TexasLending.com: You'll save money, and they'll throw in a free pain in the neck
Written: Aug 26 '03 (Updated Jan 13 '09)
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| pnutmom's Full Review: texaslending.com |
A few years after my husband and I got married, we started seriously talking about having a family. We knew that I wanted to stay at home once we had kids, and that we also wanted our kids to have a house with their own rooms, a backyard to play in, etc. At the time we lived in an apartment, and knew that we had to buy a house before having a baby, because if I wasn't working we wouldn't be able to afford it later. Long story short, we bought a new house almost two years ago. Even though our current interest rate isn't bad (6.75%), I'm now staying home with our four-month old so we're living on one income. Since interest rates have dropped so much during the past several months, we decided in June to look into re-financing our house at a lower rate.
I should note here that my husband loves listening to an AM talk radio station here (we live in Dallas). Every Saturday from 2-4pm, 570AM features a home mortgage program hosted by the owner of TexasLending.com (we'll call him "Fred"). It's always an informative program, and the guy always sounds so friendly and helpful, that when we decided to look into refinancing, my husband decided to call TexasLending.com.
Obviously, TexasLending.com is a website. You can either go through their website for loan info, or call their 1-800 number (800-346-8047). We simply called the 800 number, but I'm including a short review of the site itself.
The Main Page
At the very top left of the page, there are links for Home, Application, FAQ, About Us, Contact US, and Calculator (this graphic is stationery - no matter which page you click on, these links will always be in the same spot). Near the top of the main page, there's a rotating graphic that tells you what type of loans are available, with a link to start the loan application. In the middle left of the page is a link to the FAQ section. In the middle of the page is a list of current rates (15 & 30 year fixed, 5 year Arm, FHA/VA 30 year fixed, and 30 year Jumbo). On the right there's a rotating graphic advertising the talk radio shows TexasLending.com appears on.
On-line Application
Again, my husband called the 1-800 number, but you can fill out an application online. There are six sections to fill out: Overview, Background, Property, Debt & Income, Personal, and Government Declarations. Here's a quick rundown on each page:
Overview: Asks 3 questions. Purpose of loan, co-borrower (yes/no), and how you heard about TexasLending.com.
Background: Asks how long you've resided at your current address, asks about bankruptcy/foreclosure, time with current employer, or if you're self-employed.
Property: 5 questions on the home you're purchasing. Property Type, Usage, Property State, Estimated Market Value, and Amount Owed.
Debt & Income: This is for debt, income, and liquid assets. Required info is your annual income, and most important loan feature (term of loan, cash back, or interest rate). You can also include info on verifiable cash & liquid assets and retirement/401k, but this info is not required.
Personal: This is where you give them your name, address, employer, etc.
Government Declarations: There are 12 required yes/no questions to answer here, mainly regarding bankruptcy/foreclosure, and US citizenship.
After completing all six sections, click on the Submit Application button. The next page will let you know that your application was received. You'll be assigned an Application ID, and will be told how soon a loan officer will be contacting you.
Just the FAQs ma'am
The FAQ (Frequently Answered Questions) answers common questions regarding bankruptcy, costs associated with the loan, foreclosures, judgments/tax liens, CCCS, and bad credit.
About Us
There are just three very short paragraphs here telling you that TexasLending.com is a mortgage banker and broker.
Contact Us
The Contact Us page includes TexasLending.com's physical address, phone number, fax number, and email address. There's also a box where you can enter your application ID and check on the status of your application.
Calculator
This isn't technically a page, it's a pop-up dialog box where you answer seven questions that help you estimate what your monthly payment will be. You can enter the loan amount, repayment period (term of loan), interest rate, beginning year and month (2003, 9), the option to show monthly installment table (this tells you the mortgage balance, installment, principal paid, interest paid, and outstanding balance for every month until the loan is paid off), and the monthly installment amount.
This is a pretty simple website to navigate. There aren't many graphics, so it should load pretty quickly for most people.
Anyway, like I mentioned earlier, my husband just called TexasLending.com's 1-800 number when we decided to refinance. The rest of this review is regarding the service we received after making the initial call.
When my husband called, he ended up talking to "Paul", one of the mortgage brokers. He told Paul about our situation, and Paul said he could help us. Actually, Paul told us that the current rate was 5.5%, which will save us approximately $100 a month, and if he sent the paperwork to us overnight, and we could get it back to him within 24 hours, that he could lock us in at 5.5%. Of course, since that's 1.25% lower than what we were currently paying, we had him send the paperwork, and I personally drove it (along with a check for $99 to cover the paperwork cost) over to their office to ensure that he received it. This was right at the beginning of July.
All was well for the next couple of weeks. We had to have our house appraised, which cost $325. Paul told us that we should be closing by the first week in August. We did begin to notice that Paul usually didn't call back when he said he would; my husband usually ended up having to call him. This didn't bother us so much...after all, he's probably a busy guy, right?
