Complaint Review: Option One Mortgage Corporation - Irvine California

My story about Option One is a long one, but a good one. I hope to one day bring my own nightmare to a close. In 2000 I like many others who have indured the most up most pleasure came in contact with Option One as a means of getting to start over with a "fresh start." Young and fresh out of the courts with my newly divorced papers and the debt the man that I once said forever to, I had no where to turn to, but refinace my home. My home was to be "paid in full" in about 6 years. It is now 6 years later and I wished I could do things over as my home would be paid for, and my credit as good as it was is now shot to hell because of Option One. Here is my story. In 2000, I came in contact with a company that did consoladation loans, for people like myself starting over. My ex was court ordered to pay for our childs medical bills, but like most divorces ours was ugly! Serveral months went by and I couldn't get him to pay a dime of childsupport, let a lone the medical bills. I was awarded everything, including the debt that came with "everything." I was young, divorced, and had a new baby, and getting despreat for a light at the end of the tunnel! I unlike most that have encountered Option One, had something to "fall back on." In 2001 I was to receive a trust fund that had been established for me when I was very young. I knew that it was coming, but the bills were upon me now, so I consoladated and refinanced my home with Option One. Big mistake! It wasn't until I received my trust fund in 2001 that I relized that I could not pay my account off with them in full without facing a penalty that was out of this world! So I did what I thought was a good "starting over" move...I paid for my monthly payments a year in advance. Another BIG NO NO WITH THEM! I had planed to keep my payments at least payed 1 year in advance with them to keep them from calling! My goodness they do call ALOT! We fought before I made this yearly advance payment over when my payment was due and why call before a payment was even due? Well, after the advance payment I stopped receiving my monthly statements, I called, I wrote, I was placed on hold for hours, and most of all given the run around. I was once even told that maybe someone else was taking my statements from my mail box. Uh I have a Post Office Box, and I am the only one with a key! BUT, this is my favorite part of all. Someone was "taking my statements" according to them, but I started receiveing letters stating that I didn't have homeowners insurance? What? Can't get them to send a statement, but now I was being accused of NOT having home owners insurance! So I called to straighten this mess out, guess what. Oh you guessed it since you've been in my shoes. The run around, and told they had been taking THEIR insurance out of the advance payments! I had insurance, WHAT the HELL was the problem!? Well in the end, the supposbly gave me a renbursment on the insurance, and I guess it made them mad because then they started in about my property taxes. Another round with Option One that I won. Between the fighting over insurance, and property taxes my year paid in full had gone on my minds back burner, since they still hadn't sent me a statement, by now the year in full had come to an end, and would you believe I got a STATEMENT! Boy I was p'ed off you better believe it, not only that but I got to endure the whole mess over my home owners insurance AGAIN! Only this time I had no money paid in advance, so they started threats of FORECLOSURE on me. Boy what I wouldn't do to find a lawyer that would take this monkey off my back. This is where they violated law after law, and now a FEDERAL Law! It first started with the phone calls, then a man shows up on my door with a forecloser notice and how my home will be sold soon. I showed him my Insurance recept and how it was paid, and not only was it PAID, but a year in advance! He advised me to FAX it to Option One, no crap I thought, I had already done that at the Insurance agency. So that day I went back to the Insurance agency Faxed another copy to Option One, left there mailed a copy by certifed regestard mail to them with signed return receipt. Everything was fine for about a week or so, no phone calls...that was a suprise! Then my mom phoned, my name and property where listed in our local paper to be auctioned off, got back on the phone and raised cane, got informed that yes I was in collection and that my payments for the last three months would be arriving shortly back to me because they don't "take or accept partial payments" it was considered partial payment because they had begun deducting insurance out of my payments so that put me behind on my home payments. I was p'ed off good this time! I went and got a lawyer to handle this mess, I was really about to loose my home! And my mind along with it! My lawyer could not get a hold of a single decent human being that knew what they where talking about let alone resolve this dispute. It went on and on between the lawyer and them up to the day before forecloser was to take place. I was given 2 choses by my lawyer, let them win and take my home, or file bankruptcey that day, and fight them afterwards. I chose to fight! I was told that with chapter 13 they couldn't touch my property so long as I followed my plan, and maintained home owners insurance on my home. I had no problem with this as I was already doing this. Option One would have no right to contact me and harrass me in any way according to FEDERAL LAW, but they are Option One. The closest thing to GOD that is on earth, no one can tell them what they can or cannot do! It was only a month or so after filing chapter 13 that the letters came pouring into my mail box about home owners insurance, I just kept giving them to my lawyer and he'd tell me "I'll take care of it, you do have insurance right?" They have yet to stop. I have recently learned that I may never get out of bankruptcey because they are applying it as an arrears on my statements to the FEDERAL COURTS, my lawyer won't get off his a*s and do anything about this, he's paid and personaly I don't think he's ready to take on a case load of this magnutued! That is their first FEDERAL violation, the second would be them CALLING. Oh yes they called, not me..but my mom. They violated my "right of stay" They left ALL of my personal information on her answering machine, the answering machine message was one that was preset standard greating in a recorded voice "Please record after the tone" they did alright, not having a clue as to who they gave my personal information to, or evening caring. That was a violation of the "privacy act", as well as a FEDRAL COURT order. I am still receiving letters about insurance, they never stopped. I've always had insurance even during Katrina they calimed I didn't have Insurance, but yet my insurance paid for all my repairs. Go figure. I may never get my discharge papers from FEDERAL COURT stating my discharge because of Option One, I feel as though I have gone numb in some sort of a way over all of this. My blood pressure goes up and down, even had a mild stroke over all of this just before I entered chapter 13, this is crap someone needs to stop them before it causes someone to have a major stroke and die from their B/S. Enough is Enough!

