First Option Mortgage & First Option Lending first option mortgage ripoff - they have ruined my chances of ever refinancing Indianapolis Indiana

Yesterday, I met with the Denver office of First Option about a refinance on my home. There was a page that we specifically went over about keeping payments up to date. The gentleman who was helping me made sure to mention that issue several times as he had a customer last week who stopped making payments and his loan fell through. I realize there are a lot of pages to go over but it is very important that you read and understand exactly what you are signing. If you don't understand, ASK! At no time was I ever told to stop making payments on my current mortgage.

My credentials are as follow:

BSBA major in finance. 6+ years in the mortgage profession with experience in wealth management. I have extensive experience  in originating FHA, VA, Conventional conforming and non conforming, Jumbo, USDA, Home-path and HARP loans. I am in the top 25% with regards to production in my company which is a top 5 direct lender in the United States.  I am proud to say my company received ZERO bailout monies from the government during the "mortgage crisis". We are traditionally a conservative company with excellent ratings. 

I also have the distinct pleasure in working with some best real estate companies in the world along with many top producing agents. 

I hope my credentials are note worthy. I take pride in my business and always work with full disclosure. i want to comment on the above persons experience. 

It is NEVER reccomended anyone not make a payment after the due date for any reason during the process of refinancing. Only unless the loan closes prior to the due date should it ever be considered. It is much easier to handle an over-payment on a mortgage than deal with a 30 day late on record. I hate your experience was negative and you received bad advice. This detail should have been made very clear up front. 

I also want to comment on the response titled "interesting retort". I understand your position regarding reading between the lines on the language and such and basically recommending one never to use a non-depository institution for mortgage needs. Well that is great if you want to wait 90 days just to get an application done then another 60-90 days to close.  My company is a non-depository direct lender with a great reputation and we do deliver on service. I would also like to point out one simple detail. You seem to feel "protected" by having your mortgage with a bank. Most people do not realize the loan originators with banks are exempt from taking the national or state National Mortgage Licensing tests. These tests are comprehensive and you must make a 80 or better to pass. People do not realize that the bailout monies went to BANKS not direct lenders. So my point is you can duped by anyone in this business whether they are with a bank or small LLC. I reccomend you ask around to your friends and colleagues and get a reccomendation.  

Thank you, 
Tom 

For the sake of protocol, I will preface this observation with the obligatory personal credentials in an effort to keep within the standards of the original response and to illustrate that I have no dog in this hunt and thus my perspective is fairly neutral.

Physician, 10 years of mortgage payments, never anything close to a late payment, bank with a large banking corporation and not a mortgage company, LLC. And, no, I would never skip a payment because some yahoo trying to sale me a mortgage said it was ok. Having typed this, red flags pop up from the get-go in terms of the former employee response. "Mortgage biz", "good group of guys", "yada yada", and a self-entitled monicker that starts with "honest". Speaking of common sense, folks might want to weigh these red flags when assigning credibility to the response.

Next...."I asked if I should pay my payment. I was told no". That is as specific as one can be. "Should I"...."no". Just an educated guess, but something tells me that this account is far more likely than the account in the response. Yes, the tiny small print reads "if and when and maybe and consider and possible, and, to borrow a phrase, yada, yada, yada", but anyone with a lick of sense is going to recognize the characteristics of the industry and the deserved stereotype of those hustling in the "mortgage biz"...those "swell guys" are trying their darndest to sale you a mortgage so they can get their dues. It's that simple. Anyone telling you they "don't want to make any money, they just love to sale mortgages" is lying through their teeth.

Consider sources, consider human nature, consider likelihoods, consider language. I will surmise with a great deal of statistical likelihood that the used mortgage salesman was very ambigious in his wording even if he did not come straight out and declare "don't make your payment, all is good". I will never run into this situation myself because I am too smart to deal with a mortgage company and to skip a payment on my current mortgage based on the (near) promises of a mortgage company, LLC salesman. However, this was almost assuredlyvery slippery dealing with the customer, despite the protests of the former employee decrying the wonders of the company and the swell bunch of dudes comprising the Indy location. Pffff.

I am a former employee of First Option and they actually are a really good company, I just got out of the Mortgage Biz.  I worked in Denver, but there are branches all over.  This branch in INDY is a good group of guys.  Often times Loan officers will tell borrowers that they can skip payments...IF THE LOAN CLOSES AND FUNDS BEFORE THE PAYMENTS ARE 30 DAYS LATE...this is the important part of that sentence.  Often times borrowers hear..."don't make your mortgage payment" which should put up a red flag, but hey...each to his own.  Not only that, but there is an actual disclosure that reads in huge letters "I aknowledge and agree that First Option nor any of it's employees have advised or encouraged me NOT to make a payment under any current mortgage obligation" yada yada yada signed and dated by the customer....If this borrower called the loan officer and asked for a copy of this form that he signed...it would be available. So read what you sign.

Loans without any issues fly right through the process, but if there are issues....the loan officer can either give up, or try his best to work through the issues.  I am speculating that the Loan Officer kept asking for more documents because there was an issue with this loan...it was a tough loan to get done...these happen. 

They actually say that they can close a loan in AS LITTLE as 2 weeks which is actually true, but borrowers hear "We can close ANY loan in NO MORE than 2 weeks".   This Loan Officer should have let his customer know what was going on and let them know why it was taking so long and what the specific issue was that ultimately dis-allowed this loan to close.

This borrower says that he was told the loan cannot be done, which in today's lending climate is not uncommon...sometimes you have to throw a loan against the proverbial underwriting wall and see if it sticks...sometimes it doesn't and sometimes it sticks right up until the last condition to close then falls unexpectedly on the floor.  Right after the man is told the loan cannot be done...he made his payment more than 30 days late.  So even if the Loan Officer had called and said "your loan is approved" (which it can't without proof the current mortgage is less than 30 days late) the borrower still would have had a 30 day late on his mortgage.

This is where good old fashioned common sense comes into play.  The Loan Officer really should have called the borrower when he realized that either way the loan would not close in time for the payoff of his current loan to be made before it was 30 days late...so he should make his payment.  However if somebody told me to hold my breath, but didn't tell me to breathe again...I wouldn't be passing out.  You have to know that if you don't pay your mortgage for a month, that affects your credit period.  The guy also should have known and should have been told that there was a problem with the loan that the loan officer was working very hard to overcome but in the end...he could not overcome it....which is a grave financial hardship for the loan officer as well. 

MORAL OF THE STORY: Don't allow your mortgage to be more than 30 days late...most people do not need to be told this.