Complaint Review: Loandepot.com

First, I refied with LoanDepot 18 months ago. the process was pretty smooth (I have a very high credit score & verifyable income) & I'm happy with the service to date.

Second, I have an fyi to self employed/small business owners.  I too have been a small business owner in the past & have had some difficulty with securing a loan because of non-verifiable income (this is not new in the industry, but more intense today).  One major reason for the Real Estate debacle of 2008 is with non-verifiable incomes, so lenders are being more cauticious, requiring extra paperwork, verifications & more paperwork.  When the loan goes from Loan Officer (usually your initial contact) to the Loan Underwriter, that's when the fireworks go off.  You will experience even more scrutiny and will be asked for yet more paperwork, letters of explanation, etc, etc, etc.  If your loan is stopped at the Loan Officer, you're lucky because once it gets to the Underwriter, that's where insanity begins.  This is pretty standard with all loan companies these days! Hope this helps & good luck.

Hello,

I work for Loandepot.com and I wanted to make sure that everyone understands that this is absolutely the same company.  On-Kim Paris is a processor for loanDepot.com and she is one of the worst processors ever.  She has messed up more loans that should have closed than I care to mention.  Additionally, all conventional loans require a $495 appraisal deposit, but in most cases the appraisal doesn't actually cost $495, it costs $400 to $425.  If loanDepot.com charges you $495 on your credit card up front, they will pay the appraiser his $400 and then they keep the remainder of the money if something falls through.  I just wanted to make sure that everyone was aware that this is the same company and just how bad the processwing is at the company.  i am writing this because I am so sick of the company that I am planning to leave very soon.

We are not loandepot our company is loandpeot.com. The person was dealing with a title loan company that there CEO went to prison for title loan fraud. Our CEO has been in the business for over 30 years and built 3 empire mortgage companies. Our CEO name is Anthony Hsieh please google him and look at his credentials. Please discard this posting because it is inaccurate and false info..

Well, after writing my rebuttal, in which I accused Loan Depot of jacking up my appraisal value and sabotaging the loan, they called me and fixed the problem.  So I am re-thinking my initial feelings about thsi company.  At least they had the courtesy to call me back and try to fix the problem.  The solution isn't finalized yet, but I am feeling much better about their honest attempt to do right by me.  This includes them paying for another appraisal for me. 

 Dear Sir:

I am happy you had a good experience with Loan Depot.  I was hoping for the same results, but was sorely disappointed.  When I spoke will William Bonney of Loan Depot, I told him what my house was worth, and what it was appraised at.  We filled out the paperwork, and I paid the $495 for the "official" appraisal that was supposed to be refunded to me upon the loan closing.  What I didn't know is that Mr. Bonney had written down an appraisal of almost $100,000 more than what I told him the house was worth, and based his numbers on this assessment.  Of course, the official appraisal, while increased came back at much too low a level, and I was screwed out of $495.  Unfortunately, this appraisal cannot be used by other interested loan companies.  And I'm not sure why that is. 

Be careful when you use the services of Loan Depot.  They are NOT an honest or reputable company.

To the employee who wrote "Miscommunication":

  I take exception with your comments regarding the company you work for.  I placed considerable faith in Jason Feldman as he promised the refinancing of my loan, and it fell through almost from the outset.   Our home was appraised for much more than any of us anticipated---and then it all went downhill, starting with an almost daily refusal by anyone at the office to respond to calls.  When I finally did get through, I was told I needed to send even MORE documentation just to be considered (this after sending wave after wave of ducuments) then told I'd need to wait two more months for verficiation of my Federal pay for disability to be accepted as income. Since my wife is part owner of a company, the underwriting dept says they can't confirm her pay without W-2's or 1099's--even though I have sent tax documents, and pay stubs.  Has no one explained that owners of companies cannot receive these???????

 As a Veteran of the United States Army, I am VERY disappointed in this company's commitment to the servicemember---proimising they believe in them and will fight for them---only to drop them like a hot potato.

