This company is a scam! I started working with them in January on a refinance loan. Of course my first question was about the rate. They provided an attractive rate, so I decided to go with them. The first thing I was told was that I had to pay for an appraisal and that my rate could not be locked until after the appraisal was completed. I told them I was uncomfortable with paying for the appraisal in advance of the rate lock because if the rates went up, we would not want to go with the loan and then we would be out the money for the appraisal.
The rep told me that the rate would be locked right after the appraisal and that if the rates looked like they were going up a half a point or more, "don't worry he would have an exception to lock the rate long before that". After the appraisal and all of our financial documents were submitted, I started asking about the rate lock. On February 2nd, the rep confirmed that he had received all of our documents and was going to "lock the rate today".
ON February 6th, I emailed inquiring about the rate lock and was told that the rates were slightly higher if I wanted to lock that day because they had gone up on February 3rd! I complained and reminded him that he told me he had "locked it" on February 2nd. He asked for more documents and told me that he would "see what he could do about the rate". In the meantime, 2 different underwriters began contacting me for more documents. I asked each one about the rate lock, but of course, that wasn't their department!
I was emailing my loan officer repeatedly asking about the rate lock, and got no response. When I told the underwriters that we would not proceed with the loan until we were sure the rate was locked, I would just have another underwriter contact me. After 10 emails over 3 weeks, as we were getting close to closing, my loan officer finally responded telling me that he hadn't responded because he was working with his superiors to get the rate locked because rates hadn't been that low since February 2nd.
He assured me that they were certain the rates would go down in the next few days and they would get my rate locked at the quoted rate so I should continue with the underwriting department and we could get the loan closed a few days after getting the rate lock. As another 2 weeks went by, and many more emails, I had provided ALL of the necessary documents and he loan was getting ready to close, but my loan officer still hadn't confirmed my rate lock! When he did finally respond, he told me the rate was half a point higher than we initially agreed upon!
Despite the fact that I have kept a detailed log of all of the correspondence and promises about the rate lock, their VP won't do a thing about it! They just kept me going, kept ensuring everything would be ok and the rate would be locked, while luring us in by getting us closer to closing and financially invested in the loans, only to pull the bait and switch at the last minute! I also noticed that as I began providing more detailed documentation of the different lies I was given, each supervisor began responding by asking me to "call them", obviously not wanting to put any more lies into a written record!
I have owned a few homes and have completed numerous mortgages, refinances and home equity loans, and I have NEVER dealt with any company that was this shady or unethical! I wish I had researched them and read some of these other rip off reports before I chose to use them! NOw we are out our $425 for the appraisal and we have to start all over with another company and most likely will be paying a higher rate for the next 30 years as a result of Hunter Financial Group's gross incompetence!