our money to make that payment at the end of April because we could not close due to this. The county told me that they could not get a refund back to the Title Company for another 4 weeks due to procedural requirements. I would not have had to make payments for May or June if this had not been screwed up. I couldn't make them and spent so much of my work time trying to straighten this out, that I couldn't even think about making enough extra money to make the payments. After May, we were reported as 30 days late by the other mortgage company. Still no release!!!
I spent countless hours on the phone, faxing documents, emailing and whatever else I could do to fix this. I had to spend $3000 to retain an attorney and that left me no money to pay the June payment. I again, spoke with Chad at Ameriquest and explained the desparation we were in and that they needed to release the title and credit report so we could close or we were going to end up in foreclosure. Chad's answer to me was that they didn't see how Ameriquest was at fault for our problems. What a JOKE! Then, he told me that it was our responsibility to get their money back even though we did our part legally and they were the ones who screwed up. To make things worse, I was now receiving notices of "Intent to Foreclose" from Ameriquest, and they didn't even have the loan!
We had to go into July and then were reported 60 days late by our mortgage company. Finally, Ameriquest released the title and the credit report, but only after they got the money back. Now, my friend had to tell me that we could not close because of the current credit score which had dropped 60 points due to the past due payments. We did everything we could in a desparate situation to save our credit and not fall behind further, and Ameriquest screwed us big time. We are unable to refinance now, and the only thing my attorney has been able to get them to offer is to bring us current with the other company and pay the penalties for our past due taxes accrued since March. We now have no way to pay those taxes since we can't refinance. NO WAY! All this settlement would do is put me in the exact same position we were in before this mess with taxes that are 4 months further behind.
This has cost me thousands in lost work time, the payment I had to make in April that broke me, the attorney fees, and a hell of a lot on my credit score. We couldn't even get approved at 9% due to LTV problems now due to the missed payments and tax penalties. Even if we could get approved, we would now be paying $1000 per month more than we would have before this happened. They want me to settle for stopping the bleeding without healing the wound. Well, I have been stepped on one too many times! All they had to do was release the title and credit reports when we asked and none of this would have happened.
We are being threatened with foreclosure now, and I have been suffering from severe stress and depression for 3 months now. I have had to go on medication just to help me focus my mind because this has totally consumed my thought process. I have 3 kids and moved 2000 miles to get into our dream home here and this has turned into a nightmare. I finally made a payment at the end of July, but we are still hurting alot!
No! Ameriquest, I will NOT settle for your measly offer. I will see you in court and we are going to stick it to you for all the provable damages and consequential damages and punitive damages. You will pay and you will remember my name when this is done. I have had it. After reading the posts on this site, I see that I am not alone and I will use some of this information against them in court.
If there is anyone who has had the same thing happen, please contact me.
Kevin
McKinney, Texas
U.S.A.
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