I have to agree with all the negative comments made here concerning Option One. I was contacted by a mortgage broker who only represents Option One, they neglected to mention that, and took out a mortgage with a prepayment penalty. I, like most of the people they prey upon, have had credit problems. I made my payments ontime for 1 full year and again was contacted. Again I refinanced. This time the day after my first payment was due, and had been mailed, I was contacted at work and told I was in default. This has continued for 2+ years. When I fell behind due to circumstances beyond my control, I was treated with hostility and disrespect by their customer service reps. Option One has refused to accept payments because as they put it they, "want to keep the option of forclosure open." Option one contacted my town and paid my property taxes without my consent and then increased my monthly payment by $300. I have never been 90 days behind on any payment, but it is obvious all they are concerned about is seizing my property. I am currently only 24 days behind on 1 payment and they have put my house in forclosure. They have sent me a letter insisting I sign that states I agree I cannot make my payments. As I have tried to tell them countless times that is not the case. I just need time to catch up as I am doing now. Option One does not care. I have contacted my state reps, congressmen, state banking comission and governor. I urge anyone who has encountered these same types of problems to do the same.

Norma: If you have proof that Option One is not following the laws/rules contact your state representative immediately. That is what we did and Option One found religion real fast. In your letter as that the state revoke Option One's license. Please be sure to send a copy to Option One. We also contacted the governer's office. The politians were more than happy to help. They do need our vote to get elected.

I have been dealing with option one for over 2 years and it has been a nightmare. too the point I had to file bankruptcy and the are not following the rules of the court either. I sent in a payment in January and there bank post marked it February 3 but they did not credit my account until March 1, 2004 which means i am being charged for late fees. when you file bankruptcy. the past payments are taken from the trustees fees and I was sending in my present payments each month. it appears they have taken my present payments and applied it to past due charges and i incurred late fees every month to the present. I found a mortgage co to pay option one off. but option one denied the payment stated there bank denied the check due to insuffiecient funds. I sent a check for 750 and a check for 288 to cure a default. they sent me a letter the default was cured but then send back my payment for 750 but kept the 288 and now they want to foreclosure. Option one has been a nightmare for me. i have bank statements stating they have received payments this year but payments are applied late on there behalf. I received 3 different mailing addresses from this facility to send payments but non seem to work. how do i get out of this mess.

My credit was very good when I applied for a mortgage. Having been a consumer of many mortgage companies I never thought there was a company as corrupt as Option One. Needless to say I am a very happy former Option One customer. I have refinanced and will only work in the future with HomeBanc who has always been very honest and trustworthy. Bye, bye Option One.

My credit was very good when I applied for a mortgage. Having been a consumer of many mortgage companies I never thought there was a company as corrupt as Option One. Needless to say I am a very happy former Option One customer. I have refinanced and will only work in the future with HomeBanc who has always been very honest and trustworthy. Bye, bye Option One.

