Chris Martin is a magician when it comes to making the home owning dream a reality. Regardless of your past financial struggles, foreclosures, late payments, etc. Chris puts together a plan to help you fix your credit, and get you in the house you have always dreamt of owning. Whether it's a Monday morning at 7am, or a Saturday evening at 9pm, he cheerfully answers his phone to help with any questions or worries a borrower may have. Nice to have such a trustworthy, hard working loan officer in your corner on one of the biggest, if not THE biggest purchase of your life. read more

Scott Smith at Academy Mortgage helped us purchase our 1st home in Phoenix AZ - The whole team is extremely knowledgeable & very helpful, all my questions where answered even the stupid ones! At Gentry Real Estate, Our main contact while searching for a home was Marcia Beatty. She is absolutely the best there is. She was friendly & helpful from the get go and not mention oh so patient! Once we had found the perfect house Marcia hooked us up with Academy Mortgage and the process was very smooth. (I always thought purchasing a home would be hard) but dealing with these folks, Im eager to but another one LOL Khyl Halbert whom also works at Gentry Real Estate was also on top of things & followed up on questions we had. Overall a great experience with Both ACADEMY & GENTRY! Thanks guys!!!! read more

Scott Smith and Jason Daunheimer were as good as it gets. I wanted a new place fast and by working with them, I was able to close on a home in just under three months! Scott was very friendly and direct, while Jason was kind and efficient. I was hesitant being a new homeowner and Academy mortgage staff eased all of my worries. They gave me paperwork deadlines and were helpful and knowledgeable. I truly believe they are the best in the business! If you want great service from honest people, go directly to Academy Mortgage and they will take it from there! If I had to do the mortgage process all over again, I would definitely choose Scott & Jason at Academy mortgage. -Mary Catherine read more

Kavita Bhatia was my loan officer and made my first time home buying experience great and believe me I had lots of questions. Her and the staff Christine & Wesley that helped thru process were patient and thorough answering all of my questions. Highly professional, knowledgeable and responsive to e-mails. Thank you so very much for all of your help in securing my loan on my 1st home. I'd highly recommend them for your home hyping needs. read more

Kavita is a great lender. She is assertive and goes above and beyond to get the job done.

Is a mortgage broker/banker required to disclose if they've had a foreclosure on property they owned? It pays to do research on the company that you are thinking of using to obtain a mortgage! I learned that Senior Mgr Richard Rogness of Academy Mortgage in Mesa has a recent foreclosure. Why would a company presume that I would get the best loan possible when their employee can't manage his own loan? read more

This review is for Mr. Richard Lavin and I just need to share a few words in regards to my experience with him. This has been by far the WORST customer service experience I have ever encountered! After I have thoroughly explained to Mr. Lavin over the phone my financials and credit information and how hard it is for me to be qualified, he reassured me that he is 95% sure he can get me qualified. After I submitted all my supporting documents to him, I wouldn't hear anything back from him, no updates what so ever. When I've reached out to him, he would deliberately ignore my call, I know he doesn't answer my call because when I call with my cell, he saw my number and does not answer, but when I call with my office line, he would answer then proceed to tell me he would call me and then once again I don't hear back from him. Mr. Lavin, if you can't do the deal for me, at least be up front with me and tell me straight up that this deal is no go. Versus telling me you would call me back just to get me off the phone and then once again I don't hear back from you and you just kept me here waiting for an answer. It has been a month already went by and I still don't have an answer. If you are going to work with academy mortgage, DO NOT DEAL WITH RICHARD LAVIN, truly terrible customer service. read more

Jon Miller and his team, totally rocked in assisting me with the purchasing of my new town home. I am so gratetful to have worked with him. I can't say enough good things about him and Academy Mortgage. He kept me calm and made sure I understand everything that was going on from start to finish. Thanks so much Jon! read more

I had a fantastic first time home buying experience with Academy Mortgage, more specifically with Deb Lapierre. She was very knowledgeable and was able to explain everything to me so that I understood all of my options and could make the best decisions for me. She was available at any time of the day--even after normal business hours and on weekends. Her dedication made me really feel appreciated and turned what could have been a very stressful experience into something very easy. Even my realtor was amazed at how good Deb was at her job. I would highly recommend Deb and Academy Mortgage to any home buyer--first time or experienced buyers alike! read more

