My wife and I went to Palm Harbor Village merely to look at homes. Buying one was not on our mind at the time. Before we could view them we were herded to a salesperson who started filling out a questionnaire.
They also wanted to run a credit report. I was reluctant to do so because as I said we just wanted to look. However, I gave the OK so I could at least see where we stood credit-wise. I had some credit problems in the past and wanted to know if in fact we could purchase if we chose to do so. Well golly-gee if I didn't just barely (by 2 points on my FICO score) qualify for this "wonderful" fha no down payment 6.7% loan! But we'd better hurry and put down a $100 deposit to "lock us in".
We were told that they could get a fax at any minute telling them that program was ending so let's get you locked in! After looking at the homes, and they do look very nice, we were told that it would look better if we put up a $500.00 deposit because she knew how the banks operate and this would look very good. We said that with our daughter starting college soon we couldn't afford that. She said "well, let's just put it on your credit card and I'll reverse the charges mid week. (we were there on a sunday).
I used my debit card. The charge showed up on my online statement as "pending" then disappeared so I assumed that she did reverse it. 2 weeks later the debit appeared and put me overdrawn and cost me $140.in overdraft fees. I called her and she said she put in the paperwork to have it credited but that it had to go to "corporate".
I then drove 80 miles to her office with my debit card and asked her to swipe it and credit it right there. Evidently she only has authority to take money not refund it. Again she said she sent in the paperwork and that it just might show up on Monday the 9th of August.
So I called "corporate" who had never received any paperwork on my refund as of today 8/9/04. Corporate said they would call Tulsa and take care of it. We'll see. Our instant approval for the great loan went from 0 down to $5000 down to "buy your land first, then give us $30000 down. I declined of course and went elsewhere. Beware!!
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