Complaint Review: Great American Mortgage Company - Charlotte North Carolina

Life torn apart by

Great American Mortgage Co Charlotte, NC (GMAC

NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH GMAC)

I am a first time home buyer, and single mom also raising my 7 yr. old grandson.

After building up my credit following a bankruptcy in 2002 due to my business going under I was thrilled to at last be in the position to buy a home of my own.

I was first contacted by this company in late February of this year (2006) after filling out an online application with Lending Tree. I was contacted by a few brokers, and this one offered me a 100% financing fixed rate 30 mortgage, so I went with them. Everyone else was offering adjustable rate mortgages and/or interest only. I did not want interest only because I want equity in my home. My situation is not the easiest because I had a 620 FICO and being a chauffeur and independent contractor I file a schedule C thus not showing my actual income after all of the deductions allowed. So I had to go either no doc. or full doc. using bank statements to show my income. No problem is what I was told I asked for a pre qualification prior to finding a home. I did an application by phone, and on March 3rd sent bank statements for the past 12 months. I was looking in Charlotte, NC and moving from the greater Phoenix, AZ area. Charlie Childs was my acct exec. I told him that given the great expense of traveling out there and taking time off of work, I would not come until he could give me a definite approval. He gave me the go ahead to come to Charlotte to search for my home just after Easter, stating that the loan was a sure thing at the rate we discussed they just hadn't decided yet which way to go bank statements or simply do stated income no docs.

I had chosen several homes to view from a selection online which were in my price range for the loan amount Charlie had said we could get approved for. He said he would be prepared to take a contract the moment I chose a home. I found my home and was even under the loan amount which Charlie had allowed me. He said we were good to go. I inquired as to how much my closing costs would be because we would ask those of the seller. Due to the percentage he gave me we asked for $4,000.00 from the seller and got it.

My realtor faxed over the offer and then I went home to Phoenix. The contracts were signed and everything was in motion. My Realtor Tina McCracken from Keller Williams in Lake Norman was great. Attention to every detail. I made several more calls to Charlie to check on the progress. I was always told that my file was with the processor, and everything was fine. Charlie told me that we were going to go stated because we couldn't use the bank statements, which I didn't understand because they show more than 32K in income. That isn't my entire income but one would think it's certainly enough for a 175K home loan.

The commitment letter as per the contract was due on April 12th and despite several requests from my Realtor it was not yet generated AS OF THE 26th! I received a call from the office of Keller Williams asking me to contact Great American Mortgage Co. to see if I could get them to send the commitment letter ASAP. I called and got the run around from Charlie Childs saying that he wasn't aware that it was due. I said well look at the contract it's right there in black and white. He said he didn't have my file the processor did. The next phone call was made by me the following Tuesday after he still failed to send the commitment letter. He claimed that it had been faxed on Friday, although no one had received it. He was asked to fax it again. Still nothing. At this point the Realtor for the seller was getting antsy because the sellers needed the commitment letter from our side in order to enter into a contract for the home they were buying. One of the reps from Keller Williams had called GAMC to let them know that if they did not fax the commitment letter within the next half an hour they would advise their client (myself) to go with another mortgage company! I had to speak with Charlie's superior Jeff Medley who is the owner of Great American Mortgage Co. The excuse I got was that he (Jeff) had been moving offices and had been in Kentucky with my file all weekend. He faxed the document as per my demand to myself, Keller Williams, and Lake Norman Realty (the sellers realtor). So regretfully I stayed with them. The commitment letter was for a single mortgage with a fixed rate of 7.75% for 30 years. I had originally been quoted a 6.5 to 7% rate at worst, but Charlie insisted that this was based upon a 5% down payment. Tired of arguing the point it wasn't big enough to get upset so I let it go. I had asked if we could lock that rate because that is what I had heard was the way things are done, but he insisted that it was not. Mortgage rates fluctuated and I would have to take whatever rate came along as the market changed. I have since found out that is untrue the rate should and can be locked. But getting back to the chain of events; The first week of June I was quoted a payment of $1,253.00 because I didn't want my homeowners insurance, and taxes included, I wanted to do my homeowners and auto together on my own.