Had the opportunity to use Academy Mortgage for my recent purchase. If I could offer advice to prospective homeowners looking to use Academy Mortgage, it would be to find another lender if you want someone who can close on time and knows what they're doing. My realtor gave them 33 days from the date my offer was accepted to close this deal, and due to the passing of my father, we ended up pushing it back an additional day, giving them 34 days. I returned to Phoenix a day earlier than I needed to following my father's passing under the assumption that I would be signing on Tuesday and closing the following day. But as I drove home, the day I was originally scheduled to close, I received a call from Josh asking for my W2s for the first time since I began the loan process. As a standard item, should this not be one of the first items requested? And because all of my documents were still at my house in Las Vegas, I had to pay additional money in order to obtain new digital copies of my W2s. Additionally, he asked for documentation supporting a large deposit into my checking account, something I had already previously sent but he misplaced, so don't expect your documents or information to be held securely. Because of this incompetence, my realtor had to put in an additional addendum to extend close to Thursday with the promise from Josh that the deal would be closed. But, of course, this wasn't meant to be either and my realtor had to submit yet an additional addendum to extend it to Friday. By the time the final docs finally got drawn up, the title company couldn't manage to find a mobile notary to come to me to sign, requiring me to miss time at work in order to drive over to the title company and get everything signed, something that could have been avoided if Josh had only done his job correctly and gotten the loan closed on time. I've never even received an apology for the delays, the lack of competence or professionalism, let alone reimbursement for my additional expenses or time lost at work for all of it. And to top it all off, my first payment to Academy is due on 6/1, and as of today, 5/24, I've yet to receive a statement, a loan number or anything else from Academy in order to make my payment. I can't wait until I can refinance this loan and get it out from Academy. read more

Thanks to academy mortgage We were able to buy our very 1st home ! Brande was very helpful and answered all my questions ! It was pretty easy and this is coming from someone who doesn't know much about mortgage stuff. They were very helpful from beginning to end and had no problem answering all of everything ! Thank you Academy mortgage for helping us our new home is amazing ! read more

Chris Bussing was awesome. Very knowledgable and easy to talk to. Our Loan closed quicker then scheduled. I will and have recommended Chris. Thank you again. read more

We just recently refinanced our home through Academy Mortgage Mesa. What an easy process it was, from start to finish. I highly recommend Pam Cohen and the Academy Mortgage Mesa team! Pam was professional, prompt, and moved us through the process quickly and easily, answering all of our questions, and keeping us updated as our loan moved along. Thank you Pam and Academy Mortgage Mesa for your excellent customer service! read more

My husband and I are Realtors. We have worked with quite a few lenders in our 5+ years in the business. However we have come to rely on Scott Smith at Academy Mortgage quite heavily and here is just one reason we love Scott and Academy Mortgage. We had two closings scheduled for 2/14/18 (what can I say? I'm a romantic. I wanted our clients to have an easy-to-remember date). Anyway, many times loan documents are produced very late in the escrow period which can cause some pretty serious jitters on both the buyer and seller sides. Scott and his team had documents ready and signed for these two deals on February 8th and the 9th--WAY ahead of closing--which resulted in very relaxed and smooth closings. The majority of our deals go this way with Scott. Not only that, we also like working with Scott because HE manages each deal from start to finish. He answers his phone (evenings and weekends included). He has a great support team. If you think only the interest rate matters, think again...you want someone on your side diligently working for you towards a smooth closing. Scott is someone you can count on to get it done right and on time. read more

It was great and seamless Melvin and Academy had my back every step of the way. For a first time home buyer the task was daunting but every question I had they answered in full to let me really know what's going. I hope in the future to do more business with Academy and will recommend them to anyone I know. read more

Very efficient lender. Easy to work with. Communication is key and they are top notch!

We bought our house this year with Johnny Alo and his assistant Armando who did a wonderful job! I highly recommend them to anyone that is wanting to purchase a home ESPECIALLY if it's your first time buying one! The reason is because Johnny was so informative and would send emails to me of what the steps are in purchasing a home and would send me emails of which step I currently was and to what to expect! This is our 2 home (hubby's 3rd home) and I never had this kind of service with the other lenders like I did with them. I HIGHLY recommend Johnny Alo to anyone who is a little afraid and don't know how it works because he will give you all the info you need! read more

I was really glad that I had the opportunity to work with Scott Smith when we were trying to figure out our mortgage options. What I really appreciated is that Scott asked us what our long term financial goals and plans were. Instead of just jumping into loan options, he spent the time understanding our goals to help us make an educated decision about what mortgage options would be best to fit those goals. Scott was very focused on understanding the timing of everything and making sure that we got all of our paper work done quickly and accurately. It was great working with him and when we need another loan I know who I will be coming back to work with again!! I highly recommend him. read more

Scott Smith at Academy Mortgage is a pleasure to work with. He has handled several of my mortgages and has always done a great job! Honest and professional- always goes the extra mile to make sure I get the best loan possible. Highly recommend! read more

