I was a first time home buyer looking for a mortgage. I got all my places lined up for the day and…read moreasked one of the consultants to give me a rough estimate of the rates he had. He gave me a rate that was well outside of my research range. When I said to him "Hey this doesn't seem right, can you check it again" He said "I did everything I could and that is the best rate I could get, I do this for a living." I literally called 3 major banks and got 3 quotes that were all 1% lower than his "lowest rate" I told him I was moving on with another bank. He said "Well maybe I can talk to my manager to get a lower rate...I didn't know rates were so low." Get a second opinion when working with these guys... Slimy as hell.

Update: 8/31/2017 Thank you for Grace's sincerity and…read morehelpful reply. I feel like I can trust her again. I think I'm too impatient to wait for her reply. Now I know customers are very important to her. She will take good care of them. I will definitely do business with her in the future if needed. I will recommend Grace to others wholeheartedly. Original: 8/30/2017 At first Grace Davis was helpful but then she did not respond to my last email. I just want to find out the interest rate and closing costs. Is that too much to ask? She might just be too busy to answer two questions. Maybe I am not worthy of her time. I chose her because she is on the list of preferred loan officers. But now I think it is overstated. Not recommended.

For anybody unfamiliar with the "Demand Feature", take a look here…read more http://www.mtgprofessor.com/A%20-%20Options/demand_clause.htm He says it better than I could. The guy I was working with at Asset Mutual Mortgage was really nice. Everything was going well until they sent me the "Truth in Lending" document. I noticed that it had the "This loan has a Demand Feature" YES box checked. I asked him to send me a copy that did NOT have the Demand Feature added. It was all still nice, but they wouldn't remove it. So we parted ways. Then his boss, Adam, called me and insisted that the Truth in Lending statements for ALL mortgages had a demand feature. I knew that wasn't true because I already had a mortgage without the feature. We went back and forth, but neither of us was going to change our position, so we again parted ways. The people at Asset Mutual are nice, but I did not want a mortgage that could be called back at any time at the lender's discretion, so I went with Guaranteed Rate (from whom our existing mortgage came - without the demand feature) instead. The people at Asset Mutual were nice enough and had Adam not tried to mislead me, I would have been open to still using them if they removed the demand feature. I am not suggesting he lied to me. I am guessing that he really thought that my existing mortgage (without the demand feature) did not exist. Addendum: After I originally posted this with a lower rating, they gave me a call, retracted the assertion that the demand feature was on all Truth in Lending documents, and offered to proceed without it. I can accept an honest mistake, having made many myself.

Adam could not have been more helpful. He guided me through the loan application process with a…read moregreat deal of patience, and was armed with an incredible amount of knowledge. He is efficient and organized. That efficiency and quick response time allowed me to lock in a great interest rate just as rates began to climb steadily. (I can't say the same for other mortgage "professionals." One company actually sent me someone else's documents. That poor sap lucked out because it just so happens that my primary source of income IS NOT identity theft. Another broker requested the same document THREE times.) Adam was honest and candid, but could sense my anxiety as a first time home buyer and always reminded me not to panic. You won't find a better company to guide you through this process. Asset Mutual Mortgage is outstanding!

I worked with Bryan Young multiple times in the past few years and he was an amazing broker…read more Unfortunately, he left the company and when I was in the market for a home purchase again, I decided to give another broker a chance at Midwest. I was connected to Tony Gabrione. His title is the Division President, and I was suspicious as to why someone of that title is handling loans but I went with it anyways. Unfortunately, my concerns turned out to be true. It was impossible to get ahold of him. Impossible to get email responses. At one point, I even tried to get my account transferred to another loan officer within the company. With my offer review date approaching in under a week, I needed immediate attention and made sure to let Tony know that. After that phone call, he went silent for 3 days. A couple of failed email and phone call attempts later, I decided to move on with another brokerage and scrambled to get a new loan approved before my offer date. Fortunately I was able to find another lender, but only because I realized the path Tony and Midwest Equity was sending me down. I'm sure they have some outstanding brokers here, and I was able to work with one for many years. Unfortunately, Tony Gabrione is not one of them.

Exceptionally poor service. I would never use them again. Started the process with exceptional…read morecredit, low ratios and adequate reserves. About 6 weeks into the process told that the "guaranteed" best path was no longer viable due to a rejected appraisal (FOR BEING TOO HIGH!). Then told no problem, we can go to plan B. Just needed to liquidate all my stocks in one account because had to have a huge CASH amount in a savings account. No problem, as this was a no brainer. I liquidate per the request (and miss about $1000 worth of dividends because this had to be done immediately - which was prior to the Ex Date) with a commitment of approval within a week. How do you think that worked? Call after a week and get the "well, they are taking awhile and you may want to shop somewhere else". Wasted 8 weeks and am back at the beginning of the process. Complete incompetence. If they worked in my organization I would be "eliminating their position". Be very, very careful if using these guys. They make commitments they cannot deliver on. I am now refinancing through Wells Fargo. Probably a better plan for anyone that plans on ACTUALLY completing a deal.

As a first-time homebuyer, I couldn't have asked for a better experience. Our realtor, Joe Prindle,…read morerecommended Charles Mathison at Great Lakes Home Mortgage, and we're so glad he did. Charles and his assistant guided us through every step of the process, answered all of our questions, and made everything easy to understand. Even with a lot of paperwork involved, they were concise and extremely helpful in making sure everything was completed correctly. Whenever we were missing something, Charles and Pam were quick to point us in the right direction. Their communication and support made the entire process smooth and stress-free. I highly recommend them.

I was thrilled with my interaction with Great Lakes Home Mortgage. I felt that they worked to meet…read moremy needs and did so in a careful and thoughtful way. I was presented with many options and though we had a short period of time to close their entire team was patient with me. Ultimately everything worked out great. Thank you for the excellent support Ron, George and Sue!

