Consumer Fraud and Unprofessionalism
In May of 2015, my husband Paul Lutz and I, Darlene Lutz applied for a mortgage through PNC Bank. The process went without issue until the mortgage was in underwriting and our lender Nicholas Jacoski advised us abruptly that our mortgage would not be approved due to a slightly higher debt to income ratio than PNC allowed. That same day, roughly May 29, 2015, we were advised by Nick that he had a company that would be able to handle and approve our mortgage and that he would personally hand deliver our personal information to this company, Stephine Speal at Absolute Home Mortgage Corporation which is located in Hackettstown, New Jersey. At the time of this transaction our current residence was under contract to be sold and we had a signed contract on a new home. Our closing was scheduled for the both residences for July 2, 2015.
On June 2, 2014, the first contact was initiated to Stephanie Speal at Absolute Home Mortgage. She insured us that she would make this work and “not to worry, this will get done”. Paperwork was hand delivered by us and signed June 4, 2014 in her office. Throughout the process, communication with Stephanie was daunting to say the least. When emails were sent her responses tended to be vague and many times did not answer the questions that were asked. Most times, we had to switch numbers or try alternate means of communications to reach her. One such instance was when we wanted to lock into an interest rate. I had sent an email to Stephanie and there was no initial reply.
One of our biggest issues was over our interest rate and locking in. At our first meeting, she told us our rate would not exceed 4.375 for a VA jumbo mortgage. We were told we could float down as needed. We have that in email as well. We inquired what the rates were at our first meeting and she stated she did not have that data and would get back to us. We expressed our concerns to lock asap as we saw the rates were increasing. Numerous times via email and voice we inquired about the rates never to get an exact number and I mean never. All times the answers were vague and non-conclusive. Stephanie would say things like the rates have not change much or the market is steady never to spit out a number. At one point, I was told that it is Stephanie’s job to watch the market and lock in when it is best for her customers. I asked by what document I relinquished my rights to decide when we lock only to get no reply. When we inquired about competitor’s interest rates, Stephanie responded by asking me if the rates are lower, why don’t we go use that company. Most of this I have saved in Email communications.
I had been watching the rates and as time moved closer to our closing which was set for July, 2, 2015 on our new house, and we had wanted to lock before the rates increased again. When Stephanie finally responded she did not lock into a rate, and stated “the market is doing pretty good right now so I want to see how the day pans out, I’m always watching the rates also so don’t worry your not going to get any worse, I would lock if that was the case.” The rate she was speaking of was 4.375%. The rate that USAA was offering was 3.87%, and at this time the rates through various banks were lower. On multiple occasions both Paul and I requested to lock into a rate and it was not done until 6/24/2015. Stephanie also advised us that if rates decreased prior to closing that we were afforded the opportunity to lock at a lower rate. The rates did decrease, we asked to lock at a lower rate and again Stephanie did not.
Many other issues arose with Stephanie as time progressed. To say the least, she was often rude and was extremely difficult to communicate with. She was short and very arrogant to say the least even my realtor and his staff had the same issues. She told my realtor to go find another lender if he did not like how she was handling the mortgage process. Stephanie often requested documents from us multiple times creating inconvenience and a lack of trust that she were processing our mortgage appropriately. My husband Paul had to micro-manage the process with her becoming a liaison between the Veterans Administration, the realtor, and the home inspector. We did not know we were not closing on our new home until a few hours prior to the close of business the day before closing. She was rude and told us that we were obviously not closing tomorrow. Than the waiting game began where everyday was a nightmare of her inabilities. More duplicate documents were requested and more things were found to not have been done on Stephanie’s end.
We were mortified, as we had to generate an occupancy agreement with the seller of our new home and were now paying to live there. This was very difficult to manage, as my husband is a disabled vet going through cancer treatment. We explained our situation and pleaded with Stephanie and her company to expedite due our circumstances. We were so afraid to offend or do anything else to Stephanie to cause her delay our process any further. I finally convinced my realtor to call one of the company owners. Only than did the ball finally get rolling and we find out the truth about our issues. First, Stephanie had planned and left for her Bachelorette party while she was leading us to believe she was working on our mortgage rather than pass this already critical mortgage situation. Uncovered was all of the chaos she left behind and all of the loose ends that we had to repair. That is when I got a call from Manny the Branch Manager whom is also ironically her Fiancée. So again, I had to watch what I said as to not offend anyone.
How could this company allow such a thing to happen over, when all said and done, ¾ of a million dollars. Never had I experienced such an unprofessional, unfamiliar with her profession, dishonest, and stressful business organization where I was the one spending the money. I believe Stephanie has a control problem, which in a phone conversation her fiancée actually told me this. That is when it started to make sense. I feel we were victims of consumer fraud regarding our interest rate. Never once did she provide proof of how the market was doing or what her company’s rates were, even when requested to do so. I can’t believe this company allows such incompetent people to not only be responsible to close mortgages, but to manage them as well. How could a manager be the fiancée of a subordinate?
Finally, the underwriting was a joke here as well unless Stephanie lied about them as well. Our mortgage was said at times to not be able to get an answer on because Lisa, the underwriter was out. A company of this size, with multiple locations across multiple states has only one underwriter?
Bottom line is we were subjects of consumer fraud and unethical business practices.