My credit was very good when I applied for a mortgage. Having been a consumer of many mortgage companies I never thought there was a company as corrupt as Option One. Needless to say I am a very happy former Option One customer. I have refinanced and will only work in the future with HomeBanc who has always been very honest and trustworthy. Bye, bye Option One.

My credit was very good when I applied for a mortgage. Having been a consumer of many mortgage companies I never thought there was a company as corrupt as Option One. Needless to say I am a very happy former Option One customer. I have refinanced and will only work in the future with HomeBanc who has always been very honest and trustworthy. Bye, bye Option One.

Jack - "Finally, let's stop kidding ourselves, Option One is a Non-Prime lender. That means that every customer that they service had less than perfect credit in the beginning. It's funny to me that you present yourself as a victim of circumstance when in reality you had problems paying your bills prior to ever becoming an Option One customer." As an employee of Option One, you should educate yourself on exactly what your company does. They do indeed service Prime and A paper borrowers - Not only for prime lenders as a subservicing, but unsuspecting A borrowers who are scammed into taking subprime loans. To be so harsh in your comment to someone who has lost their home is probably just another example of "Option One's" customer service philosophy. Bash the customer and tell them they deserve to lose their home. This forum is not to continue to harass people, but to offer constructive advice.

Glad to be out from under and surfacing.. Let's talk predatory lending...my mortgage broker that sold me this loan awhile back. Closing costs were 2X the amount agreed on. I was desperate..I got behind on all my credit cards...Not going to lie to you, that is my fault. But the broker ripped me off, so I decided to read the fine print...Option one had a rider that included a 10% prepayment penalty... So I waited them out payed them always before the 30 days mark (including late fees, always). 2 years of their crap calls on the 1st of the month, threatening letters on the 16th (foreclosure)personal questions on the 26th (you say you had a heating bill of $300?) *By the way I asked them "How can you foreclose on the 16th when you can't even report me yet?" Answer-"We can't but this is the way "everyone" does it now." My advice is this-Pay before the 30th every month as long as it takes to pass the prepayment penalty phase, and then go to lendingtree.com you will have leverage...the lending connection gave me the same crappy interest rate and plan option one did...another broker gave me a deal with GMAC, lower the points, lowered the interest, lowered the closing costs, and I still have equity 15%. There is a light at the end of the tunnel, don't fall for the first lender tho. Good luck to you all.

My husband and I just refinanced our home because of excessive credit card bills after he was out of work for 2 yrs. lots of late payments and over limit chrgs. I was skeptical why anyone would touch a loam w/ our history, now I see why, I havent even made my first payment yet. Any advise on what to do at this point??

Option One has charged us over $1,200.00 for flood insurance even though we sent a copy of the FEMA map and a letter from our County stating that we are NOT in a flood zone. The proof we sent them is exactly what they say is required, yet they have charged our account. After sending the proof in December 2003, we received notification that they have charged our account for Flood insurance. In addition, they have also charged us for home owners insurance even though we have provided a copy of the insurance policy that we have purchased. This company, owned by H&R Block, are protected theives. We are not tolerating their harassment. We have contacted all of the government agencies and requested that Option One's license be revoked. I would suggest that anyone who is being required to purchase insurance from Option One check and make sure that it is required. DO NOT PAY FOR A POLICY THAT IS NOT NEEDED.

I have been dealing with Option One for about 8 months. About 2 years ago, I ran into a very scarry medical mishap, I was out of work for 6 months and my husband (doing the best he could, with a wife 28 yrs old, 2 young children)thought he was doing a good thing by refinancing with Option One, having some extra cash, blah, blah, blah... Anyway, that was 8 months ago, honestly every month we get 8-10 calls a day from Option One at home, on our cell phones, they have been nothing but a thorn in our side from day one!!!!!!! We both have both tried to explain our payments will probably be a little late, but always there every month!!!! They don't care, they call and harrass us constintly!!! I am really tired of them being rude to myself and my husband all of the time! We are trying to get someone to buy our loan from Option One but knowone will touch a loan from Option One... I have absolutely had it with all aspects of Option One and will basically do anything to get away from them!!!!!

