Complaint Review: First Security Mortgage Ent.

This company contacted us to help us go from a 2-year ARM mortgage to a 30-year fixed. They asked if we wanted cash out & I said primarily we want back into a fixed 30-year, but if we could get $5,000 to pay off our car it would help ... and possibly a maximum of $10,000 to pay off some other bills. It's been a rough few years.

They got an approval at 8% fixed 30-yr with a program from the lender that allows an automatic lowering of 1% of 12 on-time payments. We never did get documentation on that. They said they could not get a cash out because of the LTV but it was no big deal to us. However, the broker then said that he could try an equity loan after the first mortgage was closed and funded. I said give it a shot. In a day or so he said that he had an approved equity loan that could be closed after the first mortgage funded.

The broker called me the morning of 8/15 & said the lender said we had to pay our summer taxes before they could close the loan. Since we had not been planning to pay the taxes until September 15, I said that I could not do so because I didn't have the money available. Then the broker checked with the bank & said the bank would pick up half of the taxes if we could cover the rest. It was payday and I had gone grocery shopping that morning and automatic bill payments had already come out of our account. We had $2,500 right then which is normal and we would use that to cover the monthly (we get paid monthly) expenses and make our car payment and other bills. I knew that if I gave $2,000 for taxes, we would have only $500 for the next month! So I again asked the broker if the second equity was truly approved, and would definitely close days after the first, with our getting funds one week after the first closing. He said yes. I asked for a fax of the approved second loan. I told him that if this second loan was not approved, I would not be getting the first mortgage because I could not spare the extra money.

We closed on the first mortgage that evening and the closer said that a document was missing but that the broker would fax it to us the next morning & we could overnight it signed to the Title Company. The broker did not attend the closing.

The next morning I called & asked the broker for the fax. He told me we didn't need it and the closer didn't know what she was talking about. I asked if he was absolutely sure of that and he said yes. The next day was Friday & I was going to visit my cousin in the hospital so he told me that everything from the first mortgage would fund the following Monday & we would close the 2nd loan on Tuesday afternoon at our home. At the hospital on Friday, my cousin passed away while I was there. The funeral would be Tuesday.

I called the broker on Monday & told him I needed to leave by 10:00 on Tuesday for the funeral so could they close us early? He said he did not see a problem with that but I also said I could wait longer if need be, as long as I made the wake. He said fine and that he would call me with the exact time. He never called back that night so I assumed we were closing first thing in the morning.

My husband & I were ready very early so we could get done & go to the funeral. Soon it was 10:30 and I'd heard nothing so I called the broker but got his cell phone with the mail box full. I paged him but no reply. I called his office and was told they hadn't seen him yet but I left a voice mail. By 11:30 we were really getting worried & I was upset. We called the office several times because he never answered his cell. At one point he finally called me and said he was at the title company with a piece of paperwork that had been missing (sound familiar) and that he had submitted it and was waiting for the funds to dispurse (which was supposed to happen Monday) in about 30 minutes and that he would call me to tell me what time we would close that afternoon. By this time, we couldn't even make the wake, and waited for him to call back.

After more time passed & no calls, I again called his office. They said they hadn't seen him all day & someone heard he had had a car accident. Then we got suspiciuos about the whole "missing document". I called the Title Company & they told me he hadn't been there all day, and a girl there mistakenly told me that our funds had dispursed, but that was a mistake and the title company did apologize.

So I called the office back. I spoke to a bunch of people, left many messages but never heard from our broker again that day.

Very upset on Wednesday, I started calling the broker in the morning but again, could not reach him, full voice mail, didn't answer pages. I called the office several times and had asked for a manager or someone in charge. I got someone who only gave me his first name and said he was the owner of the company and would take care of us. I told him I now believed there was no second loan approved. He said he would verify that & called me back to say he had spoken to the lender & there was indeed a second loan approved and just waiting to close on the following Tuesday, the 28th of August, one week later than we had been told. Again, I asked for proof & never got it. He gave me several numbers & said I could call him from now on & that he would call me back if he wasn't there.

Over the next two days, I called the broker, his cell, Donny the "owner", etc. and no one ever answered my calls or returned my messages. On Friday, I called the title company and heard, once again, that they were waiting for the "missing document" and that our loan had never funded the previous Monday. While speaking to her, the broker's office called her & she said she would call me back.

As an aside, during this whole mess, not being able to grieve my lost very special cousin, I started having panic attacks and had to go to the doctor. I was a mess! At any rate, I couldn't even get the prescriptions because remember, I gave all our money for taxes, and although we arranged to get funds from a retirement account, we have to wait 30 days for that!