 I have sent the documents, but don;t expect to hear back.  Time will tell.    If not, all I can say is you, sir, may enjoy working with the company...but those of us on the service end surely are left hanging. I hope you prove me wrong.

There are no upfront fees, however there is a non-refundable fee of 495 when the appraiser comes.  Thats when they charge your credit card.  I am in the process of refinancing and everything was going well until they increased my closing costs by $1300 without notifying me.  They basically pulled a bait and switch with the original good faith estimate, discussed it with a manager who said too bad.  Close the loan or lose it.  I would not recomend them to anyone am planning on filing a complaint with the BBB after the loan closes.

i have a letter i just received in the mail, it's from loandepot fha streamline loans.  on the card they have sent it says,  no appraisal, no up front fees, no closing costs.  my questions is why then are people complaining that they lost $495. for the appraisal?  something is wrong here if they are paying for an appraisal and losing money. i would never do a refi with a company that sends me info in the mail. how would i have close contact and be sure that i'm not being ripped off. 

My wife and I used LendingTree and came across LoanDepot.com for our most recent refinance. By the way, if anyone needs a report, it's LendingTree. I had credit inquiry hits coming in for over 2 months from companies that they work with. Anyway, my wife and I have been very happy with LoanDepot.com and will consider using them in the future.

As far as appraisal experience goes, if they didn't secure a drive by appraisal, they said that they would refund the $495 lock fee and stop on the processing of the loan. I have it in email so they couldn't back out :-) It was critical that we secured a good appraisal in intrests of avoiding PMI as we were on the ragged edge of it.

1) Our loan officer (Nick) was very helpful. We made contact with him daily and he was almost always close to a phone. If he wasn't, he always responded to his voice messages in a timely manner.
2) Our appraisal went over great. We managed to get away with a "drive-by appraisal" and we even saw a credit for that appraisal on our closing due to this being possible.
3) From lock to underwriting... it was about 6 days. Less than $1500 in fees.

Overall, it was a great experience working with them. This is a far better loan experience than when we bought the house to begin with.

The letter I received soliciting my business states that I may qualify for a 30 year fixed No cost Loan. The small print states it is not a commitment to lend and that the finance charges may be higher over the life of the loan. However the body of the letter goes on to say that they cover all closing costs, including lender fees, appraisal fees, title charges, escrow fees and loan points. So what other finance charges can there be besides the interest rate?

I really couldn't answer a lot of questions such as the exact purchase date and what companies I have had my mortgage with since I wasn't at home to look it all up but he said that was alright he could look it up but could I please give him my birth-date and social security number. Really? Just because he could show me he had certificate and licenses and the letter looked legit does not mean it isn't an identity theft scam.

That coupled with the fact that the small print seemed to contradict what the body of the letter said gave me pause.

And who are they to say the appraisal was inaccurate?

I don't know but the whole thing smells fishy to me.

Sir:

I received a spam advertisement from your company today and will be forwarding it to NMLS as it is clearly in violation of Regulations concerning advertisements. The rates you publish are deceptive and I am inclined to believe the original complainant. Clean up your act !!!! You are damaging our industry.

The original poster states "were told that the loan cannot be honored because the house is just not worth what it was appraised for.  The appraised value is done by an impartial third party, while the fee is paid by the consumer.  I agree with the poster that LoanDepot does not determine the value of the house.  The appraisal does.  I just sent LoanDepot a $495 appraisal fee.  I expect Loan depot to honor the appraisal numbers.

When I read letters like this it really upsets me. You state your original company representative was no longer with the company after you started your loan. So what! People come and go all the time from companies.

When the next representative helped you out, they explained to you that an appraisal was necessary for you to proceed with the refinance. You agreed and paid the fee. Seems fair to me so far as this is common with most types of mortgage loans.