A couple of more weeks go by. It's now the beginning of August. We haven't closed on the refinance yet. I call, and Paul says not to worry, we should be closed by August 10th, and there's no reason to make a house payment yet (which is due on the 1st). August 11th: we haven't heard from Paul for a few days. My husband calls, and lo and behold, we're told Paul is on vacation! That's just great. Our mortgage broker goes on vacation for a couple of weeks, and doesn't even bother to tell his clients?? Alrighty then... Our refinance gets transferred to one of Paul's coworkers, "Jane". Of course, it takes Jane a few days to get up to speed on what Paul had done so far. (As it turns out, Paul was not on vacation. He's in the Reserves and was called for duty, so we can't really blame him - much - for what happened here on out). Working with Jane, we begin to notice a trend; apparently when you apply for a job with TexasLending.com, they don't ask if you know how to use a telephone. Everyone we've dealt with so far is terrible at calling back when they say they will. After several phone calls to their office, on Friday the 15th Jane says we are scheduled to close on Aug. 18th. Yay!
August 18th rolls around. We're scheduled to close at 1:00pm. Jane calls my husband a couple of hours before this and tells him they're having a problem with our paperwork. She says Paul locked us in at 6%, but our paperwork says 5.5%. Whoa, wait just one stinkin' minute here! Why are we locked in at 6% when our paperwork says 5.5%?! Jane doesn't know, she'll have to ask her supervisor, and she'll call us back later in the day. Of course she will. And monkeys might fly out of my butt. My husband took 1/2 day off work, and we sit around all afternoon. Guess what? No phone call! I don't even remember Jane's supervisor's name, but that's who we're dealing with at this point. What is with these people and their fear of phones??!!! By Tuesday of last week, my husband is talking to Fred (remember, the guy who sounds so friendly and helpful on the radio show?). We find out from Fred that apparently between the time we submitted our paperwork to Paul, and the time the lender approved everything, there was a rate increase. Fred is not sure that we can get 5.5%; that's a loss for them. Well too d@mn bad, is what I think. You're the ones who made the clerical "error", suck it up. Fred reportedly takes our paperwork home to look at the numbers, and see if we can come to a compromise. Compromise? I'll tell you what you can compromise... Also, the lender needs to approve the "new" interest rate. He tells us on the 20th to go ahead and make our house payment for the month (which is late after the 15th, so now we owe a $50 late fee also). So I head back to the bank to get a new cashier's check for the mortgage company instead(remember, we were supposed to close on the 18th, and had to have a cashier's check for the title company) so we can make our house payment. I mail our house payment on the 21st; the mortgage company receives it on the 22nd (I sent it certified, and requested a return receipt).
Now to today, the 25th...a good 2-3 weeks after Paul originally told us we would close. We get a call from the title company letting us know that we're closing today at 1:00pm. Everything has been approved by the lender and TexasLending.com. Great, it's about time! She tells my husband that she'll call him back and let him know what we need to bring. "Bring what?" we wonder. We know it can't be money, seeing as we already made the house payment, per instructions from Fred. To make an already long story shorter (somewhat), the mortgage company did receive our cashier's check, but it won't be posted to our account until tonight, and oh, did I mention today is the absolute last day we can sign the paperwork at the title company? After multiple phone calls to our current mortgage company, TexasLending.com, and the title company, we find out we DO need to bring money - over $800 to be exact. At this point, I am just livid. I cannot repeat here what I was saying about TexasLending.com, and in particular Fred. Now because this person told us to make our house payment, and it hasn't been processed by the mortgage company yet, we have to come up with an additional $800 , by Friday. @##%^^&&** !!!!!!!!!!! The good news is that we'll get most of that back (supposedly), since we already made the house payment. Even more importantly, we'll be done dealing with TexasLending.com!!!
All in all, after all this crap, there is no way I would recommend TexasLending.com to anyone. I don't think I can even come close to relaying how mad I was earlier today. I told my husband I was writing this Epinion, and he suggested sending the link to TexasLending.com, PLUS other lending companies just so they'll know how bad this company is. Oh wait, now he says I shouldn't do that. He's no fun. lol. Now we see why they have a radio program - their word of mouth is probably so bad that they have to pay for the radio "program". Well, we got suckered in, but hopefully anyone else who reads this will stay away!
Thanks to Arthur.Rubin and Mrisch for adding this to Epinions for me!
*Update! 8/29/03*
I knew this would happen today! I went to our bank this morning to get the cashier's check for $871 (which we had to borrow, seeing as we made an unexpected house payment). I get to the title company, give them the check, only to have the woman we'd been dealing with come running out after me, saying that they had gotten our new payoff amount, and didn't need the $871 after all. Would it have been THAT hard for someone to call and tell us this?!?! Freakin' boneheads......
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pnutmom
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There is no evolution. Only a list of creatures Chuck Norris allows to live!
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