This is our fourth home we have purchased and this transaction from a financial perspective was the smoothest, quickest, and most "unstressful" (as buying a home can be!) process yet. We used Scott Smith and his team from Academy Mortgage to purchase our new home in Chandler Arizona. He came highly recommended so we were hoping for a good process and we were not disappointed. It was the best decision we ever made. He took the time to get to know us as buyers and was very patient with us through the process. He walked us through all our options, and took the time to educate us. We were from out of the area so he helped us understand the intricacies of the market and helped us navigate all the normal ups and downs of buying a new house. He and his team worked well with my realtor and the escrow team. He and his team communicated well through the whole process, all the way through escrow and to the very last day to the point of funding. They even had final approval well ahead of schedule. He and his team were very accessible via email, phone and text. I would highly recommend them. They served us well. read more

For allegedly being pre qualified a year ago, this mortgage process was a nightmare. Documents were misplaced, information was asked for last minute with the demand that " We need this today". We are financially solid, gainfully employed and putting down 30% yet were asked for divorce decrees! I have been divorced for 16 years and my husband 21 years! Divorce decrees???? I Had to send a processor to the court to get them as I was out of state on a business trip. Then at the 11 th hour, the signing of the disclosure statement was impossible due to a glitch with the system at Academy which held up everything. They never took responsibility for this or apologized for it but merely said it was frustrating. Worst customer service ever. Oh and once they got our business they passed us off to a junior officer who didn't know his business at all. Plus he was unprofessional. I do not recommend this office unless you want your home buying/ selling to become a nightmare. read more

We were referred to Jamie Santangelo at Academy Mortgage through a good friend of ours. The process seemed easy initially however when it came to sign the final paperwork, Jamie had written in the name of an insurance company who also worked in their building as our insurance company. Jamie had told us to call and get a quote from them but my husband and I never told Jamie that we would go with this insurance company and we never signed any paperwork with them or met anyone from that insurance company. We told Jamie that we were staying with our insurance company prior to signing any paperwork with Academy Mortgage. When the time came to sign all of the closing paperwork, it still contained the other insurance company's information on all of the documents. We pointed this out to the guy who was helping us (Jamie was gone due to a family emergency) and he told us to go ahead and sign it and they would correct it back to our insurance company. In hind sight, we never should have signed the paperwork and ran straight out of there!!!. Several months after the re-fi was completed, we got a letter from our insurance company notifying us that they were cancelling our homeowners insurance due to lack of payment. Academy Mortgage was taking our insurance payments out of our mortgage payments monthly. We called our insurance company and was told that they hadn't been paid by Academy Mortgage at all. We called Academy Mortgage and spoke to about ten people over a month long period all who said they would take care of the problem and mail a check to our insurance company. Our paperwork was never corrected by Academy Mortgage back to our insurance company. Our insurance company was gracious enough to give us a ten day extension while we tried to correct the problem. We called Jamie and he told us that he would take care of it. A few days went by and we hadn't heard from Jamie so my husband called him again. This time, Jamie put my husband on a three way call with customer service at Academy Mortgage. Again, we were told that it would be taken care of and a check would be mailed to our insurance company. A few days later, our insurance company still hadn't been paid. My husband again called Academy Mortgage and Jamie. This time, Jamie didn't even have the decency to even call us back. A few minutes later, my husband got a call from a service rep at Academy Mortgage who again said he would take care of it. I am sure Jamie called him and told him to help clean up Jamie's mess. A few more days went by and my husband again called Academy Mortgage and spoke with a service rep. This rep said that he would mail a check to our insurance company and Fed Ex it to get it there by the insurance company's deadline. Deadline day came and our insurance company still had not received a check. After looking into this, Academy Mortgage mailed the check to an insurance company in Chicago who has nothing at all to do with us. They were provided with our insurance company's information and had even spoken with our insurance company on several occasions during this problem. This level of incompetence at Academy Mortgage is unacceptable. I will never refer Jamie or Academy Mortgage to anyone I know. In fact, a few days ago, we received a letter from Academy Mortgage informing us that our mortgage had been sold to another company. This is welcome news knowing that we will never have to deal with this unprofessional and incompetent company ever again. At this moment, we are still having to deal with them to figure out how to get our insurance company paid. We are the ones left trying to resolve this issue due to Academy Mortgage's lack of accountability, incompetence and unprofessionalism. Our insurance company has thankfully agreed to give us another ten day extension. This nightmare has been going on for approximately one month and is still not resolved. read more

This is an update to my initial review of Academy. I submitted a complaint with the CFPB, and Academy responded that they were not going to budge on their initial offer. They made representations in their response to the CFPB that refuted my side of the story. I provided the CFPB correspondence between myself and Academy that agreed with my side of the story. I am no waiting to hear from the CFPB on my next course of action. I have consulted organization and professionals outside of Academy and the CFPB, and I am exploring my options outside of my complaint with the CFPB. I have had multiple issues with my time working with Academy, and I have only been with them for shortly under a year. Their track record with me is not the greatest. read more