Refinancing my mortgage with HFC
Here is what happened to me
I would like to share my bad experience so that people can learn from it
Usually, I screen my contacts well. This time I failed with my judgment.
Ashley was very courteous, prompt; she was following up very well on our case and gained my complete trust. She gave me her cell phone to be able to reach her at any time. She told me that her sister, her mom and she are very interested to come to my business presentation and evaluate this part time business opportunity. She showed genuine interest in this endeavor. (I never heard from her ever since.)
It was a pleasure to working with her. She is young, enthusiastic, friendly, open minded, and professional.
The attractive key in her offer was that the mortgage program she was offering had a rate which was dropping MONTHLY and in a year it would drop from 10% to 8% and in another year to 6% and will remain there for the rest of the loan life. I had asked her several times to confirm that the rate drops monthly, because she was speaking very fast and not always very clear and I was always TAKING NOTES to be able to refer back to them. I also asked her to spell out how the MONTHLY payments will be changing, which she did. I was satisfied with what I was offered.
My husband and I agreed to schedule closing. The monthly payments for the first few months would have been almost unbearably high, but I have calculated that we would be able to keep up with this pace, considering the fact that every month it will be getting better. The final 6% fixed rate was appealing and the deal seemed to be good and worth the initial loss.
On Valentine's Day I got a phone call and Ashley told me that we are having the closing in a few hours at our house. I asked her to fax all paperwork to me to review before the closing but she said that it is not ready yet and not to worry, I will be able to review everything when she arrives.
She arrives with a witness and his little son. She tells me at the door that I should not tell anyone that she had come to closing personally because she had no right to come and if an auditor finds out she would be fired, but she insisted with her manager because we are so 'close' and she wants to personally close the deal for me. One bell rang at that time, unfortunately just for a second. Plus I was already distracted.
My mom and son entertained the little boy while we were at the closing. I looked at the papers and the payment schedule and I immediately found a HUGE discrepancy. The monthly payments were lowering with a. 25% YEARLY and not MONTHLY. I told her that I would like to call off the deal. There must have been a misunderstanding and misinterpretation and I would like to call it off. She says, Hon', don't worry, in two months, I will drop the rate for you. You won't have a problem, trust me. I'll take care of ya'. She was well aware that if I don't get the rate dropped in 2 months, I would not be able to keep up with the payments.
Please note the two things that just happened. My name got substituted with hon and all of a sudden and Ashley's professionalism was sent right through the drain with this ya'. Why didn't I stop right at that moment right there? Please try to place yourself into my shoes back than and please try not to get in such shoes with your experiences ever.in a real world, I would never listen to one who would talk to me like that.
In this case, I have no idea, why I signed, after already not one but tens of bells were already ringing in my head. Thinking back, I regret every single bit of what happened but I cannot blame myself for the rest of my life. People make mistakes, and this one was a big one. It costs me now $20,000.00 (twenty thousand dollars in pre-payment penalty). I knew about that. This is not a surprise. I was not thinking though that we are going to get here. I had no doubt at the moment of the signing that she won't lower the rate for me. I am sorry that I have to say that I have never been more stupid in my entire life before.
Ashley, her witness and his son left out through the door with no handshake and she was keeping her hands deep in the pockets of her jacket. At that moment I felt notions and as if my feet left me light with no support underneath. I thought, oh well; try to be more positive, stop with this suspiciousness always.
Just for your information, I had come to a closing with another lender two months before I met with Ashley. The program they were offering to me involved the same amount I have been paying with this HFC deal ever since I signed the contract with them. At the night of the closing, they came the same way to me, showing me everything in the last minute, I calculated that we cannot afford this monthly payment and I called off the deal right there, at home, at the time of the closing. I apologized, but I told them I did not like to be surprised in the last minute. I was proud then of what I did and how I handled it.
Why did I fail this time? I believe that there was some kind of an emotional factor which contributed to the way I closed this deal. I trusted a person on her bare word. Big mistake! I realize that and that is why I would like to bring my story to as many people as I can, because we are all humans and we all make mistakes. It is good when we learn from them though.