"For all of the employees of Option One that are rallying around them, you might take into consideration the status of this case before you start harping about the laws and regulations governing the mortgage industry. Option One broke the law...period or the courts would have thrown this case out a long time ago." It's true Mary, I don't know the specifics of your legal case, however, my rebuttal was to address the accusations you made within your report. I gave you generalizations based on the processes Option One employees are trained on. Since the training includes extensive studies in regard to the laws that govern their processes, I can only "assume" that the precedents have already been set. "The facts and PROOF surrounding this case speak for themselves and all of the stall tactics Option One has tried in the courts are not making the situation any better for them. The ongoing investigation of Option One has highlighted the fact that this is not a unique situation and is, in fact a trend and they have a track record for victimizing their customers." Personally, I think the fact that there are only 18 complaints against Option One on this website, as opposed to some other well-known mortgage servicers who have hundreds, is further proof that Option One does not have a track record for victimizing their customers. "When this lawsuit if finally done and the courts make their final judgment, Option One will be reminded that not only bending the rules and laws, but intentionally breaking them with the assumption nobody will fight them is a huge miscalculation on their part." Its unfortunate that you find yourself in this position. I hope that win or lose, you post the outcome to your litigation. In light of recent class action defeats by Household Intnl. and Citifinancial, on similar claims, I'm sure if your complaint holds merit then justice will be done. I for one will continue to stand behind Option One. I have never worked for a company who has cared so much for their customers, as well as their employees, as much as this one.

For all of the employees of Option One that are rallying around them, you might take into consideration the status of this case before you start harping about the laws and regulations governing the mortgage industry. Option One broke the law...period or the courts would have thrown this case out a long time ago. The facts and PROOF surrounding this case speak for themselves and all of the stall tactics Option One has tried in the courts are not making the situation any better for them. The ongoing investigation of Option One has highlighted the fact that this is not a unique situation and is, in fact a trend and they have a track record for victimizing their customers. When this lawsuit if finally done and the courts make thier final judgement, Option One will be reminded that not only bending the rules and laws, but intentionally breaking them with the assumption nobody will fight them is a huge miscalculation on their part.

After falling behind in mortgage payments due to layoffs and company restructuring, Option One had the nerve to file a mortgage default on September 11, 2001. While the rest of the country was in mourning, this company was more concerned with money. A week after receiving the default, we received back pay due to us and paid the full amount past due as well as paid the October payment EARLY! In most states, A Notice of Intent To Foreclose is mailed once you become 31 days past due. At that point, you are responsible for paying both payments due, late fees, and any other payments that become due before the notice expires by certified funds. (In most states the cure period is 30 days) Option One was contacted at least 20 times per month requesting a regular monthly statements, since the loan was current. Do you really need a statement to remind you to pay your house payment? Most if not all of Option Ones loans are due on the 1st of each month which means your statement is generated on or about the same time each month. If you didnt get a statement, Just mail the payment to the address on last months bill, look up your statement on Optiononeonline.com, or call in and do a check over the phone. After 25 phone calls, they suddenly decided that there was still late fees due ($211.68??!), although they could not say for what. 30 more phone calls and still no statements from them, they still could not justify the late fees due and why they were not sending statements. On most accounts, If your payment has not been received by 9pm est./6pm pst. on the 16th, then you will be billed a late fee. On others it may be sooner. There is one screen that customer service, or collections can go to to see when those fees were charged, and when they were paid, this would have not been an issue. You could also just go through your check book and figure out which payments were paid late, and that could give you an idea of why you were charged late fees. Between September of 2001 and January of 2002, a total of over $11,000.00 was WIRED to Option One for this loan, then on January 28 they filed a notice of trustee sale based on the original default from September 11, 2001! There was no default as it had been paid in full as well as additional monthly payments sent! This should be a no brainer. Number one, when was the $11,000 due. More than likely you sent it after the default notice expired, in which case it could have been less than what was due, and therefore would have been applied to suspense until the remaining amount was received. In most of these types of cases, it really is too little, too late. Option One neglected to file a recission notice after accepting our payments. As if they couldnt be stupider, Option One didnt bother to send a notice of the sale to us or the holder of the second mortgage until AFTER the sale happened!!!!! The principal balance of the foreclosure sale was MORE than the loan balance BEFORE the notice of default filed September 11, 2001 PLUS fees and costs. Essentially, Option One sold the house without crediting any of the $11,000.00, which was wired to them. FRAUD< FRAUD< FRAUD. STUPIDER? The bottom line is, the entire Foreclosue process is state regulated. Every I is dotted, and every T is crossed before anything is done. Option One loses money on the majority of the loans that they foreclose on. It is not to their benefit to neglect a customers attempt to keep their home. If you got to this stage of the game, I gaurentee you that every effort was made to avoid it (e.g. forbearance plans, deed in lieus, refi in lieus etc). Option One is the highest rated Non-Prime Mortgage servicer in the country. They didnt get that way because their investors take a loss every time they lend money. If Option One went out with the intent to foreclose on every American that ran through rough times, then 80% of their portfolio would be homeless. The fact is, you and the customers in your situation (foreclosure) represent a very small percentage of their loans and that is a testament to their ability to work with their customers. But Option One must look out for the interest of their investors as well. Therefore, if a customer does not follow through with their end of the obligation, then steps must be made to prevent that loss. Finally, lets stop kidding ourselves, Option One is a Non-Prime lender. That means that every customer that they service had less than perfect credit in the beginning. Its funny to me that you present yourself as a victim of circumstance when in reality you had problems paying your bills prior to ever becoming an Option One customer.

