Just about a year ago, June I was looking to refinance my mortgage. At that time, I had a blanket mortgage over 2 properties, one that I live in and one that my parents live in. Due to major remodeling at my home, I wanted to consolidate some bills and add to my mortgage, but due to the blanket mortgage, I was having a hard time finding someone to work with me and then I ran across Ameriquest Mortgage. I thought that they were my answer - I got 2 seperate loans. But I now know differently.
Over the last couple of months, my parents started to have larger and larger medical expenses which I was trying to help them with. Due to these expenses, my debts were increasing and I decided that it would be best for me financially if I would sell my house and then move back in with my parents. Since we are together a good portion of the time, we all thought that this would work. That is until we started getting information together concerning selling the house.
My first problem came when I checked the payoff. This was when I found out that I have a prepayment penalty until 6. I was not aware of this until this time. I know that when I was checking around for a new mortgage that this was one area that I checked, but I cannot swear that the loan officer did not mention this to me. The only thing that I can say is that if I would have known up front that it was for 3 years, I do not know if I would have continued to work on the loan. Since one of the loans was for the house that my parents live in, I did not want to be stuck in something long term. I knew that if something happened to one or the other of my parents, one of the 2 houses would be sold.
My next problem came when the realitor gave my the price she felt would be fair for the house. She told me that she felt comfortable with $85,000 but would be willing to start with $91,500. The problem, Ameriquest had the house appraised for $104,000 and my outstanding loan is approximately $93,000. This put me in a hole even before I started to deal with the closing cost and prepayment penalty. I know that I was surprised that the house was appraised for $104,000 but I was glad since I had completely remodeled the house, but after reading some of the complaints on the usacomplaints.com website, I now understand why it was appraised so high. This also makes me wonder about the appraisal for my parents house.
After realizing that I was going to be in trouble, I started to think about the loans and realized that there have been other indications of problems. Ones that I have not thought about with everything else that has been going on.
When I signed the settlement papers, my loan officer told me that there was to be a change with the final settlement papers and that I would receive corrected ones in the mail. Well, I did receive corrected papers after a month or two, but after reviewing them, I realized that they were still wrong. I contacted my loan officer and reviewed over the phone. He felt that they were correct, but I knew that some of the figures were incorrect. I faxed him the papers and then he agreed that they were incorrect and would forward a second set of corrected papers. I had to call him numerous times, but I did finally receive the papers. Unfortunately, I did not review them as closely as I should have, but when I started to work on my taxes, I realized that they were still incorrect. As of this date, I still do not have corrected papers.
Next, I got to thinking about the rate. When I first started to talk about the loan, the interest was to be lower then I was paying at the time (only slightly, but lower), but that is not the fact. Also, the rate is different on the two loans. The loan on my house has a rate of 8.999% and the loan on my parents house is 9.759%. Since I knew that my credit wasn't as good as it should have been and I was down to the wire, I just agreed.
The other problem is the phone calls. With the payment due on the 1st of the month, if payment is not there by around the 4th, the calls start. I have finally gotten it across to them that they cannot contact me at work, but for a while, they would call there and expect me to discuss the payment while my co-workers were sitting right next to me. Also, they will call numerouse times in a day. When I talk to them, I usually tell them when I will be making a payment, usually over the innernet, but even with that information, they still continue to call. They say that it is noted in the system as to when I will make payment, but the phone call will continue until the payment is received.
At this time, I am not sure what I am going to be able to do concerning the houses. I have talked to a credit counselor, but they suggested bankruptcy. Even though I do not believe in bankruptcy, I do not know if I have any other option.
I only wish that I had known about this web site before I took out the loan. But, reading the other complaints, at least I know that there are others out there having the same problems. Hopefully this mortgage company can be stopped.
Sue
Waynesboro, Pennsylvania
U.S.A.
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