I worked with Quicken Loans for a pre-approval for a home loan, and paid a $300 deposit that the first rep, Dejan Ristic, assured me was refundable (he also assured me that Quicken Loans is a bank, not a brokerage, which seems to be a lie.)
These people are very hard to get ahold of, and after not being able to get ahold of Dejan, I was passed off to another rep, Dan Connell. I found a home, made an offer, and got a purchase contract. I sent the contract to Dan Connell and he told me that the bank would not accept it since it had a provision for funds to be escrowed in order to pay for a roof replacement. He stated that I would have to get the contract rewritten, and he would not convert to a purchase until it was.
So I did some checking locally. A real estate attorney, and every bank I went to, saw no problem with the purchase contract as written. Several banks pointed out that such an arrangement for a major repair is both common and easy to handle... For a bank. A boiler room brokerage such as Quicken Loans can't deal with it. So I applied and was approved for a loan from my local bank. 30 year fixed at 6.1% with no closing costs (state backed program. The VP at the bank really did look at every possibility and found the best one.)
I asked Dan Connell at Quicken for a refund of my deposit and he said he would not refund the money. After telling me the purchase contract was unacceptable as written, and forcing me to look elsewhere, he now says he went ahead and converted anyways, and claims the appraisal was pre-paid. So what? No appraisal was ever done. Does he expect me to believe that an appraiser can strong-arm a billion dollar company out of an appraisal fee?
I'm disputing the charge with my credit card bank, and I have filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. I'll see what else I can do to get my money bank. But frankly I am grateful the problem cropped up. I'm a first time homebuyer and failed in due diligence as far as investigating Quicken before I became involved with them. Quicken was ready and waiting to rob me of thousands of dollars in closing costs, trying to force me into a 7 year ARM rather than a fixed rate loan, and the fixed rate they quoted was 6.875%
Quicken Loans is a boiler room brokerage, not a mortgage bank. Avoid them at all costs.
For being so clueless and inattentive, I got off easy; even if the $300 is gone. I want the money back, but considering the thousands I saved I'm not going to get all weepy over it.
Dnison
Hales Corners, Wisconsin
U.S.A.
0 comments