Complaint Review: Universal Financial Group

The incidents in question were definitely not true.  I used to be an employee and that guy was just a person that didn't want to work.  I don't know why people complain when they don't work and they wind up getting fired.  I guess it is no wonder why he is still collecting unemployment or probably disability for being stupid.

The employee that posted this was angry for being terminated for a lack of production. Immediately following the termination, he posted in many websites the same exact "report". I have had his slanderous statements removed from every site I have found due to the slanderous nature.

I can understand the frustration of being terminated, however it is very unprofessional to attack individuals of an organization in a public forum. To make general statements about a company is acceptable, but not about people directly.

He states, "This Kent Wheeles has no clue what he is doing & will take up to a week to let you know the outcome of an application & usually returns applications to you denying them as a loan." With over 5 years of experience and over $30 million in funded loans, I believe I do in fact know what I am doing. To respond to the second half of the statement, it does take a while to exhaust all avenues before we denied a loan. Sometimes it does take a week because after I look at it and determine there is probably not a loan, I forward it onto the Regional Manager Frank Pabon who then tries to find out if there is a loan. If he is unable to find a loan in the application, we had weekly conferences with the President of Universal Financial Group Joe Savino that sometimes last 2 hours to discuss any possible way to do a loan for them. After 3 upper level managers determine that we can't do a loan for the consumer, we notify the loan officer that there is nothing we can do.

I no longer am employed by Universal Financial Group because of a few reasons. I started my own mortgage branch and also driving 45 minutes to the office every day was costing too much money with the cost of gas. With that being said, I will defend Universal Financial Group, Frank Pabon, Joe Savino, and thier practices as stated by lowatchdog.

UFGI hires loan officers to produce loans. If lowatchdog had a built in referral base where he would have brought clients in the door, he would not have been required to make cold calls. With that being said, UFGI provided leads for loan officers to call. That is completely different than most mortgage companies out there that provide no support for their employees.

As far as needing a computer, I still to this day do not understand why a loan officer needs a computer while talking to prospective customers on the phone. Maybe to play solitaire? Check personal email on company time?

Having little contact is to be expected. Why would we hire loan officers with a SALARY to call current customers? That is the role of the client retention department.

Empty cubicles? This is a concern? There are over 20 desks in the office. There are very few mortgage companies that can claim they have 20 loan officers on their payroll. Imagine having 20 loan officers that you pay a SALARY to not producing. If we could have found 20 quality loan officers, they would all be filled.

UFGI is not a broker shop. Being a mortgage bank, we looked at the prevailing rates for the day. Your broker shops that allow loan officers access to rate sheets will always give higher rates so they can make more money. Did he want the rate sheets that he saw at his old broker shop so he could see how high a rate he could give?

The next statement is actually humorous. In 3 weeks, lowatchdog had 1 potential loan for a conforming customer (low rate, no closing costs). To make a statement that we "strongly encouraged not to disclose the rate or high closing costs" is absolutely ridiculous. He never had an opportunity to "not disclose the rate or high closing cost."

Why he attacks Frank Pabon makes no sense. lowatchdog didn't even have contact with Frank Pabon. As a manager there, I didn't get constantly yelled at. Maybe he misunderstood direct orders as yelling, but as a manager I didn't feel I was getting yelled at. And seeing as I was the only other manager and did my job, I took his orders as simply directions to get the loans that I had closed. Frank doesn't run around the office yelling profanity. Seriously.

When Joe Savino would call for our meetings, of course he would expect more out of us. Despite consistently being the top office in the company, there is always more you can do. It is his role to motivate every manager, loan officer, telemarketer, and processor to bring in more business. If lowatchdog was looking for a pat on the back every day, maybe he should have done his job and not complain about everything. When Joe Savino held these meetings, the squabbles were usually for loans not being able to go through for various reasons. If the loan officer didn't get the proper documentation, income not what was stated on the application, things like that. I never personally felt my job was in jeopardy because I did my job above and beyond.

In conclusion, I do feel that everyone has a right to their opinion to a point. This "report" holds no validity and is very slanderous to myself, Frank Pabon, and Joe Savino. I think it is irresponsible of this website to even allow this post. It is quite clear that lowatchdog is experiencing sourgrapes for his dismissal. I personally feel that he stole money from the company by collecting a check and not doing any work. Then follows it up with an unfounded "report" that attacks the credibility of Universal Financial Group. You can check the Better Business Bureau in Wisconsin and Illinois. UFGI is a great company to do loans with and to work for. But not if you are lazy. Do you think a Federally Chartered Bank would keep a loan officer that doesn't get a loan for his first 3 weeks of employment? Wouldn't happen.