Complaint Review: Amerigroup

I received a call from Mortgage Investors (also known as Amerigroup) stating they can save me money on my VA Loan. I stated that I doubt that because I have a 5% fixed mortgage already. They replied that they could get me to 4%, I asked if this is a fixed rate and they stated yes. I'm willing to keep an open mind so I stated that their sales rep could come out immediately and we could get it going.

The sales rep was nice and didn't seem too pushy at first. He asked for me to keep an open mind which I did; until they started monkeying around with the numbers and showed me that it WASN'T a fixed rate. It's a 3/1 hybrid loan, which might work for some, but not me.

First, I felt lied to and felt they were being semantical with their answers. For example, I stated that it was my understanding this was a fixed rate. He stated it was, for 3 years. To me it's understood that if I'm asking if if this is a fixed loan, the rate will be the same for either 15 or 30 years; otherwise it's an ARM. What's wrong with being honest if it's such a great product?

Second, I felt like I was with a used car salesman. It seemed all they wanted me to be in a "Yes" frame of mind:

"You want to be with the #1 loan lender, don't ya?"
"You want to save money?"
"Isn't 4% a great rate?"

They started showing the numbers to me and AT FIRST they made sense. They took my current loan and showed me how they can save me money by showing the numbers at the current loan. I asked them if this loan was free because they were using my current loan numbers. Of course they said no so I asked how much the cost would be and was shown a number roughly 18,000 dollars higher than my current loan. I just refinanced this house in January 2009 so I looked at my closing cost from that loan which was around 6,000. I pointed this out to him and was given silence as he proceeded with his presentation.

I asked the sales rep to make sure we were comparing actual numbers. My current loan of 405,000 @ 5% and their hybrid loan of 423,000 4%, then higher with a worse case scenario shown (after 3 years elapsed). The rep started showing the numbers again and got to year 6 and asked me what I thought. I told them that this wouldn't work for me, he then asked to use my telephone.

Fortunately, I happened onto this website prior to the sales rep talking to me and saw that this is how they work. I asked him what was wrong with his cell phone, why did he need my land-line? He stuttered and told me it was a 800 call, so I let him use the phone anyway. The rep talks to his manager and tells them that this is a great opportunity I'm passing up and that he may not be communicating correctly to me and asks if I could talk to his manager. I get on the phone and hear that I don't understand the program and I'm going to miss out on a great deal. I explained my position and he told me that I need to look at the numbers again and told the rep to show me the numbers on another page.

At this point my wife left the room in frustration because she told me she requested a week prior with Mortgage Investors to put us on the "do not call list" and was frustrated because she thought it was a gimmick and the sales rep's actions prooved her point.

After getting off the phone, I told the rep I would not talk to his manager again but I would try to follow the numbers to see if they made sense. The second go around with the numbers he had escrows changing (from 891 to 2251) and the spreadsheet was shown to me again. He was showing me the monthly savings at year 4, he told me I would be saving 14 a month. He mentioned that although the interest rate is higher, more principle was paid off. I asked him to explain on his spreadsheet why the payment in year 4 was a 100 more a month than what I'm paying now (not saving me 14).

After receiving an answer which focused on another part of the spreadsheet instead of answering my question (I had already figured out it was an average of the entire loan to that date), I politely asked him to leave my house, he then asked if he could use my phone again and he proceeded to call his manager again with the same information, again. He asked if I would talk to the manager and I stated I would not as I had previously mentioned.

I walked off to the kitchen to allow them some privacy, came back after he hung up the phone. The rep stated it's a good program and that I'm passing up a great opportunity. My rebuttal was, "If I'm currently set on a fixed 30 year loan at 5%, why would I give you guys $18,000 for you to put me in this hybrid loan? If interest rates do go down in 4 to 6 years, I'll refi and pay only $6,000 clsoing cost with somebody else to get that better rate."

Don't get me wrong. This would be a good program if you have a 6% interest rate or higher because the numbers would maybe work out. It would also work out if you plan to sell your property within 3 to 6 years (although it's triple other financial institution's fees). If you think this would work out for you then give it a shot but make sure you have it calculated at the loan they want to give you; not your current loan amount.

Although they might tell you it's a fixed rate, it's not. They ask you to hear them out then your decision and that it will be respected. If you say "yes," then I don't think you'll have a problem, if the answer is "no" then expect the phone call to the manager ploy. Ask yourself this, if it's such a great opportunity, why do they have to sell you on the concept? ARMs have been around for a long time and it's not new.

Last, don't buy the "It'll only take 15 minutes." It took 45 minutes to get to the meat of the conversation and it took another hour for them to accept "no" as a viable answer.

Maybe I still missed something which could justify that high amount for closing cost but I just don't see it. If you're in a difficult situation with your house payments but plan on increasing your income substantially then this might work out. I'm only reporting this because of the way they handle the numbers and I don't want to see anybody suffer due to missing this oversight.

Numbers boy
Renton, Washington
U.S.A.