When I called the broker's office, I got the interesting explanation that the lender had changed the document format on Wednesday so they had to get a new one done and signed and back to the title company on Friday to fund the following Monday, with a signature. At this point, someone on a speaker phone started telling me the same things I'd been hearing all week, and I started to say I've already heard those, and he screamed at me to just be quiet because he was trying to help me. Then he said he would personally bring the document to our home at 5:00 that evening for my husband to sign and then take it to the title office. I gave him directions.

Then I got a call from the title company's dispursal department. They said they had called the lender who said just fax the document to us unsigned and we will have the borrower sign it and return it to us later. She was authorized to dispurse money right then.

The guy who was going to hand deliver the document never showed up anyway.

On Monday I checked with my previous lender, and our old loan had been paid in full. The loan had funded that morning and the taxes and everything else were paid. So I called the broker (no answer) & his office all day to verify that the 2nd loan closing would be Tuesday morning. After calling all day and into the evening, we got up on Tuesday and assumed we were closing. Again and again I called the broker & the office with no reply and no assistance.

Finally later in the day the broker called and said we could close the second loan at 2:00 on Wednesday, the next day. Well, finally. I knew I wouldn't see the money until the Tuesday after Labor Day but we could manage and I called the creditors and they were understanding. I did ask if we could close after 6:00 pm Wednesday so my husband wouldn't have to take a day off from work, and the broker said, sure, but I'll have to call you back to confirm. He said the closer would be the same as last time. I made him SWEAR that he would call before he left the office. Guess what? No call. No answering of our calls.

On Wednesday, my husband went to work, with the intention of leaving as soon as I told him the closing time. I called and called the broker with no replies. I called the office & at one point a girl said she had spoken to the broker, and he said he would call me back in just a few minutes with the time, etc. Again, no calls. My husband got home by 6:00 and we sat, waited, called, and fumed.

On Thursday morning my husband decided this had to be resolved that day and took the day off from work. We started calling the broker & the office at 9:00 a.m. and were first told no one arrives until 10:30 or 11:00. In any case, no one answered or returned cell calls or pages from us. At some point, I got a guy and I asked him for the name of our broker's account manager and was given a first name and told he doesn't get in until noon but he would give him a message. I said, fine, but if he doesn't call by 12:30 I will call him. He didn't call so I called.

And here's the kicker: The account manager told us that the reason our broker hadn't called us back or responded or anything since our first mortgage closed was that he was trying to get a second loan approved for us. In shock, since I had been told we already had one, I actually just threw the phone at my husband. He was told that yes, that we did have an approved equity loan before we committed to the first loan. He said that during the past week (after our original second loan closing date) the lender's rules were changed and they "unapproved" our loan. No one called to tell us this and indeed, we were told by the broker the day before that we were closing on our second loan! He said our broker was shopping with other lenders but with the mortgage problems currently going on, no one wanted to do an equity and be a second lienholder if they didn't hold the first lien.

Gee, I understand that, but our so-called approved loan before we got our first, was with the same lender as our first mortgage! And the account manager said the broker would have called us as soon as he got an approved loan.

Finally, here's a real doozy. The original loan that was approved (and now being shopped around) was for $20,000! Twice the amount we asked for as a max when we said we would want a second. The original first mortgage lender apparently had approved that and if the company had not screwed up the "missing document" etc. we would have been able to be done and finished (although we ourselves would have changed it to $10,000.

The last straw was when they said they would continue to shop around and call us by 6:00 to tell us whether they found anything (we said use a minimum of $5,000 max $10,000). Guess what! Nobody called back.

The gist of my anger is that they knew we would not go through with the big first mortgage if we had no guarantee of a second. But then, stupid me, I did not follow through on getting that proof before we closed because I was grieving a dead relative. And that even knew that.

On top of that, after getting the tax money to the title company, we had $400 left, figuring we're okay for 10 days till the 2nd closes. I put off some other bills and people understood. But after nothing happened of course, we ran out of cash and can't make a car payment, and other bills. I'm hoping to be able to get each of those creditors to understand since my husband's monthly payday rolls around again 2 weeks from now.

But we have overdrawn a checking account and now have tons of fees (gotta call them too), the car loan which was below $4,000 has now gone above it because the interest rate went up along with late charges because of this late payment. Other bills have late charges. The old mortgage was overpaid but they told us they have 30 days to send us the money. So that won't show up.

I'm thinking at the very least this company owes us something since they made tons off of us on the first mortgage (including appraisal fees and everything little fax and overnight cost, on top of whatever the commission is that they get, I've been afraid to look!) I'm now on a mission to get their name everywhere so no one else has to end up this way. I've reported them to the BBB, and sent a report to local media. I can't afford to pay a lawyer for the next however many years.

Ideally they would be making our car payment and giving us a couple of bucks to live on for 2 weeks.

Thanks for reading this missive, and if you have any ideas, I'm ready!

Pvdlee
Rochester, Michigan
U.S.A.