I feel very happy and inspired that I found HLE at Bankrate.com. HLE Website employs the best Mortgage Process I have ever discovered. I saw some rave reviews about their website here, which prompted me to go there and see for myself. Not only I could view live rate after easily selecting some basic non personal information from the drop down boxes, but I could see total loan fees next to interest rates along with options. What sets HLE apart from others was I could instantly view / save Good Faith Estimate based on my Quote ID. I began to very impress about HLE Website. I did not instantly apply mortgage with HLE doubting that what if their website is just the facade to reel in the unsuspecting borrowers. I checked BBB, and googled fishing for complaints about HLE. I saw six great reviews about HLE at Yelp, and combed through every single reviews twice to spot the worst things I could ever face if I go through the refinancing process with HLE. Nothing major issues about HLE came up.
So I applied it online, which was easy to complete. I received the automatic email notification from HLE saying they received my app, and asked me to upload docs required to process my loan. I was told by the HLE Website that one of the loan officers will contact me within 24 hours. I waited for more than 24 hours, and nobody called me. I knew it would be good or bad things. Loan officers at HLE were very busy and they only want to deal with serious borrowers who followed instructions and uploaded requested docs at the same time or like most online lenders, they would be lacking service and probably never return my call. I have to find out. I am glad that I called, and equally glad that Danh P. happened to be the one who answered my call. After I asked him some of my concerns, he addressed my questions right away. Since I did not have a pen handy to jot down his contact info, I asked him to e-mail it me. He sent his info within one hour. From that moment on, I knew that I could trust him and he would follow through whatever he said he would do.
I need to test the water first before I invest my time and energy to go thru this loan process with HLE. After I talked with him, I grew more confidence about doing business with HLE, and uploaded all docs. Thru e-mail link, I could upload multiple files simultaneously at real time. The great thing about is once I uploaded the docs, Danh, and Steven the loan processor, who is also very helpful and knowledgeable, got automatically notified. Via an e-mail link, I could access the Disclosure file which contained all essential docs such as GFE. Surprisingly sweet for me was that three or four days trial working periods with HLE did not cost me a dime. After Danh preappoved my loan, he e-mailed me the rate lock options sheet based on at that day market. I got offer , which was .125% better than what I originally quoted at their website. Even then, He did not push me to lock. (Only Thing to Beware: HLE uses borrower or coborrower 's lowest middle score as credit scores) I decided to lock on the same day, and paid for the appraisal fee. The following day I got access to updated disclosure package (surprisingly fast!). After the appraisal came in, I checked with Danh and requested some big and small changes. I was a bit worried whether he remember what I told him over the phone on that day. He did every single changes correctly, and within a week I received updated disclosure package, which reflected all changes we made on that day. Danh was flexible enough to accommodate my requests for changes without charging me a penny for that.
Either Danh or Steven keeps me posted, timely answered my questions, and they also help me answer their underwriter' questions. Besides, their underwriter was not that picky and did not ask me to explain about minor things. They normally keep me in the loop, and inform me with status update. However there were two weeks of silence after the appraisal came in, and only one system generated e-mail about updated disclosure that I received as communications within these two weeks. Rates were going up on that week, and I felt a bit panicked worrying that my 30 days rate lock will be expired within a week and they won't allow me extension or charge me ridiculous amounts. Danh apologized for the delay, and told me their underwriters were very busy, and HLE would cover for the extension. (I knew that changes I asked caused some inherent delays, but I was not blamed for or penalized with any fees). Next week I was informed that my loan got approved, and received closing docs w/ estimated closing cost sheet for my preview. Closing fees were close to what I was quoted, and after all, I saved about $150 less at closing than fees in my last GFE. All together rate/fee combo saving was roughly.25% rate.
All surprises about HLE were good ones. The road to my refinance loan with HLE was as smooth as it could be. read more