When the appraisal was completed the value of your house was less then what you thought. Now all of a sudden you are being scammed??? How exactly did you get scammed??? You needed to obtain an appraisal to find the fair market value of your home. You paid for one and received one. Just because a professional, whom I might add doesnt work for the company you applied with (there are laws not allowing this), doesnt agree with your assesment of your property doesnt mean you have been scammed.
It seems to me you could have/should have done some due dilligence on the process. You could have looked online to help you figure out a value for your home. You could have contacted a local real estate agent for some assistance. You could have read up on the process of obtaining a mortgage.

Just because things didnt go your way doesnt justify your claims. It sounds to me like you are just a bitter homeowner who lost value in your home and are looking to place blame.

Further more. . . I did some research. William Camuti owned an auto loan company named loan depot.

Loandepot.com is an entirely different company owned by a guy named Anthony Hseih.

Seriously.

You overestimated the value of your home and were suprised that it would have a negative impact on your rate?

Perhaps when your brakes go out on your vehicle and you take it in for a new brake pads and the auto dealer tells you that your rotors are damaged beyond repair and the cost of repair is higher than you estimated they are commiting fraud?

You are suprised that LoanDepot will not personally refund the cost of your appraisal because you did not perform proper due-dilligance on your homes value?..  let alone that you wasted LoanDepots processing and orgination labor hours as well as loan costs such as application costs and credit report costs because of your negligence?

I had a similar experience with loandepot.com where they all but promised me that the loan would go through, and then it didn't because I was a contractor (non permanent employment)

If the load had been approved, I would have been very happy.  but when it didn't I felt betrayed because they made every effort to make me believe there was almost no chance of losing my $495.00

In the end I complained and ranted until they refunded my deposit.

They are very good sales people and I'm sure the vast majority of their loans get approved once the customers commit the $495.

But the problem is that many, if not most of the people applying, can barely afford to risk $495, so when they find themselves surprised by a denial, they feel betrayed and angry and left hanging.  I know I did.

Fortunately Loandepot refunded my money and I was able to get an even lower interest rate on my mortgage through another bank.

I think loandepot needs to make the deposit fully refundable, but if that is not a viable business policy, they need to be very clear that there is a very real risk that the loan might not be approved and the customer forfeits the $495.00

Before posting something this person knows nothing about,further research would show thatWilliam J Camuti IS NOT the owner of LoanDepot.com in Irvine, CA! Anthony Hsieh, who has a spotless reputation in the mortage industry is the owner! Irecently hadmy home loan refinanced with LoanDepot.com and had a really great experience. They have this lending process down to a science! My loan was done and completed in 27 days without ANY problems. Before posting information on a website, do your research! LoanDepot.com is wonderful!

I work for LoanDepot.com and love my company and the people I work with. I knew Jonathan and he left to go work at a broker shop that compensated their staff on a more commission based level. That being said we here at LoanDepot.com do a lot of work for not much pay so the people that work here really love what they do which is important because it breeds excellence and not greed.

A few things, this report states that he decided to do business on 11/19/2010, no loan was secured at this time because thats when the $495 would have been charged to lock the rate and order the appraisal. The file was transferred to another agent upon Jonathans exit and was secured and locked in by Ms. Paris. We read a script to everyone that states the particulars about the loan. Within this script we go over the "Lock fee" which is ALWAYS contingent on the appraisal coming back where the borrower has equity. We can't be in contact with the appraisal company and we are at their mercy just as much as the consumer is. Part of that $495 pays for the appraisal constituting services rendered. The other portion is for the credit report, flood certification and all other support duties leading up to the funding of your loan. What people dont realize is LoanDepot spends alot more money then $495 prior to a loan funding.

The biggest grosse misstatement made here is that our company is owned by Anthony Hsieh and not William J. Camuti. Yes, years back there was a personal finance company that was called Loan Depot but it is a completely seperate business and is not affiliated with us in any way shape or form. They arent even around any longer.

I am always up front and honest with everyone that I talk to and I treat everyone exactly the same. This seams more like an instance of miscommunication in conjunction with a low property value.

I wish we could have made it a better situation for this gentleman but you can please some of the people some of the time but not all the people all the time.

C. Melrose