Complaint Review: Surepoint Lending - First Residential Mortgage

Steven I am a Mortgage Broker in Louisvile, Ky where Surepoint operates. I have no affiliation with them at all. In fact I would consider myself a competitor. I get on Ripoff Report occasionally to check what's happening in my city. After reading through this saga it seems pretty clear to me that Surepoint tried to take every measure to get you the best loan and the best rate possible.

Truth be known you might have gotten more cash back on the conventional loan, because with FHA there is a mandatory up front funding fee that is 1.5% of your loan. This would have been added to your closing cost. With guidelines changing every day it is tough to get any loan accomplished because once you think that you have a borrower fit into a mold, that mold might change. Everything is based on automated underwriting through Fannie May or Freddie Mac. I am sure you are fully aware of the crises that are taking place all over the country. There are so many elements that are being implemented to try and correct what has happened in the mortgage/housing market, mainly by tightening guidelines to qualify for a loan whether FHA or conventional.

It is very possible that the program that you first qualified for changed, not by Surepoint, but by Fannie May. I have no doubt that your loan officer wanted to put you in an FHA loan if that was possible, reason being that the yields on FHA rates are better than the yields on conforming rates. The LO would probably have made more of a profit. Bottom line you had the choice to close the loan or not. I am sure that you were fully aware of the terms of your loan before you signed those documents also you had three days to rescind the loan if you felt that it was not a good deal. It is not Surepoints fault that you did not take the time to seek a second opinion or another lender, if you felt that what they had to offer did not suit your needs.

Let me tell you as a loan officer myself the last thing I want to tell someone is that we have to change the loan. But sometimes it happens because the guidelines change. You also say that you are now in a better situation so what the problem is? It is people like you that give us a bad rap for trying to help and at the same time trying to earn an honest living. My view is that you should have done some more homework on what is happening right now in the lending world and count your blessings that you were able to close your loan to better your situation. You need to stop slandering Surepoint, they are not the problem it is simply the predicament of the market that we face today.

GG

I acknowledge the closure per the BBB, but buyer beware of this lender. I appreciate Surepoint taking the time to respond on both fronts, but recognize that I feel they offered no commentary on their abhorrent behavior when it came to closing the deal at all costs, nor responding initially when I was upset over the surprise final terms. I feel there was real harm to their reputation done which caused very real financial ramifications between what was provided in the initial Goof Faith estimate and the final loan over the long term. I will let the reader make their own judgment in reading both sides of the story.

Steven,
As we said before, we are sorry that you weren't satisfied, but we do have to underwrite and follow guidelines. In your case, we even had our CEO working on your loan to try to gain the most favorable approval for you. With over 100,000 applications a year, that does not happen frequently.

We offered you the best program available to you. The change was not because of credit or income, but because the property was not approved for the original FHA program. We tried to offer an alternative that would still provide a benefit.

We responded to your Better Business Bureau complaint you mentioned as well. That response was the same as our original response here. They have reviewed the information and closed the case.

Again, we are sorry you weren't satisfied, but tried to communicate as best we could the reason for change and terms for which you qualified.

Steven,
As we said before, we are sorry that you weren't satisfied, but we do have to underwrite and follow guidelines. In your case, we even had our CEO working on your loan to try to gain the most favorable approval for you. With over 100,000 applications a year, that does not happen frequently.

We offered you the best program available to you. The change was not because of credit or income, but because the property was not approved for the original FHA program. We tried to offer an alternative that would still provide a benefit.

We responded to your Better Business Bureau complaint you mentioned as well. That response was the same as our original response here. They have reviewed the information and closed the case.

Again, we are sorry you weren't satisfied, but tried to communicate as best we could the reason for change and terms for which you qualified.

Steven,
As we said before, we are sorry that you weren't satisfied, but we do have to underwrite and follow guidelines. In your case, we even had our CEO working on your loan to try to gain the most favorable approval for you. With over 100,000 applications a year, that does not happen frequently.

We offered you the best program available to you. The change was not because of credit or income, but because the property was not approved for the original FHA program. We tried to offer an alternative that would still provide a benefit.

We responded to your Better Business Bureau complaint you mentioned as well. That response was the same as our original response here. They have reviewed the information and closed the case.

Again, we are sorry you weren't satisfied, but tried to communicate as best we could the reason for change and terms for which you qualified.

Steven,
As we said before, we are sorry that you weren't satisfied, but we do have to underwrite and follow guidelines. In your case, we even had our CEO working on your loan to try to gain the most favorable approval for you. With over 100,000 applications a year, that does not happen frequently.

We offered you the best program available to you. The change was not because of credit or income, but because the property was not approved for the original FHA program. We tried to offer an alternative that would still provide a benefit.

We responded to your Better Business Bureau complaint you mentioned as well. That response was the same as our original response here. They have reviewed the information and closed the case.

Again, we are sorry you weren't satisfied, but tried to communicate as best we could the reason for change and terms for which you qualified.

Have also referred case to BBB and Surepoint has responded as well in that forum.
Will update if anything else comes of it - as it stands now, explanation and apology not accepted for the actions employed by the lender.

Have also referred case to BBB and Surepoint has responded as well in that forum.
Will update if anything else comes of it - as it stands now, explanation and apology not accepted for the actions employed by the lender.

Have also referred case to BBB and Surepoint has responded as well in that forum.
Will update if anything else comes of it - as it stands now, explanation and apology not accepted for the actions employed by the lender.

Steven,
I have reviewed your complaint and we are sorry to hear you weren't satisfied. As I'm sure you are aware, a loan must be fully processed, with an appraisal to verify property type, usage, condition and value, and then underwritten before a guaranteed approval and closing. In your case, we had you approved on an FHA loan with cash out as you requested, but as we got further into the loan process, we had to make a program change.

Your credit and debt were not an issue in qualifying for FHA. We had to make a program change because your condo was not FHA approved. Therefore, you did not qualify for an FHA loan and we had to offer you a different program in the conforming market. We did have to increase the rate, but it was the best rate available on the conforming product for which you were qualified. In addition, the new program would not allow cash out with your credit score. On FHA, cash out was available, but again, due to your property not being FHA approved, there was a program change to the conforming market which did not allow cash out with your credit score.

We did not disagree with the appraiser. We did use the value from your appraisal for loan qualifications. Conforming guidelines require a third party review and confirmation of value (either AVM or LARA). The limited review, in which a different appraiser just looks over the original appraisal without physically inspecting the property, did not support the appraisal. We had to spend time internally trying to make sure all information was consistent between appraisers so the appraised value of your home could be used.

There was no bait and switch. SurePoint immediately notified you of the issues that came up through the loan process, we re-disclosed all terms of the loan, and sent out updated good faith documents which you signed and returned to us prior to closing. As you said, there was a benefit to you, although all of your goals were not met.

SurePoint offered the best loan and rate available to you based on your qualifications. No additional fees for origination or discount points were charged. All changes were communicated and disclosed before closing. We try our best to meet all customer needs, but each loan has to be underwritten and approved according to guidelines. If the loan doesn't meet the guidelines of our original program, we try to offer an alternative program to the customer, if one is available.