Usually would never write one of these complaints but my experience with Amerisave was so horrible that I feel compelled to. If you are reading this, it is my sincerest hope that what you read here will be enough to convince you to do business elsewhere. There are plenty of good mortgage companies out there... They just aren't one of them. I wish I had found this site before the fact. Anyways, down to business.
I wanted to refinance and locked with Amerisave in December. The rate and fees were very competitive. After paying the initial application fee of $35, I began the loan process with them and after being 'pre-approved' I was required to pay $325 for an appraisal. I did so and my appraisal came back at $199,000. That was great for me since the loan amount I was looking for was only $156,000. Over the next month and a half, I would continue to be told 'we're almost done' and 'we're about a week out'. That's when I got any response at all. My loan advisor, Roger Lee, would absolutely not provide any information unless I nagged him. Looking back over all the e-mails, phone calls etc, I can't remember one tiime where he contacted me on his own to provide any information... His communication with me was limited to responses to my own inquiries - basically he only told me anything if I barraged him with e-mails and phone calls.
On February 6th (remember, I locked in December - 12/12) I was told that my property was 'unacceptable' to the lender, and that it did not meet Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac criteria. That's total B.S. Since I already hold a mortgage that met those guidelines. I talked with several people in my condo building who had been refinancing over the 2 months Amerisave screwed around, and not one of them had any problem with these 'guidelines' - of course the one thing they all had in common was that they did not choose Amerisave to do business with. At the end of the day, I lost 2 months of time and gained a whole bunch of stresses and headaches, with nothing to show for it but a lower number in my bank account.
If you're interested, my theory is they essentially get you on the hook by making you pay close to $400 up front (Application Fees) which makes you want to stick it out to the end. Meanwhile, they are hoping the market interest rate tilts in their favor so they can actually deliver on what they promised you and still be able to make a huge profit. I know in my heart that my loan was denied because this 'float' strategy did not work for them so they had to come up with a reason to deny the loan. My credit score is 760, I make about 70K a year and my LTV would have been about 78% based on the appraisal, and my property met all the federal guidelines.in the end, they didn't lose anything but they would have probably tried to close this if the interest rate went low enough for them to make a fat margin by closing it at the terms they promised me. I truly hope that if you read this, you will find someone else to do business with. Ask your friends or someone at work and find a lender that people have had good luck with. As they say 'If it's too good to be true, it probably is' I learned that lesson the hard way here.
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