Complaint Review: Ameriquest Mortgage

you tell em. no way does the average homeowner know everything about appraisals but....... read these rip off reports. we sure are learning.
we go to an appraiser to get a fair appraisal. how do we know they're in cahoots with ameriquest.

the same with the doctor. he offers a service. does a surgery and sends his bill to my insurance company. until i start seeing red flags and double billings.....i don't know that they're both crooks and working together.
i would hope that my doctor or dentist or appraiser would be an honest professional. there are crooks in every profession but we don't necessarilly know who they are.

The guy who thinks he knows everything is the one thats scarey.

people like that usuall are lucky if they know half of what they think they know, or half of what they think someone else should know.

keep writing tom

Hey craig think about this ok now listen really hard ok ameriquest pressure these idots to give a h igh appraisel with the money they are willing to pay them well that we pay sorry .So our gripe is with the appraiser and ameriquest this is how ameriquest works have you google ameriquest lawsuits lately i mean really are there 270,000 people in the united states that got together and said hey lets make ameriquest to be the bad guy i dont think so .

O and one more thing cali just settled a lawsuit against them for 335 mill so i think what ameriquest is doing is wrong and there will be more people fileing suit and many more class action suits to follow so i think you should do your self a favor and get your facts before you shoot your mouth off and im sure you are an ameriquest employee and you should read some reports on here from ameriquest employees that worked for the company and see how they operate and have since quit probably because they dont want to go to court and get sued with the rest of them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I live in Ohio and they were on the news all last year for using predatory lender tactics. I also mentioned to a mortgage friend of mine they were a company that came back on a refinance home site with a quote. The representative from her company proposed consolidated all my bills under 8% interest rate (credit score low 600's) 3 late payments or negative in 20 years, 42 accounts in good standing, no lates on Home loans., or a 3 year arm (adjustable rate mortgage) at 7.50 (some saving huh)... any way even though my main is at 5.5%, my equity lines were quite high. My car is at 5.5 through Honda Finance (great rate for used car)... she wanted me to add the 5.5 on main home & the car to the 8% interest rate claiming they couldn't consolidate just the higher rate debt they only do total refinance. Well it came out 15,000 higher than all my combined debts and the following was her explanation.. Needless to say I won't be doing business there. Ohio currently has no laws to protect consumers because lenders can/will/do charge higher rates to make a salary; that is simply how they make a living, finance salespeople:

Ms. Thompson,

If you add all 3 parts of the fees together the closing costs are $14,000. Please know that it is not me that does the pricing. There is a system that prices it for me that Ameriquest put in place. I also do not get paid like a mortgage broker so I am not making half of that trust me. What happens is they add up all the loans I do for the month and pay me a precentage of the total revenue. I know it seems like alot but your recouping most of it in the first year. I went over how in my previous email. Fees:standard ameriquest fees on every loan $1304
3rd party fees (title, appraisal,notary) est $2700 points 4.327 $10,000 (1 point is 1% of the total loan amount so $2310)

Can the other guy get the loan done in the amount of time Ameriquest can and is he rolling the appraisal into the loan or is he making you pay for it at the door? I'm not sure if stuff like that matters or not but those are some of the nice things about my company.

Yeah...it would be awesome to win the lottery like that girl. I hope she is wise about what she does with it. I think cash option was like $165,000,000. Do you think you could spend that in a lifetime? Just think of all the interest she makes off of it a year. Anyway hope to hear from you soon either way. Happy Friday!!!


This was her response to my question of why the 15,000 added to my payoff amounts...So be diligent and careful, after all this is how people in that business are making their living. A good article came out in Money magazine last month about a whole street that was charged outrageous fees and stated around 10 states with the highest closing costs/rates and alas, Columbus Ohio was right in there. It should not cost over $4000 to close on a house... She said I would recoup around $14,000 the first year (don't think so) the 12,000 or so in interest savings as tax deductions are already there without me paying someone else $15000.00:0

Just thought I'd add my two cents to this discussion board, as for the overappraising of properties (read the money magazine; many are in with the others on these schemes) that's how it is working; I was told I wouldn't even have to pay PMI INSURANCE (EVEN THOUGH I WAS OVER 80%

Craig -

You are right, the consumer SHOULD at least have an idea of what their home is worth. In every experience I've had with refinancing, I've been asked what I think my home is worth by the mortgage company. Every time, the appraisal has come out to exactly what I have estimated it to be. Could it be that I am that good at figuring out what my home is worth? Well, the first time I ever refinanced (and of course it had to be with Ameriquest) I had high hopes of what my house was worth, and looking back - they were not realistic.

When I refinanced with Ameriquest, I told them what debts we wanted to pay off and our appraisal came out exactly to what we needed... which was over what our house was worth.

I agree with you that the appraiser is responsible for appraising your house - but I think the mortgage company is responsible as well - especially if they tell the appraiser what they need the house to come out to.

That's my fault. I didn't know that it is different in MN. But you have to understand that most of the people on this site know absolutely nothing and just b***h and moan.

