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Mortgages, Lenders/Banks
David Glick, EARTH Mortgage
 1-877-327-8450 x 243 June 2005
We needed to refinance our mortgage and have not had good experiences with local brokers so I went online to find the best possible rate and terms. EARTH mortgage advertised a rate that seemed to good to be true. I was skeptical but went ahead with the deal because the rate was so good. Even when the appraiser botched the appraisal and delayed closing beyond our lock time, David ate the $599.00 the lender charged for the extension. This is the first mortgage broker I have done business with that I would recommend and use again.
Reviewer: Jenny Rossi from Kings Crossing
ING Direct
1-866-327-4599
June 2003
Last year we refinanced our mortgage. Because we planned not to stay in the home for 5 years, we opted for a 5 year ARM. ING-Direct had the best rates and NO closing costs. Our only costs were 3rd party costs such as appraisals, title insurance etc. The rate was better than with and broker and with no origination fees or other hidden costs. The closing was performed at our home be a notary, it took 10 minutes. ING also offers a 2.2% passbook savings rate. It's all possible because they are on online bank, very little bricks & morter. The web address is WWW.INGDIRECT.COM.
Reviewer: John Simansons from Canterbury
Washington Mutual (various offices, locate through www.washingtonmutual.com)
Jan-May, 2003
"If Washington Mutual is your mortgage company, BEWARE! You could be one of the unlucky customers who gets sent to mortgage-servicing hell. Even if you have a cancelled check, you may find that they did not post the payment to your account. They'll charge you late fees, send their collection agency after you, and tarnish your credit rating. Then the real nightmare will begin: you will spend hours following up on what you'll think should be a simple matter, and it still won't get fixed. People complain about Qwest's customer service, but Qwest would get a "five-star" rating compared to Washington Mutual!
We are now in our fourth month of our battle with them. They sent collectors to notify us that our account was 3 months in arrears. This was a total surprise since all of the payments had been made, and the checks had cleared the bank. We thought this was a simple administrative error that would be corrected once we provided copies of the cancelled checks. No such luck. They lost the documentation we sent them, closed the "work order" without resolving it, continued to have their collectors pursue us, and failed to return phone calls. I'm finally starting to get some movement toward fixing this, but only after I went to one of their local banks and sat down for a couple of hours with the branch manager.
I've recently learned that we're not alone ... Washington Mutual customers througout the country have been reporting problems. FOX TV's consumer advocate Tom Martino has reported that he's had hundreds of complaints, and SmartMoney magazine had a cover story on the problems. Several class action lawsuits have been filed. The same basic story: you may be one of the lucky ones, and everything goes fine with your account. But if ANYTHING goes wrong with your account, you're in for a long haul to get even the simplest error fixed. There are many stories like ours, where payments have not been applied. There are also reports of failure to pay taxes or other mis-handling of escrow accounts.
Washington Mutual is now the largest mortgage company in the country, and they've been buying a lot of mortgages in our area. Even if they're not your lender now, you could be getting a notice that they've bought your loan. So what should you do if you have your loan with Washington Mutual?
1. If you pay by check, you might want to go to a branch and hand-deliver the payment and get an immediate receipt. This way the payment can't get lost in their mail room.
2. You could try setting up for automatic bank withdrawl (watch closely to make sure this is set up right; there have also been problems reported with this).
3. Don't assume that a cancelled check means that they've posted the payment to your account, or that they're properly handling the escrow account. Review your statement closely. Better yet: go to their web site www.wamuhomeloans.com and set up a login to your account. Visit monthly to make sure they've posted your payment and all other transactions are correct.
4. Keep ALL of your records.
5. PRAY that you are one of the lucky ones that doesn't have a problem.
6. If ANYTHING goes wrong, DO NOT expect that those nice customer service people are actually going to fix the problem. IMMEDIATELY escalate the issue. Go to a branch office and get the manager to take responsibility. Contact the Better Business Bureau. Call Tom Martino. Contact an attorney that is handling a class-action suit (Washington Mutual appears to give priority to fixing the complaints that are listed in a lawsuit).
How to reach help:
- Washington Mutual will be opening a branch office in CPN later this year (in the King Soopers center). That will make it real handy to pay in person, or go talk to the manager. In the meantime, the closest branch is at County Line and Quebec, in Willow Creek, next to the
Safeway. Or search their web site for other branches -- look for a "bank" and not a "mortgage office": www.washingtonmutual.com
- Tom Martino's Troubleshooter 1-866-966-HELP (4357) www.troubleshooter.com
- Class-action lawsuit: http://www.classcounsel.com/news/wamufaq.html
Good Luck!"
(There is also additional information in a Denver Post article)
Reviewer: Linda from Kings Crossing
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