Complaint / Review
Austin First Mortgage
Foreign scammers who lure you in with low rates and then find a way to keep your application fee

I checked on line for best interest rates to refinance my home, then I checked with the BBB and the best rate announced was AFM. So I called them and started the loan.

I asked them to guarantee the rate they quoted and they told me I must pay the application fee to lock in the rate. They then sent me by email a loan package to fill out and charged my credit card for the almost 400.00 fee. After I filled out the forms they then switched me to another loan officer.

After a couple of weeks I asked them how it was going.By the way the 4 employees I had the pleasure of dealing with were all from the Orient and spoke broken english at best. They were extremely hard to understand.

They informed me they were waiting on the appraisal report. Well the appraisal came in too low to do the loan with out me coming up with another 7 thousand dollars.

Now you need to understand we just built this house and moved in 5 months ago so I have an appraisal that is only 5 months old for 185,000 since that appraisal we have built and paid cash for an 1800 square foot building on a concrete slab with 3 roll up bay doors and walk in door and window. We had a driveway to house and parking area of 40x60 put in in front of shop. All of this at a cost of about 50,000. There appraiser who by the way was from the orient and spoke broken english decided that after all of that it was only worth 14,000 more. Claimed he could not find any comps.

I emailed them 2 vacant lots on same hwy one within walking distance down the road. Both sold within the previous 45 days, and the vacant lot the closest to me sold for just 24000 less than he appraised my house, lot, shop, and improvements for. Again my brick house is only 5 months old.

Since the house would not appraise they could not do the loan and would not refund my application fee. It appears to me that they are in the business of making money by keeping application fees. I thought about going to the bbb but having been management in companies who were bbb members before I know that does no good. The consumer does not pay a membership fee. Since there income comes from membership companies who do you think they favor.