On June 6th my Realtor called me to make sure I was getting my homeowners policy and suggested some local insurance agencies, and she let me know what I would need in certified funds at closing and told me to check with Charlie at GAMC what my funds were from them. When I asked Charlie he said the total was $2,700-$3,100. I said "Okay so I will have money coming back then from the 4K the sellers are paying" He then tells me "No that is in addition to what the sellers are paying" I'm speechless at this point and asked him to please explain himself because this is not what we discussed! He said this was all outlined in the GOOD FAITH ESTIMATE he faxed when I first applied. I said Excuse me, you never sent me a good faith estimate' this is the first I have heard of such a document" He argued that he did send it. Then when I would not back down he put me on hold. When he returned to the line he said Well apparently it was never sent even though I did generate it, I'll send it now. I told him to email it in addition to faxing it. I received it within ten minutes and when I read it over I had a fit! The broker commission was 2% totaling $3,500, plus an administration fee to them of $495 two separate fees with different names to the same entity... okay?.... then a $799 fee for something else, I believe to the lender. I immediately called my realtor crying because I didn't have that kind of money set aside. I had three months of mortgage set aside so that I would have time to build my business there in Charlotte without worrying where money was coming from. I forwarded a copy of the estimate to her, and she was in shock at the amounts and said they were not the norm. She said they were basically screwing me BIG TIME. My Realtor had a mortgage broker she worked with regularly and he got in touch with me. I explained my situation to him and he said that being so close to my closing date he wasn't sure that he could work the loan in time. He said that if these guys already had me on a loan, difficult as it was to work with them I would need to stick with them or not meet my closing date. He advised me of some general mortgage standards and told me to tell GAMC that I was aware of these and not to let them get away with this. I told Charles what I had learned and went over the options then eventually had to have my Realtor change the purchase price to reflect the extra $3,000.00, so that I could finance the amount even though I didn't agree with being railroaded into paying it. Had I seen this "Good Faith Estimate" when I started the process, I would have NEVER gone with this broker!! I told Charlie that, and that I didn't appreciate his dishonesty, because I am moving 2,200 miles across the US with my child and grand child! This is my life we are talking about!! He assured me that everything would be fine, and he was not dishonest with me.

The scheduled closing date/move in date was June 16th. My house was being packed up. I called the utility companies in Mooresville to schedule my turn ons, and they needed to run my credit so I held off on that. I put a call through to Charlie to asked about when I could allow them to run those, and he said to be safe we would wait till we were close the move date. At last on Friday the 9th, the date I was supposed to leave for North Carolina, I called Charlie and asked "Being that it is the Friday before we close is it safe to let the utility companies run my credit now, and do the banks pull my score again before the closing?" He said " Go ahead and do it, at this point we are so close to the closing it doesn't matter, and the bureaus don't get the info immediately, it takes time to report." So I called an had all of my utilities scheduled for turn on the 16th. I set out for North Carolina on Sunday Night because U Haul messed up my reservation, and didn't have my equipment for me costing me three days of driving time. I had to drive about 15 hours per day to get to North Carolina in time for the Closing on Friday.

My cell phone was still connected with my AZ number because I did not yet decide which cellular provider to go with in NC. On Wednesday I received a phone call from a woman who said that she was calling me to set up a time to come over to do the appraisal on the house. I said " I'm the buyer not the seller, I'm in a U Haul on my way across country, why would you call me?" She said " Oh I was given your name and number as the contact person for the appraisal" I said "no that would not be correct" I asked why on earth she was just now doing the appraisal on a house that was closing in two days, and she related to me that it was ordered by the Mortgage broker. Again I was sick at this last minute insanity.

Next, Charlie called me on Wednesday afternoon asking me to fax bank statements from 2005, and my latest ones from the last three months. I told him that he should have asked for the past three months of bank statements before I left AZ when I would have actually had access to them, and I had sent him those other bank statements back on March 3rd! He said he didn't have them. I said "if you have the others you have those, they were in the same email!" He insisted that I fax them to him. I was incredulous!! I was in the middle of God knows where crossing the country in a U Haul just days before my closing, and he is asking for documents I don't have?!? I called my bank in AZ, and asked them to fax the requested statements which they did for a charge and I told Charlie that I would be charging him for these and if he continued to take up my time on cell which I already told him was on overage minutes @ 45 cents per, I would hit him with that too! I told him that it was his responsibility to gather these documents PRIOR to my leaving AZ and I was disturbed that all of the work wasn't done on my loan when I was closing in just two days!! After the bank faxed him the statements he called me back yet again asking for December's bank statement. I said You have that one with the ones sent in March and now at this hour, my bank is closed!!! He said "Well I need you to get me those by 9:00 AM tomorrow. He even told me to give all of my banking information and passwords to my Realtor's office and have them pull up the statements and print them! That was not acceptable, no one gives their banking information to anyone else! I was estimating to arrive in Charlotte that night very late or Thursday morning, so I planned to fax the statement which was in my file in the car. The file which was a copy of everything I had sent to him back in March!! I finally arrived in Charlotte at about 4:00 AM on Thursday and checked into my hotel. I fell asleep after driving for three days on four hours of sleep. I awoke at about 2:00 PM the closing was scheduled for 1:00 PM Friday. I called Charlie and let him know that the statement was being faxed as we spoke. He went on a big dissertation about how it was supposed to be there at 9:00 AM. I said just get it done it should not have been done in the 11th hour anyway! You have NO excuse get it done!!! I was hard pressed to believe that my loan closing on time hung on a singe thread of my December bank statement being there at 9:00 AM.