I think that its ridiculous that anyone would defend Option One's contract rights. Predatory lending is illegal. Lenders who have been punished for these practices, (i.e loan sharks), have often been well within the bounds of their contracts but still get punished severely. (hmmm why do you think that is?) Its obvious that Option One confuses ethical corporate practices with what their contract will allow them to get away with. I was never late on a payment and have built A1 rated credit since beginning a relationship with Option One. I was always polite with them and submitted requests in the manner that they asked me to submit them. So why would I get bad service from them? Option One preys on those who have personal tragedies in their lives. Is it understandable that a payment might be slow when someone loses their child? Well not to Option One, after all its within their rights to harass a client for their slow payment.

Everyone thinks that it is called fraud when the mortgage companys like Option One or Homeside Lending assess these fee to your account, what you all do not relaize is the money that it costs to collect on a delinquent loan. If you have a conventional loan foreclosure actions begin long before your 3rd payment is due and that is contacting the attorney setting sale dates, etc and if you do not contact you mortgage company & make payment ARRANGEMENTS with them then you are subject to paying these fees based on the security deed you SIGNED at closing, which states you will pay all taxes, attorney fees, late charges, etc that may accumulate on your loan. The mortgage companies are not doing this to you, it is you who do it to yourselves. For the comment about September 11, yes they may have filed a notice of default on you on that day, it may have been before the planes flew into the towers, but Option One services loans for an investor and the investors protect their interest at all costs, even if it means filing a petition on Sept 11. If the investors waited after every tragedy to try & collect on their mortgages then there would not be enough money for them to lend to other who may want to get a home. Please keep my comments in mind the next time you go to a closing & READ all the documents in their entirety.

I to have had nothing but trouble with Option One they sold my home without telling me the whole time I was in the middle of refiancing and trying to get a reasonable amount owed. They wanted about $20,000 more then what was owed and never said anything about a sale date. I have to go to court soon to see if I can get the sale reversed. There's alot more to it it's just crazy that companies can get away with this. How many people does it take to get a class action law suit going against these people. I had gotten a e-mail once that this was it the works I'm game if there's anyone else ,we need to stop them.

Option One has harrased us from the day we got our mortgage.Our note is due on the first of the month they call my husband and I on the last day of the month to make sure we are going to pay our house note. We had about had it so we decided try to refinance just to get away from these people they charged us over 150.00 to get a payoff faxed or mailed to the new finance company we called and explained to them that this was ridiculous the entire customer service department was rude so i took the approach well I will ask for a manager John so John cussed me and asked me what my problem was this is the manager remember.So finally I had enough and said Thank you and hung up.We got a bill stateing we had taxes due on the property so I called our county court house no taxes were due on this property. I held for an hour only for the lady to call me back.We have had nothing but trouble from day one they had our address incorrect so we tried for 6 months to get them to correct this.They would not post our payments until they were past due so I learned to send my payments certified mail that way I have some way of know what day they recieved it and didn't post till a week or 2 later.We are sick of them and do not have the money to hire an attorney to fight them to stop them from harrasing us.So maybe my voice will be heard all I can say is don't do business with this company they are horrible.