First off let me say that for those people who have been calling others who have had problems with Ameriquest illiterate, ignorant, and lazy schlubs, my husband and I are none of the prior. (I take offense at those name callers, btw.) I have an AA in Liberal Arts; my husband has a very good job (going on nine years) with a good company doing high level computer/telecommunication work.
However we did get in dire straits when our mortgage loan, originating in 2001 through Wells Fargo, was bought by 1st Nationwide, who was bought by CitiMortgage.in the interim, our loan was lost along with a lot of other mortgage loans. We were told by CitiMortgage not to pay, as they were having problems processing our loan. Our loan ended up going from the original $1249 a month to $1688 in 3 months. We were in limbo for over EIGHT monthsEvery month we were told a different amount, it was horrible. We finally ended up getting it paid, HOWEVER, in the mean time we ended up (because of the (at least) $400 difference in the loan payment,) having to file chapter 7 bankruptcy. (we are still paying the higher amount.)
We were able to keep our home, but we wanted out from under CitiMortgage. So while we were going through with the bankruptcy, (which was through just last month) we decided to try to refinance. Figuring, what the heck couldn't ruin our credit score any worse then it already was, right? I went online and tried a few different places; Ameriquest was the first one that came back with a positive answer. We were told they would call us back after the ch7 was final and everything would be cool. Great! We may be able to even get some money to fix up the back yard or the kitchen like we wanted. WOW!
After the month we were contacted back, and everything was a go. We went into the office and my husband was told that his FICA score was too low. So they would have to go off of me, because mine was higher. Okaaaay. I haven't had an outside the house job in 2 years, as I am a full time Mom and Student going for BS degree. So that was a little weird to me. But they were like sure we'll make something up. (*Make a note of this*) Do you do anything that can be NON verifiable income? (huh?) Well, I write poetry, and I web page design for fun. That was all they neededAHEAD FULL STEAM. (Tummy is feeling a little uneasy here.) But we would be out from under Citimortgage. We were told to go home and wait for the appraiser who would be out in about 3 days.
We then went back into the office, and were told that they could give us a 7.5 or a 7.75 rate which was good better then we had hoped for. The mortgage would be for $203,000, giving us about $25,000 over the original loan. OH But then they sprung on us the fact that they charge almost $14,000 for the loan processing. Wow. Okay, that seems a little steep. That would still give us $12,000 though, and by golly we should be thankful that they are even talking to us, because we just went through bankruptcy. OH! But we forgot to tell you that we found out that there is an $8,000 lien on your home thanks to HUDHUH? What? And we are charging you for some other fees (I can't remember right off the top of my head right now, but it came out to that we would be getting zilch. Zip. Zero.) BUT we would be getting out from under CitiMortgage. ~woo-woo~ So what if it was a 2 year ARM, we could always refinance at the end of two years! (*Make a note of this*)
But they needed some more paperwork from Citimortgage, showing our payment history with them, (which btw until the fiasco of the loan getting lost, we had never been late, we are even now current on our loan,) so we had to go home and waitand waitand wait We waited for a couple weeks, in the mean time I found THIS website. Started reading about other people and their experiences.
My husband and I then received a notice in the mail stating that Ameriquest was sorry we had backed out of the loan. Well we HADN'T, however, after reading the things on this site and seeing the similarities to our situation? We felt maybe that providence had stepped in. Then the broker called and wanted to know what was up and why she hadn't heard from us. We told her about the notice; she said it was all a mistake. Give them another chance. Well, okay. Barnum said it. I know I know. But we figured maybe we would be different? So we said go ahead and write up the paperwork and let us see the numbers. BUT I wanted to know what we would be walking away with, and if there was a three year prepayment penalty. The broker said she would have to call us back. She couldn't give me anything right now about that. But we needed to do the signing ASAP (Thursday) as our credit report was running out at midnight, and if they ran another credit report it would lower our score. Well golly Gomer, why the heck didn't someone contact us sooner and let us know about that? Sounds like someone is trying to put on some pressure (*Make a note of this*) But she could send someone out that evening with the papers. I told her that I didn't want someone who couldn't answer questions coming out, the broker was like noooo problem. So that evening, 9pm (actually this past Thursday night, the 19th of August) a person came to our door. The loan papers were not all there, the breakdown of what the loan was going for wasn't included. The rates suddenly went to 8.3. (Our current loan is 8% fixed at 30years) and our loan was going to be $100 more then what we are paying now. And of course the three year prepayment penalty. WTF??? What? Just so we could get out from under CitiMortgage? How much would THAT cost us in the long run? PLUS the person said she was just a notary and couldn't really answer questions and couldn't really give advice or anything. Greeeeeat.
My husband and I decided to stay with the devil we know for a bit, rather then going with on that seems to be a worse choice. (Frying pans and fire came to mind.) So we sent the lady packing, very nicely thank you very much. We really didn't want to take a chance with the seven day cool off period; we didn't want to sign anything without our lawyer looking it over FIRST. And we especially didn't want to sign papers in the middle of the night when our guts said RUN!
Of course this morning, the broker was on the phone to me. She was more then a little pushy. (Has always been pushy but today was really pushy.) She tried to say the rate being higher was because they just found out that HUD had placed the $8000 lien on our home. Nothat was known way back in the beginning, and that is just their word. We haven't had any word back from HUD yet, personally, to confirm this. I told her that I thought that Ameriquest needed to go ahead and that letter that they sent us before? Send us out another one, because we aren't interested. Thank you goodbye and hung up
Within 3 minutes the manager was on the phone wanting to know WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM HERE? To which I answered I have no problem, we just don't want to business with you. Thank you and goodbye! He called back but I ignored it, I didn't want a confrontation. I can get very uncivil when I want to be, and I really wanted to be. So he called my husbands work and left a message with him saying that he didn't appreciate that after all the hard work they did on our loan, to get so rudely hung up on. Well I think he would have like it a lot less if I told him what I really thought, and steered him to this website. My husband says when things calm down a little he may call them back and tell them why we decided to NOT go with the loan. (what would the reaction have been if we had signed and then decided to back out after the seven day cool off period?) Yow!
Please people, before you get a loan with Ameriquest or anyone, read it over CAREFULLY. Don't let anyone rush you into it. We really feel like Ameriquest tried to do a bait and switch on us. We just weren't as desperate as they had hoped for.
The things I have told you to make a note of, they are all mentioned on this site to have happened to other people. I also checked out Ameriquest with the better business Bureau and they have a pretty bad record. I know I forgot something, but I hopefully what I have shared is enough to make people leery of this company.
Anna
Sacramento, California
U.S.A.
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