Friday came and my Realtor told me that the phone lines at the office of GAMC weren't working. We could not get through, she was able however to send a fax. For some reason that was working. Still she had not heard from Charlie or Jeff, and we were just hours from closing. I eventually drove to the GAMC offices and no one was there. Still no phone call to me or the Realtor. With only a few hours till the closing was scheduled at the lawyer's office they recommended another mortgage broker to me to see if we could save ourselves. He called the lender who was listed on the commitment letter to see if they would allow him to complete the loan so that we could close on time. They said they had never heard of me, AND HAD NO FILE ON ME WHATSOEVER. I got directions to the new broker's office and planned to head that way. On my way to the freeway I went back to the office after checking out of the hotel around eleven and the door was finally unlocked. I entered and confronted a man who I asked Are you Charlie?, he said yes said and I asked what was going on and where the loan package was. He said that the underwriters were working on it. He didn't know when it would be finished. Jeff would be back soon and maybe would know something. I said "we are supposed to be closing in an hour!!" You have no phones you have made no contact with me or the lawyer or the Realtors, no one knows what's going on!

He said" We have several issues and you didn't get the December statement to me when you were supposed to. I began to get very upset and again addressed the issue of him having the statements since March. He told me to wait for Jeff. I went outside to check on my children and pets who were in the U Haul with the AC running and saw a man enter the building who I guessed to be Jeff. I went back into the office and was immediately met by him. I asked why my package wasn't ready. He and Charlie went on to tell me that they had to go with a different lender because my score had dipped to just below 620 because of the Gas Company doing an inquiry on my credit. I said Charlie said it was safe to turn the utilities on at this late of a date, and then Charlie stood there and told me and his boss that he said NOT to run my score under any circumstance. At this time I blew up!! I told him he was a filthy liar, and that this crap should not have been done at the very last minute anyway, and it was his fault that this was happening. Jeff told me that he was aware that I had gone to another mortgage broker to get this done and try to take over the loan because he spoke with the account rep from that loan company who the other guy had called. I said Well that is what happens when you don't do your job, and no one can find you. The argument escalated and I asked for my file which he refused to give to me. He refused to tell me what my current score was, or show me any paperwork. I refused to leave without my file or at the very least the faxes which I had ordered and paid for the day before. He again refused. My realtor was on the phone with me all the while listening. Jeff was telling me to get out and was approaching me menacingly to throw me out of the office for calling him a liar and raising my voice. At this point I became riotous yelling and told him if he touched me I would have him arrested for assault. My Realtor called the police for my protection, and eventually Jeff called about seven guys from the building's management/maintenance team and they all stood with their arms folded in the front of the office trying to look intimidating. I told them I was not threatened by them and was not leaving w/out my file, and not one of them was to take one step near me. Eventually they left. Tina still on the phone asked if Jeff would be willing to talk to Bobby (a higher up in the Keller Williams office) Things calmed down and Jeff promised me a closing on Monday if I would go with his title person instead of the lawyer my Realtor had chosen for me more than a month earlier. The use of our own lawyer had previously become an issue when I spoke with Charlie after he sent me the Good Faith Estimate which listed someone named Keating and I said to him that we already had a lawyer closing this and this had been documented more than a month ago. We all agreed to use Jeff's title company since that was the only way he would agree to get this done. He guaranteed that I would be in the house on Monday, and I left the office upon that promise.

Monday came and went and he didn't get me closed. At this point I once again contacted other brokers and no one could get me done in less than a week though they could get me done. If this went much farther I would lose the house because the time limit was running out on the commitment letter and the sellers would be able to back out legally. Additionally, at this point I had wasted more than $1,000 on hotel rooms, and gas running around. My children and I plus my five cats and dog were aimlessly waiting around each day checking out of motels with no where to go in 97degree heat, on the promise that he would have this done tomorrow, then another tomorrow. At last on Thursday the 22nd I received a phone call from my Realtor stating that she had heard from Charlie and we were to close at her office at Noon Friday the 23rd. Again I found a motel and checked in. I received a call from my Realtor saying that she had heard from the seller's Realtor and they were demanding that I remove my U Haul from the driveway until we finally closed, or they would call U Haul and have it towed. I had her call them back and ask them if since we finally received word that we would close the next day can it just stay there. No response, then about an hour later I got call from my future neighbor who had befriended me when we first arrived at the house a week prior, telling me that there was a tow truck there for my U Haul. They took the truck containing my every belonging and there was nothing I could do about it.

