I found Hammond Mortgage on (ROR redacted link) this spring. I was relocating to Georgia from Virginia, and my Virginia condo was under contract, due to close April 17. I had a lot of difficulty finding a home I could afford, and ultimately didn't find one until the first week of April. I called Hammond Mortgage and spoke with Bart Hammond, the owner. I rushed to get the paperwork in, and he was helpful during the morning when I was putting the paperwork together; then at 11 AM he just disappeared. His secretary thought he had gone to lunch, but hours later she still didn't know where he was. I submitted the paperwork, but it turned out his conduct was the normfrom that point on, he wasn't available for phone calls, insisted that everything be done via email, and disappeared for hours on end, orhis secretary told melocked himself in his office and refused to answer the door when she knocked. I asked if he treated all his customers like this and was told yes.
On Wednesday, April 12 we still hadn't locked the rate and he told me via email that rates had gone upquoting me 6.25, whereas before he'd been quoting under 6%. I asked about paying down the rate in points, and he gave me some other figures, but disappeared before lunchtime without locking. I was on my way back to Virginia to meet the moving van *that* afternoon, and I emailed and left phone messages for him to call me, because I would have no further access to email.
I was scheduled to close on the Georgia home on April 20. The movers were scheduled to collect my household in Virginia on April 14 and to deliver in Georgia on April 21. To make a long story short, Bart Hammond refused to call me.By Thursday (the 13th) I got suspicious when I didn't hear from him and went to the library to find he had WRITTEN to me; he continued to write although I had pleaded with him to call because I was PACKING (I went back to the library twice). Throughout Thursday morning, after which I stopped checking, he never quoted me a higher price than 6.25%.
Finally, during a call to his secretary (who was leaving the company the next day), I learned that he had, indeed, locked my rateat 6.375%! He still refused to take my calls. I also learned during that call that he had sold my loan.
[I should mention, he did actually call me once—briefly the following Monday, to rant at me for me and my realtor calling his office and bothering his new secretary to see if the paperwork was going to be done on timeshe had called twice and I, on her instructions, had called once. When I tried to get a word in, he hung up on me.]
When I returned to Decatur the next week, I called the company that had bought my loan to check my rate. The loan officer asked if I had paid any points and I said no, and he told me that Hammond must have corrected their ways because my rate was 6.25%... And that's what I believed until just before closing when I got the HUD statement and learned I been charged $1100 in points! No one answered the phone at Hammond that day. (Incidentally, on that day, April 20, according to bankrate.com, rates were down close to 6% again.)
I had a moving van on its way, and I had no other choice but to go through with the signing. However, it is not reasonable for me to pay Hammond for dropping the ball. I want my $1100 back!
[As an aside, having just realized what Hammond had done with the HUD statement, the settlement was a nightmare for me. I hadn't had time to review the HUD piece by piece, and as it was, once I realized about the $1100 I kept leaving the signing in tears, trying to collect myself while I couldn't see any other way than to go through with it at that point. What I didn't realize until much later was that Hammond had never credited me the $300 application fee he had already charged me, so I had paid it twiceand paying it the first time was a BIG deal, because I had had to drive it out there, nearly two hours roundtrip, or they wouldn't start the appraisal process. Because my closing was soon, I was afraid to delay, so I drove out and back, and was late for my own home inspection.in complaints I filed against him with the Georgia Department of Banking and Finance, I identified the $300 in addition to the $1100. He sent me a check for the $300 with a note: The application fee is being refunded as a part of our good will toward your situation. (GOOD WILL??!!)]
The scary thing is that Bart Hammond has now taken classes to become a licensed realtor and joined a network called MetroBrokers, which is supposed to provide one-stop shoppingrealty and brokerage services in one. However, when you are dealing with someone as dysfunctional as Bart Hammond, what you are doing is losing having another party who will stand up for you and follow through to see that things are done right. BUYER BEWARE!!!
Joanne
Decatur, Georgia
U.S.A.
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