My Experience with AmeriSave Mortgage Company
You’ve been through the long, tedious process of finding your ideal home… You’ve made an offer, it’s been accepted, and now it’s time to apply for a mortgage. who are you addressing
There are many banking options when it comes to mortgages and when it comes to choosing the right banking partner to help you get into your dream home. There are many things to consider. Mostly it’s the interest rate, loan duration, closing costs, etc.
However, one thing I have learned after buying several properties is that the bank you choose should be a real consideration. Although banks aggressively try to get your business, once you choose a bank, the tides begin to change and that once friendly, understanding bank suddenly becomes very difficult to deal with.
That is, if you choose the wrong institution…
Once the process begins, switching to a new bank can be an expensive decision, and shadow banks know this. The switching process would be a hassle for all other parties involved, such as your realtor and your title company. Also, if you switch after a few weeks, it could cause you to pay a significantly higher interest rate if interest rates rise.
You don’t want this! So choosing the right company from the start is crucial so that you can get into your dream home as smoothly as possible.
I learned this the hard way when I decided to take out an AmeriSave mortgage. Having gone through this process with other mortgage companies, including in late 2008 after the financial crisis, I have a pretty good understanding of how the mortgage process works.
But I had a rude awakening just a few weeks into my AmeriSave mortgage experience. From my point of view, the banking company was only pressuring me for sports. They almost seemed to enjoy making my life a nightmare. It made me struggle to get documents that were hard to get. Asking me for some of these documents was absurd…
What type of documents, you may ask?
First was the number of documents. First it was 10, then 20, when I finally thought I was done, I had another 10, then another 10. All in all, by the time I finally finished the process, I must have sent somewhere between 50 and 60 documents.
Some of the weirdest ones include:
- K-1 tax filings for the current year from stocks I didn’t even own anymore. I didn’t have any, and unlike other documents, tracking these down proved extremely difficult. I finally found out that these documents don’t even exist. Then I had to provide proof if they didn’t exist.
- I was chasing one of the HOA bills on my rental property. This shouldn’t be a big deal since I originally provided AmeriSave with the document, but as it turns out the HOA invoice I provided was from the previous quarter and that wasn’t good enough. I should have received the current quarter’s HOA invoice even though it was the same dollar amount.
- Because my wife had sent me a gift to help me purchase the property, AmeriSave requested the bank statement from my partner. No big deal, I asked for it and I got it. Unfortunately, they also asked her to provide her other bank accounts that were NOT part of the gift. Why should someone who does not have a loan provide bank accounts that have nothing to do with the loan? My partner was reluctant and for good reason. What business does AmeriSave have to demand to see someone’s private, non-loan, non-loan bank accounts? Good thing they didn’t ask for my mom’s bank accounts!
- AmeriSave also asked me to contact my accountant and have him write a letter stating that my business is currently active. This didn’t seem to make much sense for several reasons. For one, I’ve been in business for almost 20 years and I just filed a new tax return with them. Did they think I was going to go out of business? Second, my accountant only does my annual return, so he doesn’t have first-hand information about my business other than what’s on my tax return, which AmeriSave already had. Finally, they had already provided that my business was active by providing real-time reports showing company receipts. So they can see with their own eyes that money is coming into the company. So why did they want me to contact the third party who had less information than they did and ask them to create a document for me? It’s one thing to make me search for documents. However, it is even more complicated when I have to go to a third party and ask them to create a document, especially when that party does not have firsthand knowledge of the information that AmeriSave wants to provide. Why would it even matter when they see that the money is generated by the business. It would be like asking for a copy of a document when you already have the original.
It took a while, but after completing all the requirements, I finally received a certified loan approval that was valid for eight weeks! That shouldn’t have been a problem because the loan was closing in four weeks. I worked hard to get everything they needed, including begging other parties to give me personal information or create letters to get certified approval before we lost the stake.
I was ready… or was I?
One week before closing AmeriSave hit me with another huge list of requirements! What? Oh no! Wasn’t I already certified? The official document I received that I am certified is not genuine? Do I have to start this painful process again? Why did you wait almost three weeks to tell me I would have to do this all over again?
The first time I went through this process was stressful enough, but now I’ve already given my 30 day notice to my landlord and sold half my belongings in preparation for the move. I did this because I relied on the fact that I was certified.
Now we have another massive list of new absurd requirements even though we are already certified.
- AmeriSave wanted a disclosure and waiver document from my broker. When I asked him about it, his response was, “Hahaha. I can honestly say I’ve never had a lender ask for these before!”
- AmeriSave wanted to provide a lease on my rental property because it wasn’t on my tax return… The problem was it was on my tax return. Stop wasting my time!
- They wanted a copy of the deposit check. The problem was that we paid by bank transfer and they already have the transfer documents. Are you idiots?
- They want another letter from my accountant that my business is active. So now I have to contact my accountant again and ask them to write the same letter he wrote three weeks ago?
It’s like AmeriSave makes me do things just to make me do things. I frantically called and emailed my loan originator trying to figure out what was going on, asking her to call me as soon as possible. I didn’t get a call back. Instead, I received a curt, dismissive email stating that I had been pre-approved, but now a few things needed to be updated.
But this is not so! I had an official certified loan approval that was good for a certain amount and valid for eight weeks. I sent another email asking him to get back to me ASAP and since it’s only a week until closing I think it’s warranted but I haven’t heard back.
I ended up missing the closing date because they didn’t approve my loan. Again they asked for more documents. I missed the second deadline because they were still late with my approval.
The worst part is that when they don’t approve the loan by the deadline, they delay the process. When the process is delayed, many of the documents that have been submitted are now becoming old. That is why they are now asking for new documents.
Wait… So now I have to pull out new paperwork because you didn’t get your work done on time?
In the end, I must have submitted 120 to 140 different documents and missed two deadlines, finally finishing right on the third deadline after complaining to AmeriSave management about my loan officer having no sense of urgency.
I was lucky enough to barely get through one of the most stressful situations of my life as the vendors threatened to pull out because I missed my third deadline.
It worked out fine in the end, but I can tell you that I would never work with AmeriSave again. My warning to all home buyers, unless you want to deal with a lot of extra stress and a bank that could care less about their customer’s closing date, stay away from AmeriSave.
#Experience #AmeriSave #Mortgage #Company