On Friday I showed up early for the scheduled closing to my Realtor's office. My cat of 11 years who was frightened and sick of being in motels and a hot car escaped from his crate and got lost in the woods. My children, my Realtors and I spent hours searching for the cat in thorny bushes and trees. Then we received word that the closing was being postponed to 2:00 PM and was to be at a lawyers office the next town over, because at this point the sellers didn't trust GAMC and wanted the documents looked over by their lawyer. I was hysterical looking for my cat, and had to stop to go to the closing which I really didn't want to do, but the office staff all assured me they would block the exit from the woods to be sure he didn't get on the highway to get hit by a car. They continued to look. Once at the lawyer's office the title company rep went over paper work with the seller's atty. and Realtor, while my Realtor and I waited in the front lobby. I had movers scheduled for 5:30 to unload the truck which the U Haul dealer was going to let me take back long enough to unload it. We were there an hour when we finally told them we needed to get this completed and get back to the woods for my cat, and get to my house. We began to go over the paperwork, and the woman from the title company said that the loan was not yet funded and the sellers told the lawyer to not let me have the keys until it was. We were told we could get the paperwork signed and then get the papers recorded Monday when the loan was funded. We began going through the documents to sign and I was told that the loan was and 80/20 and it was an adjustable rate mortgage at 8.79% and was interest only. I flipped because GAMC knew that I didn't want an adjustable rate, and the worst part I absolutely communicated under no circumstance was I interested in an interest only loan!!! I could have had this done a long time ago with any one of five companies!! I got on the phone with Charlie from GAMC and asked him what was this all about, and why wasn't I contacted and asked about this as opposed to throwing this at me completely unaware at the closing!?! I told him that he knew full well that this is not what was discussed nor in the commitment letter! He said " I did my job" I said You have not done your job, you only have lied the entire time to me. What are you going to do about this? He hung up on me.

At this point we had run out of time the signing rep for the title company had another two closings, and promised to get to me later that evening to finish signing the papers.

I went back to the Realtor's office where they were all still searching for the cat with no luck. Now I got a call from the movers and I had to tell them that it was AGAIN cancelled. ten minutes passed and I got a cal from U Haul saying that I needed to get there and unload my truck into a storage unit because they needed to get the truck empty. So I called the movers back and had them meet me at the storage to unload it. My Realtor called GAMC to ask them to reduce their fees after all of the pain and expense they cost me, and told them of the U Haul situation and that U Haul was asking more than $800 in late fees, they simply said that it was not their problem and refused to do anything to relieve the problem that they had caused. We got word from the title company that the loan had funded, but since the paperwork was incomplete and the HUD had corrections which needed to be made because the information from GAMC was wrong I still could not have keys till Monday after the new corrected HUD was faxed and then the title rep needed to get with the sellers realtor for her to sign as she now had power of atty. for them. So I would need to spend more money on a motel for the weekend, and eating food out.

Now a Thunder storm began and in addition to a down pour, and thunder, it was getting dark quickly. My son was back at the Realtor's office still looking for the cat but it was closing time and everyone would be leaving. I got in the car and on the freeway heading back to the office five miles away to get to my son. The traffic was backed up and it took me 1/2 an hour. One of the women from the office called me to let me know that she was still there with My son and she had to leave but would be back shortly. At last I arrived at the office and no one was around in the woods or parking lot. I was hysterically crying at this point afraid for my cat and my son. I got out of the car and called for Fletch (my cat) he came running to me out of the bushes.

I called the number of the realtor and she told me I could find my son inside the office. I gathered him and then returned to unload my possessions from the 26 foot UHaul into the storage unit in the pouring rain. we managed to get everything into the storage in 2 hours I had to pay the movers $160, and then went to get fast food because my son and I hadn't had a bite to eat all day. We were cut and bruised and bitten by insects, and the worst part was it was al for nothing because we didn't even close escrow and the meeting was changed to the other place because the documents weren't ready at noon when scheduled.

I had two options making this a LOSE LOSE situation

1) I could not accept the terms and be homeless after traveling 2,200 miles across the country with no family to aid me, or

2) I could get roped into a mortgage which is $300.00 more per month than agreed upon. I was not in any position to try to rent a place, I could not afford to continue living in a motel room. When I set out for my new life in North Carolina I had three months mortgage put aside and would have time to put my home together, and get working and earning some money. I now have $1,200 to my name after all of the unnecessary expenses caused by this crook! My children have suffered such emotional distress having to live in motels wondering whether they were going to have a home or not. Especially distressing for my 7 yr. Old grandson who was an abused child and who I have taken custody of in order to give him stability not chaos! My dog got lost Thursday night at the motel and he has not been found, and I thank God that we found my cat and he is fine. But this is inexcusable and these horrid people need to pay!

I feel at the very least I should be reimbursed the hotel ,and meal costs, incurred, and late charges on the U Haul, plus certainly closing costs for a refinance which will be immediately necessary so that I can afford the payments on my home which I worked so hard to buy, and do not deserve to lose because I was railroaded by this company.

Veronica

Moresville, North Carolina
U.S.A.