My husband and I obtained a loan in 2007 to purchase a business I helped build. My partner was going to sell out to a larger, franchised company and I didn't want all of my hard earned work to go for naught so I borrowed money against my home; refinanced and took cash out.
I contacted Lighthouse Financial to do another refi with more favorable terms; interest rate, etc., because the loan taken out in 2007 had a balloon payment due a year later. They informed me, because of identity theft my husband and I suffered shortly after I bought out my business partner, our credit needed to be repaired, but they could help us do that.
Lighthouse Financial contacted us within 30 days and told us that our scores were improving and they could begin soliciting lenders for us.
A week went by and Joel Rosebahl called and told us that we had not one but two loan approvals. I immediately asked for a Good Faith Estimate and HUD-1 so that we could review both approvals and decide which one was best for us. Joel told us that his assistant, Chadwick Amstead would be contacting us for all the additional information they may require. Chad Amstead called us the next day and told me that he needed two years bank statements and the last two years tax returns plus a current appraisal, if we had one. We did, so I forwarded that to them at the same time.
I emailed all of the information to him and heard nothing for three days. I called every day thereafter for four more days and finally got Joel back on the phone. He was apologetic and said that Chadwick had been removed from our file and that we would now be dealing with his new assistant, Shawn McCrary. I contacted Shawn McCrary that told me a lot of items were missing from our file and asked if I could re-email them. I told him yes.
Another week went by and we received no Good Faith Estimates or contact from Lighthouse Financial. I called and managed to get Joel on the phone (after eighteen voice messages and as many emails) and he asked that I send him all 2008 bank statements and our 2007 Tax return. I asked him, if we had two loan approvals, why did he need updated information. He said one of the two lenders asked for it. And they also needed the appraisal updated to include the name of EquiFirst, one of the approving banks.
We jumped through additional hoops and got all the info he requested by close of business that day. We went another week before we hounded them enough that they called us back. We were then informed that the appraisal needed to be again updated and sent to them in Lighthouse's name. Again we did this. Five more days passed with a minimum of four voice mails and four emails left daily. When Joel finally called us back, he said that Shawn McCrary had been removed from our file and he would be handling it personally. I told him that we were going to contact other lenders at this point because we had zero faith in him. He said if we did that, it could prove detrimental because a bunch of other people would be pulling our credit report and the scores would plummet, making us ineligible for any other loan. Believing him, we stayed. He also told us that we could call his cell phone after 7pm and he would have a more comprehensive view of what was happening with our loan (s). When we called his cell phone, his mail box was full and we couldn't leave a message there. We tried every day for two weeks to make contact to no avail.
I received a phone call from a title company asking for the information to get a payoff for our loan. Thinking that escrow was opened because of this request, I provided the information to the title company.
Last week, frustrated to the brink of insanity, I contacted Lighthouse's compliance officer and explained what was happening. She had an administrator/loan officer call us back. It was Chad Amsted. He told us our file had been turned down eight weeks earlier. We explained that Joel had told us that he was "all over" our file and had hand walked it to one bank in Vancouver and had emailed it to a company called LTV Lending. (LTV Lending does not EXIST!!!) It turns out that both Chad Amstead and Shawn McCrary were Joel Rosebahl's supervisors. Chad Amstead went on to tell us that Joel was their top producer and had a never say die attitude meaning he rode a file until he was told not to, but Chad also told us that Joel was supposed to contact us and let us know that there was nothing they could do to help. Why weren't we told this initially. Perhaps that additional time could have been used to procure financing through a private party.
After all of this waiting and lying; our note has been called due and we have very little time to secure a new loan thanks to Lighthouse Financial. We are not going to be able to keep our home. We are set to lose it on the 21st day of July.
We believed everything we were told. The escrow company was also of the impression that we had loan approval, otherwise escrow would not have been opened.in my opinion and my interpretation, Lighthouse Financial is guilty of larceny by false promise or at the least tortious interference.
Don't believe anything this company tells you. You'll be giving away your pets and trying to figure out how to live in your car.
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