Complaint Review: Absolute Home Mortgage Corp - hackettstown New Jersey

In May of 2015, my husband and I applied for a mortgage through PNC Bank. The process went without issue until the mortgage was in underwriting and we were advised abruptly notified by Nicholas Jacoski of PNC that our mortgage would not be approved due to a slightly higher debt to income ratio than PNC allowed.  That same day, roughly May 29, 2015, Mr. Jacoski referred us to a company that would be able to handle and approve our mortgage, Absolute Home Mortgage Corporation, which is located in Hackettstown, New Jersey, and that he would personally hand deliver our information to Stephine Speal, a representative of Absolute Home Mortgage Corporation. At the time of this transaction, our current residence was under contract to be sold and we had a signed contract on a new home. Our closing was scheduled as to both residences for July 2, 2015.

On June 2, 2014, the first contact was initiated to Stephanie Speal at Absolute Home Mortgage. She assured us that she would make this work and “not to worry, this will get done.”  Paperwork was hand delivered by us and signed June 4, 2014 in her office. Throughout the ensuing process, communication with Ms. Speal was daunting, to say the least. When emails were sent, her responses tended to be vague and she often did not answer the questions we asked.  Most times, we were unable to reach her by telephone and had to resort to alternate means of communications in order to reach her.  One such instance was when we wanted to lock into an interest rate. I sent an email to Ms. Speal requesting the lock in, but we did not receive a response of any kind for quite some time afterward.

Our most troublesome issue was over being accurately and timely informed of our interest rate and having the company lock that rate in for us when we requested them to do so.  At our first meeting, Ms. Speal told us our rate would not exceed 4.375% for a VA jumbo loan.  We were told we could float down the rate as needed if the interest rate fell after we had locked in. We have an email from Ms. Speal providing that assurance.  At our first meeting, we asked Ms. Speal what the interest rate would be; however, she stated she did not have that data and would get back to us.  We expressed our request to lock into the current rate right away, as we saw that rates were rising.  Numerous times via email and voice, we inquired about the rates and requested to lock in, but she would never provide an exact number, nor the opportunity for us to lock in the rate before rates went up any further.  Her answers to us on these inquiries were vague and she would never give us a definitive figure.  Instead, Ms. Speal would say things like “the rates have not changed much” or “the market is steady,” but she would never provide an actual number.  At one point, she curtly declared it was her job to watch the market and lock in when it was best for her customers.  Eventually, we became quite frustrated and disturbed as closing on our existing home was approaching and we needed to close on our new home. I asked Ms. Speal why our right and request to decide when we lock in was being ignored, but she would not provide a reply. When we mentioned competitors’ interest rates, Ms. Speal asked “Why don’t use that company?” We have most of this back and forth with Ms. Speal saved in email communications. 

When Ms. Speal finally notified us she did not lock into a rate, she stated “the market is doing pretty good right now so I want to see how the day pans out.  I’m always watching the rates also so don’t worry, you’re not going to get any worse. I would lock if that was the case.” The rate she was speaking of was 4.375%. The rate that USAA was offering was 3.87%, and rates through various banks were lower. Ms. Speal also advised us that if rates decreased prior to closing, we would have the opportunity to lock at a lower rate. As we continued to observe the interest rates rising, we again asked Ms. Speal to lock at a lower rate and again she did not. On multiple occasions we requested Ms. Speal to lock into a rate; however, it was not done until 6/24/2015 after rates had risen.

Many other issues arose with Ms. Speal as time progressed.  She was often curt and was extremely difficult to communicate with.  She was discourteous and arrogant, and even our realtor and his staff had similar problems with her.  She told my realtor to go find another lender if he did not like how she was handling the loan process.  It got to a point, due to the rising interest rates and looming closing dates, that we had to micro-manage the process with the Veterans Administration, the realtor, and the home inspector.  We did not know we were not closing on our new home until late in the afternoon the day before closing.  In discussing the failure to have met the closing deadline, Ms. Speal was rude and told us that we were “obviously not closing tomorrow.”  Then every day became a nightmare of uncertainty for our family as Ms. Speal’s incompetence and lack of diligence reached crisis proportions.  Many duplicates documents already provided were requested and many things were found to not have been done on the part of Ms. Speal. 

As a result of Ms. Speal’s lack of proper diligence, since we had relied on Ms. Speal’s assurance that we would close on our new home loan the same day as the closing on our existing residence, we had to enter into a Use and Occupancy Agreement with the seller of our new home and had to pay a per diem fee to live there. We could not move the closing on our existing home at the last minute when we found we were not going to be able to close the loan on our new residence as Ms. Speal led us to believe we would. All of the issues we had to deal with due to Ms. Speal were very difficult to manage, as my husband is a disabled veteran going through cancer treatment.  We explained our situation and pleaded with Ms. Speal and her company to follow through on the plan we were led to rely on. Perhaps Ms. Speal got the impression she could use unethical and careless practices with us due to our being suddenly blindsided with the treatment for cancer which was only diagnosed shortly after the real estate transactions were underway.

When all other avenues failed, we finally convinced our realtor to call one of the Absolute Home Mortgage Corporation owners.  Only then did the ball finally get rolling and we were able to learn the truth about our issues.  All of the chaos Ms. Speal left behind was revealed as were all of the loose ends that were still left to repair.  That is when I got a call from Manny, the Branch Manager of Absolute Home Mortgage Corporation who is also, ironically, Ms. Speal’s fiancée. 

Never have I experienced such an unprofessional, incompetent, dishonest, and careless business organization.    

I feel we were victims of consumer fraud and unethical business practices regarding our mortgage loan. We were never provided with the information we repeatedly requested and were entitled to receive in order for us to be able to make decisions regarding the details of our loan. We were deliberately kept in limbo until it was too late to take our business elsewhere in order to obtain a more reasonable interest rate and more competent service.

We are seeking redress for the expenditures we incurred as a result of the unethical and incompetent actions of Absolute Home Mortgage Corporation in the handling of our mortgage loan, including the higher interest rate for which we incur approximately $200.00 more per month than they led us to expect, and also that the steps be taken to ensure there are no additional victims of such practices on the part of Absolute Home Mortgage Corporation.

 Never had anyone at AHMC told us what our rate woudl be other than the max.  Ironically they never knew what the current rate was nor did they ever answer my inquaries for such mentioned rates.  I have all this documeted electronically and AHMC and I both know there is much more I did not disclose.