Here is what happened after the two months she suggested passed. Firstly, I lost the 50 days grace period in which I had my right to declare this deal with HFC quarters invalid. Why? Because I trusted her that she will help me out of this situation. The way Ashley made all her promises did not leave a bit of disbelief in me that she will be able to finally help me at the end. I got a little nervous though when she asked me to wait for another month. Complete 90 days she said we will need in order to reopen the application. Ok. This meant another $3,322 US. But don't worry, she said, Next month I will be able to lower your payment with $400-$500. This won't be a problem. I'll take care of ya'. This ya'started to seriously get on my nerves.
She scheduled an appraisal at no cost to me. I was shocked! It came out at $305,000 compared to 2 other independent appraisals that I had in the past 6 months which came at the range of $385,000 and $435,000. I have provided with 5 comps in my area in the $400,000 neighborhood. Here is when my terror started. I am sending documents that she requests and they get lost, misbelieved, not received because the fax machine was probably out of paper
Ashley advised me that they won't be able to lower the rate for me based on the appraisal. For your information, they closed their deal, 3 months ago based on my $385,000 appraisal provided to them through my third party with no problem and with no concerns. I told her that this $305,000 is an insult and it is not possible. A condo in our area, with of the sq. Footage to ours was sold for $335,000 during this time period.
She said that there was nothing that she could do but to advise me to start shopping around. But please don't tell my boss because I will get fired. I asked what she meant by shopping around. She said to start calling other lenders and to get to her a Good Faith offer and that she would be able to match this rate right away.
I called 9 brokers this day and I sent to her a few Good Faith offers in the 8% neighborhood versus their 10%. All brokers were unanimous about the fact that after reviewing my situation, they could confirm that I had been robbed by HFC. I got overwhelmed by all those statements and at the end of the day an associate of mine had to take me to the Emergency Room with an anxiety attack.
Later, I called HFC Head Quarters and one of their regional managers agreed that I did not deserve that high rate and that I should call the office in Fairfield again, tell them that I spoke with him and to start a new application. The previous manager was not working there any more; Ashley was in a hospital, they started transferring me from person to person until finally their new manager took my case over. He told me that he will drop my rate SUBSTANTIALLY.
We started new application, they were having technical issues for quite some time; they could not reset the application but everything else was fine. Then, later they had asked me to provide them with an appraisal, which I did and I paid for, and it came up to $435,000 versus theirs which was for $305,000!!
All of a sudden the new manager called me to tell me that they cannot use a third party appraisal because this is a condo. They just did a few months ago with no problem. He was not making any sense. I had completely lost hope but I wanted to hear NO as a final. They kept calling me and offering different versions and scenarios. The new manager mentioned to me that the previous one was not there anymore because when she was there some THINGS had happened that won't happen any more after he took over this office. He is very trustworthy young gentleman. He was following up very promptly about how we are not advancing with my case at all. That continued up until another 3 months passed. We were just a week away from the approval and from the SIGNIFICANT drop of my rate.
This last week passed and another one started. I called their head office and the regional manager was not available to speak with me any more. I called Fairfield and not anyone else but Ashley picked up the phone and took message for the manager because, he is on the phone, hon', but he will call you right back. I could not believe this pardon less attitude, but to me this was not important. The Fairfield office manager called me about an hour later to tell me that they won't be able to help me.
It is August 11 today.
I can say that I swear to be saying the truth and nothing but the truth.
And the following is from my heart:
HFC
Bunch of crooks! Without any excuse
I was recently robbed by them legally though!
I was tricked
And I found out I was not the only one
Don't be next!
They would fool you
They would give you false promises and they will never stick with them
What is worse is that they don't seem to worry about having bad reputation at all
Market is huge; they will always find SOMEONE
May not this one be you!
Integrity is the last thing in the world that they care about You, as a customer is the next last thing that they care about.
Nor the fact that after you sign up with them, you may easily find yourself in a situation of bankruptcy or foreclosure too bad for you! The fault will be entirely yours
Please review all statements carefully before you sign with them
Take notes and better hire your own attorney to represent you at closing. You will pay him a fee, but this may save you a fortune! Thousands of dollars, to be more precise. I just lost twenty thousand with this bad deal with them, don't be next!
Or what I would suggest as best, find a different lender. You will feel safer and won't lose your sleep and neither your hard earned money
They will represent their product in a way that you can easily get misled
Their rates are outrageous!
They promised to drop the rate for me in a few months
Unfortunately, when I found out that this will happen in actually a few YEARS! It was too late
They would promise you ANYTHING only to get you sign and then, trust me, you will be lost!
Silva
stamford, Connecticut
U.S.A.
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