My main gripe is that if you as a consumer have a problem with the appraisal, it is not the fault of the mortgage company (Not that I am defending Ameriquest at ALL) but your gripe is with the appraiser. And because of market conditions, its very possible for your home to decrease in value.

perhaps you misunderstood , or i was not dilligent in my rant.

the whole idea of my post was to make sure the original author understood she is not to blame. Its appraisers bouncing value to make the loan work, or otherwize other professionals manipulating things behind the scene. The homeowner has very little power in what really goes on in their own transaction, and further to this , they dont have a clue that its happening most of the time.

This is where trust is paramount, and when homoeowners find themselves upside down and unable to refi away from Ameritheft, they join a line several thousands of miles long of folks trapped by the same scam.

stop blaming the homeowner. She trusted people who were supposed to be professionals.

Christy - It's too bad we're not experts on appraisals as so many on here feel they are. This is common practice for this company. Just another way to rip their customers off. Good luck with your suit.

Mindy - There ARE people out here who are "educated enough to know a few things". My, my ... your home is worth 300K! Actually, that's probably YOUR company's appraisal. Better educate yourself to make sure it's not actually worth 100K. I have read your comments on other postings and know you have become one of the lying and deceitful reps. Who are you trying to kid? How do you even know this screwed customer received a lot of cash? Ignorance is speaking of things you know absolutely NOTHING about. Greedy? Do you really want to go there? Becoming an employee of this company is about as greedy as you can get. Hope you enjoy the paychecks you'll receive that you made from lying and stealing from hard working people.

Kristen - Some people like to hurl insults and attempt to offer rather poor advice. They comment without knowing, or even trying to understand, anyone's position. You were taken advantage of as we all have been, you're right. That is Americrap's motto ... we take advantage by lying and stealing, until you have nothing left but your home and that will soon be ours also! Just overlook the ignorance and concentrate on making Ameritheft pay for their dishonesty and fraud.

Robert - Is it not Ameriquest who contracts with the appraiser? Do appraisers contact companys, at random, to bid on a job? I think not. Ameriquest is totally responsible. Their own EX-employees have verified this. I've heard of vehicles decreasing in value but around here, most homes increase daily. But I don't live in a California home worth 100K but appraises at half a mil. I grew up there so I know.

Tom - These days I probably would challenge an appraiser or a neuro surgeon. I believe getting a second opinion is pretty much the same. You can't believe or trust anyone anymore. There are many of us who, unfortunately, trusted what the lying reps were telling us. That does NOT mean customers are at fault as you wish to believe. A mortgage rep, appraiser or even a judge can fall into the category of crooked as with any profession.

Craig - Prepay penalties are just another way for Americrap to rape their customers and bleed them dry. I really don't care as it is illegal here. The theives may want 6,000 for me to refinance but they sure as hell are not getting it. I guess I should be glad I don't live in Calif. or Mass. because home values steadily increase in my area.

Good luck to all the customers who posted their story on here. I hope it helps many others who read these postings who are thinking of refinancing. I'm sure they will be grateful they found this site BEFORE becoming a s**t on customer of Ameriquest or AMC or whatever they want to call themselves these days. I wish I had found this site before I became a customer.

Actually Craig, before you choose to call someones comments arbitrary, maybe you should look into it first...in Minnesota you can not be charged a prepay if you sell your house, only if you refinance. The law took effect January 1, 2003. Why do I know that?? Because I refinanced in October 2002 so I was stuck paying the prepayment penalty when I sold my house.

Guess you don't have to much of a mortgage expert to know that one, considering I DID know it. But hey, I've been to THREE closings.

When did people all become experts on the values of their home, and also the policies and procedures of every mortgage company out there? Just because you went through a mortgage closing once DOES NOT make you an expert!

Over-valuation of an appraisal can happen at any time. the appraisal is an estimate by a state licensed professional. Home values can increase AS WELL AS DECREASE due to marktet conditions. So it is perfectly reasonable for this to occur. I am sorry but when you're flirting so close to the homes value with a loan size, it can come back to bite you...as it looks like it did here.

Also Julie from Stacy, Minnesota, a prepay is in effect no matter if you sell or refinance. It is in place to guarentee the banks ROI (thats return on investment) for lending you money. No one lends money for fun. Its for profit, so a prepayment penelty makes it a guarentee that they will make a specific dollar amount on lending you money, regardless if you sell or refinance, so lets not just through out arbitrary comments to seem educated.


Robert is dead on. Housing prices are coming down because of the inverse relationship with increased interest rates. As they are going up, housing prices are going down and therefore you're house may not be worth the same as it was before. Its very hard to believe but its true. You're house MAY BE worth the appraisal value, but do to the martket, your MARKET VALUE may be lower...

my name is tom , i too am a mortgage professional.

let me get this straight.

A STATE LICENCED professional appraiser 'found value' -and we in the industry know what that means- . she cooked the books to make the loan work or whatever. perhaps it was worth that much that day. who knows.

This RETARDED notion that John and Jane Q Taxpayer is supposed to be boned up on professional appraising, and automatically challange a state licenced appraiser, who tells them their home is worth MORE than they thought. Are you joking me?

