Liberty Home Funding Unethical and Unlawful business practices Pittsford New York
In my opinion, they are not a reputable firm. I applied for a straight out cash equity loan for renovations on a luxury studio co-op in a doorman building in a desirable upscale area of New York. I had inherited the property. It was appraised by an appraiser they hired at well over 4x the loan amount I was requesting. The appraiser they hired came back and said the coop looked vacant. I have since found out from the Freddie Mac website that Lenders may not accept appraisal reports completed by an appraiser selected, retained or compensated in any manner by mortgage brokers or real estate agents. Liberty Home Funding selected and hired my Appraiser. I was stunned and told Liberty I could easily dispute that it was vacant and prove my residency beyond a shadow of a doubt. Ann Marie, an employee at Liberty, said no need to go to all that trouble, she'd help me out and call the Appraiser herself. I told her according to Dodd-Frank, she isn t allowed to call the Appraiser. She replied something like, Oh, I meant not the Appraiser, the Appraisal company. I strongly suspected that not only is that also illegal but that she was lying. I had already received two letters (a truth in lending statement) from the lender and a letter from their attorneys regarding the loan terms dated July 2 so it appeared to me the bank had every intention of approving me. When I called the owner of Liberty Home Funding, Pat Lavell, he said I was denied due to my credit score - which is 690 - which is Good. I have the credit report. I have since consulted with other banks whom have told me the credit score has no bearing whatsoever on a straight out cash equity (I have no mortgage on the property, make 6 figures, have a good credit score and the property value well above the loan amount.) It is the equity in the property that they look at. Liberty Home Funding took my credit card information, paid their appraiser and then promptly denied me. Each time I sent them documentation confirming my address (my coop maintenance invoice, various statements and bills, a video affidavit from the Super of the building), they rarely acknowledged. I would steer clear of these guys. I'm not a disgruntled lender. I was promptly approved by another large commercial bank with no issues whatsoever, just a warning to anyone else who decides to go down this road thinking it makes your life easier. It doesn't. In my opinion, they are running a racket. There is no compelling reason to use these guys as a middleman. Just go to the bank directly. They are not working for you, they are working for themselves, make no mistake about it.
1 Updates & Rebuttals
Pat
Pittsford,New York,
Liberty Home Funding Response
#2REBUTTAL Owner of company
Thu, July 18, 2013
I am responding to the complaint filed yesterday. I believe that this complaint is baseless and her (lengthy) paragraph has a few errors. Despite what she asserts, her denial came from the bank to whom we submitted her loan. They denied her for 2 reasons: occupancy and credit. In other words, "the bank that had every intention of approving" her, denied her.
1) The occupancy was in question because A) The borrower provided paystubs, bank statements and a driver's license- all with property addresses other than the subject property. She provided no supporting documents with the proper address. B) The appraiser visited the apartment and determined that the borrower was not currently residing in the apartment. The appraiser took pictures of the interior of the apartment. It's a studio apartment meaning that she would probably have to sleep on the pullout sofa that's pictured in the appraisal. One major problem is that in the picture provided with the appraisal, it would have been impossible to pull the couch out without removing several large garbage bags, lamps and other things that were blocking the sofa. C) The borrower still pays rent at another location (lease is through 11/30). We asked for copies of the rent checks that she receivs for subleasing the property. Her response was that the tenant pays her in cash (approx. $2,000 per month).
2) While the credit score of 690 is often acceptable, the underwriter had a problem with some of the tradelines. Specifically, an account was opened in February and she had a 30 day delinquency within the 1st 2 scheduled payments. Her credit report also reflects a charge off of a car loan in 2011.
After the loan application was originally denied, I spoke with the underwriting manager about it and asked him if he could override the original underwriter's decision. In this case, he concurred with the original decision and the loan was denied.
Pat