Do not use Amersiave, Quickenloans for a home loan. Use a local brick and mortar institution.
I was looking to purchase my first home, and i went online and found the best loan prices and terms (for my particular situation) being offered by Amerisave: 7yr IO ARM 5.375% lender fee and closing $9587 and monthly payments of $860. I shopped around and also called Quickenloans. The loan rep from Quickenloans was very aggressive and when i asked him if he could beat Amerisave's rates he got really aggressive and totally turned me off so i decided to go with Amerisave.
While i was submitting my information to Amerisave i got a couple calls back from Quickenloans and the loan guy was ranting and raving that there was no way that Amerisave was going to be able to deliver these rates and that under Fannie Mae guidelines ARM's were not available with 100% financing. He told me that he had a drawer full of customers that had been stung by amerisave with a bait and switch.
I relayed this to my Amerisave loan advisor and he said he was surprised they were going this far to get my business but not to worry, i was in good hands. I developed a good report with Ted McDonald the Amerisave loan advisor, and everything was going great. My Fiance and i had excellent credit and we were in good standing.
After several weeks we had paid the $395 fee to amerisave, the appraisal, inspection on the house, and the loan was pre-approved. We were at the final loan stage, it was being looked at by an underwriter. Ted informed me all was well and we had plenty of time to get the loan approved and meet our July 13th close date.
He has been very responsive and customer service oriented up until Monday July 2 the week of the 4th of July. We had still not been finally approved, and he basically dropped off the whole week and i never heard back from him until July 10th, 3 days before closing!
Then the proverbial bait and switch happened. He told me the bad news about the "investor" pulling out and basically the rate i had been approved and guaranteed sure fee closing costs went bye bye. So, this is how they do their business, a customer has a vested interest in the house at this point after having spent close to $1,000 in appraisal, inspection and $395 amersiave loan fee, so if they raise their rates you will most likely accept them rather than loose the money (and the house) you have invested.
Ted told me the lowest rate in the 7yr IO ARM he would be able to do is 6.375% payment $996 (compared with 5.375% fee $9587 payment $860). This hurts a bit as i was trying to get the lowest monthly payment and refinancing 5-6 years (before the Interest only option ballooned), but after a lot of wrestling in my mind I decided to proceed and told Ted to do so.
Ted told me that closing could still happen over the next few days, but he dropped off again even though i told him to please keep me in the loop as this situation is very stressful. Then my agent calls me and tells me Ted contacted her and the closing attorney and told them that closing for Tuesday the 17th is pushing it and that he would be out that week. So for a second time i tried to contact Ted's supervisor, Joseph Watt's but he was pretty unresponsive. I called the main line several times and talked to other reps trying to contact Ted for me.
I was left up in the air, and i could not give the agent or the seller a date to file an extension. Finally a week later Ted calls me back and basically they could not follow thru with their own advertisements— i would call this false advertising and bait and switch. I would encourage others to post their experiences with Amerisave as it seems they do this pretty frequently.
We ended up going with a local brick and mortar lender which rushed our loan and we were approved within days! We still bought the house and only lost the $395 amersiave fee. Of course i tried to get this back, but they said no. My experience with Amerisave was a nightmare, i spent a lot of time and energy just trying to get Ted Mcdonald to call me back and give me statuses and dates to file closing date extensions.
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