Okay, here goes. I have been reading these reports for the last two weeks and I am so upset after the phone call I received yesterday that I think it's time I add my two cents.
We refinanced with Ameriquest in April and believed EVERY WORD the loan officer, Richard Hagan, told us. I know, that was our first mistake. I know that now.
I have the same old story here. I just received the letter from AMC letting us know the interest rate on our loan will be going to 10.1% in June. I had not even looked at the loan papers since closing on April 7 so I dragged them out of the filing cabinet and lo, and behold, everything started coming back to me. How I was told by Richard Hagan, a.K.A. Rick, that the interest was a fixed rate of 8% for 20 years, how the first appraiser who came to my house had not appraised the house for enough (he never showed, don't know how he did an appraisal) and Rick would be sending another appraiser from St. Louis (we live quite a ways from St. Louis).
Miracle of miracles the second appraisal came in right on the money and the loan was now a done deal. We were told not to make our current mortgage payment at the time because Rick had the payoff amount and that would only mess up the closing, and notice how we closed on April 7 when our mortgage payment was due on April 1st. I now know this was done deliberately to put us in a position where we would have no other choice but to sign the loan on the terms he changed. Oh, and let's not forget the THREE YEAR pre-payment penalty that was never explained.
Well, the loan terms sure did change! Rick sent a man to my house to close, rushed through the papers, etc., just like everyone else reported on here. This is when we realized the loan was a two year fixed with an ARM after we had signed about half the paperwork. When I questioned this, the man said "oh, don't worry about that. This is just the way we have to write this. Anyway, the company wouldn't want to lose you as a good customer if you pay your payments on time and they'll refinance you at a lower interest rate when the time comes." Believe me, I know how stupid I sound now but I knew nothing about mortgages before Ameriquest took us for a ride on this rollercoaster.
Needless to say, after finding this web site and researching my loan papers, I have noticed that we did not have our Good Faith Estimate before closing. We closed this loan on 4/07/04 and the Good Faith Estimate is dated 4/07/04 and was mailed from Thousand Oaks, CA on 4/08/04 (I have the original envelope with the postmark). Mind you, we worked with Rick on this loan from 3/08/04 to closing on 4/07/04 - almost a full 30 days. I remember Rick calling the day of closing and telling me he had forgotten to mail the Good Faith Estimate and he didn't want to put off our closing so he would have it mailed the same day.
We are currently working with another mortgage company to refinance. I guess we are in better shape than many I have read. We have never been late on a payment and have good credit at this time but I am not willing to wait and see what happens with Ameriquest when the payment starts going sky high. I was contacted by our loan officer yesterday and what do you think he said? That's right, the appraisal is coming back at approximately the same amount the house appraised for two years ago. We have added new siding and soffit, new entry doors and storm doors, landscaping, etc.in the last two years but the appraisal is roughly the same. Go figure. Looks like we will have to carry mortgage insurance for a few years now but at least we are not upside down in the house.
Add our name to the list of ameriquest victims!
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