I started looking for a preapproval letter before house searching. I reached to my bank where I…read morehave my business accounts and have done my personal banking for over ten years, but they were not able to provide the amount I wanted. Then, I reached out to Diamond Mortgage Northbrook, I sat with them, and in a couple of hours, I got my approval letter without issues. They explained everything to me. I contacted my realtor, and the house hunting began. Tanya and Marina were wonderful to work with for my first home purchase. I had many questions and they answered them all promptly and helped me understand all the options that were available to me, and secured competitive rate. Tanya and her team were very prompt and clear on all the steps involved and documents required. The whole process went smoothly all through to closing day. I would highly recommend Diamond mortgage to family and friends. Diamond provided me with options and a solution, what my lifetime big bank could not. Do not waste credit points with your bank, choose Diamond, they will beat the bank loan amount and interest rate. I'm speaking from my own experience. They keep us all in the loop all the time, Tanya even came to the closing and helped us with our babies during the signing. We love her!!! Feel free to contact me if you want more information about my experience.

As a first time home buyer it was awesome to have the team here walk me through the process and…read moremake me feel at ease about purchasing my first home. They took care of everything.

I had the absolute worst experience working with this office and Kathy Bernal . After using an IHDA…read moreforgivable down payment assistance five years later when the loan is to be forgiven I was told I owed the money. Of course Kathy now doesn't work for Stearns and didn't want to help at all. Eric Gutierrez and Shaun Patrickus also promised to remedy the issue but did nothing at all. I strongly suggest not to use Stearns at all for any lending.

My family had the WORST experience with Eric Gutierrez from Stearns Lending. 1st he reviewed our…read more"documents" and said we approved for a home loan, even though we had a foreclosure several years ago. After having a CLOSING date he called yelling at us saying we didn't qualify for some weird reason with paperwork. We got our date change for a whole month and the day before once again something was missing. He once again called really rude and unprofessional yelling over the phone. 2nd he is just plain rude. We ended up switching yo another place and in 1 month we are in our new home!! I would give a 0 STAR

Chris and his team of professionals made, what can, otherwise, be a tedious and frustrating…read moreexperience, a very easy one. Clear and concise communication and a calm and friendly demeanor helped relieve any fears or concerns. I highly recommend Chris and United Home Loans and if I could have given them a 6th star, I would have.

After falling through with 2 other mortgage brokers I finally contacted Chris Kinsella - and he…read moreblew any other broker out of the water, not only with his professionalism, but with his personal level of service to my wife and me. Chris is one of the main reasons we own a home today. I'm going to keep this short and sweet - Chris isn't going to make you feel hopeful about getting your home, he's not going to give you false expectation, he's not going to tell you anything you don't need to hear. He's real - incredibly honest and upfront about your financial situation and what you can do with it. Other people I worked with kept giving me a false sense of hope for what I could afford, and then everything would fall through last minute. This is so heartbreaking when you find a place you really want. This industry is so competitive you can't afford to have these kind of issues with professionals you're working with. The banking industry isn't one you want to mess with. They will scour your every penny, every bank account, everything to make sure you can afford your place. When you work with a broker you want someone who accurately reflects your situation. Back to Chris: after searching for nearly 6 months and finally finding the place we could both afford and one that we actually wanted, we became very close to loosing the property due to dealing with 2 finance companies that messed up our numbers. I had previously contacted Chris and been in touch with him to ask random questions, even when I was working with other companies. He was always patient and super happy to help me no matter the situation. When I finally called him at the 11th hour of closing, desperate for someone to give me a real sense of what I needed to do (pay off credit cards, a car loan, etc) - Chris stuck by to the very end and made it work out for us. I can honestly say that Chris is one of the main factors that we own a home today. Don't mess with other companies. Don't price shop when it comes to your loan. Other financial companies might offer you free appraisals, discounted rates, etc - but it's all pointless if they don't get the job done. Your home is worth it.

I'm a first time home buyer, so I'm not sure how it all works and I don't have a lot of reference…read morepoints. But as an accountant and someone who cares a lot about customer service, I know that Beth Lewis knows her stuff and she communicates it clearly, kindly, and quickly!! I know I'd be hard-pressed to find a banker who worked to find me a good deal, let alone a banker who worked HARD to find me the best deal. Beth knew during the pre-qualification process that I'd qualify for some programs for down payment assistance. But during the loan application process, Beth and her team found me even more assistance! My closing costs were basically non-existent, which apparently never happens? I'm forever grateful. On top of getting me a great deal, I really just appreciate Beth's phone-side manner. After I found a unit that pushed the edge of my prequalification, Beth let me know kindly, but very clearly, that it was just not in my price range. I couldn't even be disappointed. All of our calls regarding the unit that I did buy went along the lines of "actually your monthly payment will be even lower, it will include x, but it won't include y, keep that in mind. Does this work for you?" Of course it works for me!! It's amazing! Even with all of the assistance applications and grants and forms and condo-related paperwork, Beth and her team finalized my loan less and I closed less than a month after I even saw the property. I didn't even think that kind of turn around was possible!! Thank you so much to Beth and Meredith and Sarah!!!!!!! (not sorry about all the exclamation points. you gotta do what you gotta do.)

I can't say enough about Beth and her team at Cross Country! I was unhappy with a previous lender…read morebut felt stuck since I had only 2 weeks to close because I had to be out of my rental. Not only did they get me a lower rate they got me to closing in just 10 days! Their service and dedication to expedite the process for me was amazing. As a first time homebuyer they kept me informed throughout each step and truly lightened the burden of a stressful situation. I can't recommend them enough and will definitely use them again in the future!