Quick Summary: The worst nightmare a person getting a mortgage has is when the mortgage company hikes the fees or interest rate at the last minute and then tells the loan applicant to take it or leave it. That's what Maricopa Mortgage did to me. They start with a lot of promises to get you hooked. Then, once you've started the process, the excuses start and the promises turn into lies.By the time you realize it's time to get out, you're too far in and starting with another company would take so much time it would jeopardize the house closing. That's when Maricopa refuses to back off from all the added fees and interest hikes. Then they tell you to take it or leave it. Stay as far away from them as possible.
More details: I'd been looking for a mortgage for a couple of weeks and had narrowed it down to a few. One of them was Maricopa. I did my due diligence. I looked them up on the state banking website and the BBB. While the fact they hadn't been in business a long time was a concern, there were no outstanding complaints. At that point, Greenspan gave a speech and something he said sent mortgage rates skyrocketing. I quickly made some final phone calls to lock in a rate. Maricopa promised the best rate so I got a final Good Faith Estimate (so much for the title of that document!) and locked in the rate. I asked a lot of questions about the estimate. Mike the assistant (accomplice?), told me there were no other fees and the fees would stay within a small amount of the items on the Good Faith.
When I went into their office and started to review paperwork a week or so later, I noticed that there were fees on the paperwork that hadn't been on the Good Faith. I called them on it and stood my ground. Steve Bollow (president) grudgingly took the largest item off. (Knowing full well he could put them back on later, I'm sure.) There were others but they were relatively small change so I didn't make an issue of them. At that point, I should've walked but I knew that starting over would've jeapardized my closing date and the whole deal.
After that, it was nearly impossible to get hold of anyone to see how the mortgage was progressing. I left messages that weren't answered and the couple of times I heard from them, I mostly got vague comments about it still being in process. At one point Steve did inform me that the lender denied the removal of the fees mentioned above but that he'd reimburse me with gift cards. He explained the gift cards were worth the same amount at any retailer in town. He also said he'd put that in writing. (Of course he never did.)
We neared the close date and my realtor as well as the seller's realtor were calling me trying to get more information. I called Maricopa several more times to no avail. Finally, I started calling the lender and title company directly. The lender wouldn't talk to me but the title company told me they hadn't heard anything, that they were waiting on Maricopa.
When I finally heard from Maricopa, they told me the lock expired (!) and that the interest rate had gone up. I was not pleased to say the least. I finally got the review packet from the title company only to find out that in addition to the higher interest rate, he'd charged me for another loan initiation fee (because the loan had to be renewed) as well as hiking other fees. A reputable broker would've absorbed that fee. Of course Maricopa didn't. I called to discuss the fees to have them removed. They wouldn't budge but I persisted. Eventually the discussion became heated (because I demanded them to live up to their commitments) and I demanded to discuss it with Steve. When I finally talked to Steve, he blamed the lock expiration on the title company and said he would send me a fax to prove it.By the end, he was demanding that I pay him (!) and that if I didn't like the loan, I could walk away from it.
In addition to the previous calls to the title company, I made a few more. They never heard from Maricopa until after the lock had expired. They basically told me he was lying. He never sent me a fax and never paid me the money he promised. At this point, he owes me at least $500 between raised fees, loan initiation fees I ended up paying, the value of the gift cards promised, and the extra money I ended up paying as a result of the delayed closing.
Getting a new home is supposed to be a positive, happy experience. He and Maricopa made it a nightmare. I never expected more from Maricopa than was promised to me. They just fed me lies, hollow promises, excuses, and in the end, extortion. I will never do business with STEVE BOLLOW, Maricopa Mortgage, or any company he works with ever again. You would be wise to do the same!
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