I don't know who these people whom were helped by Ameriquest dealt with, because I've got nothing but a horror story to tell about them. I wonder if the positive ones were maybe written by an Ameriquest employee, themselves, as I have found is the practice with many sites where opinions are expressed about a company.
My story began when I had trouble getting a loan for a home in the greater St. Louis area because of bad credit that happened five years before. Because of the new laws helping companies hold us accountable for our mistakes for extremely long periods of time (10 years for a bankruptcy and 7 years for bad credit), it takes a long time to improve your credit.
My bankruptcy finally came off in October of 1999 after 10 years, even though when I filed it was only 7 years. They grandfathered all of us in when the law changed so if your bankruptcy was going to come off the next day, too bad. You just had 3 years added and there is nothing you could do about it.
I finally got a loan with Litton Loan Services on a $180000 house at 9.9% on a first mortgage of $135000 and a second at 12.5% on $37000. It wasn't great, but it got me a house and was only temporary. I had an ARM with a 2-year prepay penalty.
I got a refinance with Wells Fargo after just 8 months for $215000 at 7% with an ARM because I payed on time. I also payed about $8000 in prepayment penalty and $22000 in other debt. My payment went from about $1900 a month to about $1525, so it was a good deal even though I payed a high penalty to do it.
I was then sucked in by Ameriquests' ads that claim "you're more than a credit score" and thought I would give them a try before interest rates started to go up. I was assured by the loan officer that if he could not get me a better deal than what I had, he would be the first one to tell me that Ameriquest couldn't help me. He also said that it wouldn't cost me a thing for trying.
I still had credit issues from 5-7 years ago hanging over my head, but had never been late on anything since then. It took them 40 days before coming up with a loan for my wife and I. They had previously told me they could get me a 6% fixed with a few thousand in closing costs and very little prepayment penalty from Wells Fargo. I would also get about $8000 to pay off other debt.
They went through 3 appraisers before they found one that would inflate my value to $265000 so the loan would go through.
When the closer came to my house the rate had went up to 7.99% with a 2 year ARM, I got only $2000 in debt payed off and $20000 added to my mortgage. I called my loan officer in the middle of closing and asked him what was the better deal here. He said "remember when i told you that I could help clear up your credit and then we would refinance you at the best rate in 6 months. I will call you with a time when you and your wife can come in and we will get a plan together to fix everthing". This is the sole reason I signed the papers, else why would I go from $1525/mo and 7% to $1729/mo and 7.99% for only an extra $2000. It cost me $18000 to pay off one credit card of $2000 and get a higher interst rate.
Because they screwed me I have gotten behind on my bills and have payed greater than 15 days late for the last 5 months on my mortgage. That added a $125 late fee to my payment each month.
I am currently taking online courses for Network Administration and when I graduate I will be stuck in this area for 5-10 years just to get my mortgage down and the value to increase to make up for what they did to us. I am considering bankruptcy again to stick them with the loss instead of me before I totally screw up my credit again and have to wait 7 years before it is fixed. I probably would have better luck with a bankruptcy on my credit than a bunch of bills payed over 30 days late.
By the way, he never did call me to set up an appointment and it has been 10 months now, surprise, surprise!
Anybody in there right mind would never finance with Ameriquest unless everthing is reviewed by someone else with nothing to gain by lying to you. And then please take their advice when they tell you to run!!!
I am currently part of a class action in Missouri against Ameriquest, but if it is settled like my attorney says probably what will happen, I can expect to only get $4000-$8000 after fees are payed.
Mark
Wentzville, Missouri
U.S.A.
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