Do you go challenge the neuro surgeon? After reviewing all your xrays, s/he tells you that you have a tumor, do you go immediately to medical school to find out yourself? Or are you inclined to trust the neuro surgeon might have the GALL to tell you the TRUTH.

When the judge tells you you were wrong and the law says so, do you stamp your feet and DEMAND a new judge? or do you trust the judge might know what he is talking about.

What about meteorologists? They predict an earthquake is coming soon. Do we tell him "... fu** off.... You dont know what ur talking about!"

You are trying to con me into believing it aint poor ameriquest, who knows all about fautly appraisals, or mortgage professionals like us who deal with it day in and day out, or appraisers who 'find value' to keep their loan officers happy funding loans to get their appraisal fee -aint to blame.

No, the previous posts all seem to point back to the homeowner, who knows little if anything about these games -THEY SHOULD KNOW BETTER.

Yknow, sooner or later, state officials are just going to put us all in jail. Perhaps thats where IDIOTS who PASS THE BUCK onto the trusting homeowner should go and should have gone years ago.

I to hd the same problems with ameriquest, however where the prepayment penalty in concerned it's only supposed to apply if you are refinancing. they cannot charge it if you are selling. Also in most states it is illigal to charge prepayment penalties, but they can get away with it if they are based out of another state.

How is the fault of Ameriquest? If you want to place the blame then place it towards the appraiser, not the mortgage company. You said that they had trouble finding comparables so they used the best ones out there and made the appropriate adjustments. Like stated before it is just an opinion and you can ask 10 different appraisers and get 10 different values!

By the way there are many areas that now have declining values, have you ever considerd that your value went down?

First, of all we did alot of improvements to our home including finishing our basement, which included adding a 4th bedroom as well as a 1/2 bath. This whole refinance was new to us, so we were quite happy when we got our appraisal. I did question the appraisal to both the appraiser and Ameriquest due to the comps they used. I was told by my loan rep, prior to the appraisal being done that she was having a hard time finding comparables similar to my home. So, the appraiser used comparables that she should not have used and made ridiculous adjustments to justify her amount.

I don't believe I'm being greedy. I believe I was taken advantage of along with 99.9% of the others who post here!

Do you understand that an appraisal is a estimate of the value of your home, not a guarantee of your homes value, and appraised values of homes change daily because the homes that can be used as comparables change daily. You really should have a better concept of realty before you go spouting your mouth off on what you have no clue on.

When you go to refi your home, you need to be educated enough to know a few things. First, you should know what the approximate value of your home is. My home is worth 300K. If someone told me they were going to cash me out 350K, that would raise a huge red flag.

If you were so ignorant as to not ask why you were getting so much cash, then you have no one to blame but yourself. You didnt complain when you got a fat paycheck, but you complain afterwards because you cant get MORE cash when you sell your home.

Who is the greedy one again?

I don't know what homes you are looking at. My home is on realtor.com and is LISTED for $199,900. I listed at that price HOPING I can sell it for close to that to recoup some om my equity. I had 3 different agents tell me realistly I should have it listed for about $180 to $185.

I'm glad you had a good experience with AMC, but it sounds to me like you are one of the lucky ones!

As far as I know, I do not have a prepaymet. I looked at my papers today and the box is marked no prepayment penalty. I did get a payoff statement from AMC and it only shows the payoff amount plus daily interest after a certain day.

Does anyone know if there is any class action suit being field currently for inflated appraisals? I know there is a suit currently for other reasons. i did contact that attorney today and he is supposed to get back to me. If you want to see what tht suit is about go to www.pierceallsettlement.com

I've made several call today to attorneys regarding this and they all pretty much said the same thing. Basically I'm SOL.

If there is anyone out there with any suggestions, please let us all know. I would like to get a class action suit started. If I hear anything from the attorney handling the current class action suit, I will let everyone know!

I have recently refinanced with ameriquest. I thought they were wonderful.

I read your comments on your home being over valued. I can tell you that I also thought of selling my home and when I spoke with my realtor I would have been able to list my home for just a little more than the appraised value that ameriquest had on my home. I compared the rates and fees that ameriquest offered with alot of other mortgage brokers and they were by far the best around.

I was curious on what you were saying so I went to realtor.com and its weird their are homes listed that are exactly like you describe your house that are selling for $199,000-$249,000. You might want to try a different realtor or get a second opinion.

I work at a financial institution here in Wisconsin. I have tried to refinance SEVERAL people's mortgages away from Ameriquest....and 80% of the time the new appraisal comes in WAY lower. Our average loan size is 120-150k. Peoples appraisals are coming in over 20k less than when Ameriquest (Ameritheft, as other on this site have called it) did the appraisal.
It is ridiculous! It's bad enough they rape you with fees; then you can't get away from them because of the inflated appraisal!!

Good luck with your suit!

Christy,

Before you get too far along in this process, you had better call Ameriquest to find out what your payoff is going to be. Very good chance there is a prepayment penalty on your loan. It will be about $6,000.

If the principal is $171,500, add $6,000 penalty and your payoff to Ameriquest will be $178,000-180,000.

Tell your selling agent you might have a penalty and to try to sell the house for more unless you want to come up with the difference yourself.