Flagship Financial Fees are absurd! lehi Utah

Bottom Line:

Jason at Flagship is at best deceptive and at worst an intentional liar when attempting to address my issues with more than $12,000 in fees Flagship was charging for loan origination. 

Background:

I was contacted by Colby who worked hard to convince me to refi with flagship. He threw together some compelling numbers and a couple days later I received the GFE. In that short time, Colby left Flagship and my experience with them went downhill quickly. I spent an entire week trying to get in contact with Jason, who took over my application following Colby. Over that time, rates have risen to 8 week highs making other loans less competitive. I received a call from Jason earlier today with the following results.

 Issues:

Althought the rate was competitive, they were charging about 4% in fees including $12,776.06 in orignation fees according to block 1 of the HUD GFE form.  Industry standard is 1%, my last refi was 1% as was the origination costs on the original loan. Jason simply claimed it was not an origination fee, instead it was what the bank was paying them to make the loan. When I said it was the same thing, he claimed I just dont understand consumer loans and the $12,000 was normal industry standards. (http://www.investopedia.com/terms/o/origination-fee.asp).

He instisted that it was the bank that was paying the fee, not me, and that it could not be changed. Over the week I was waiting for Jason's call, I called the underwriting mortgage company, Sun West, who confirmed the fees were excessive and they would be willing to do the loan for 1% in origination fees (unfortunately, rates had risen significantly by then). When I confronted Jason with this information, he claimed Sun West doesnt understand consumer loans. 

Jason instisted there was no "cost" to me and the $12,000 is something I just do not understand. Next I confronted him with the difference in interest rate and APR (3.25%/3.559%) which corresponds to the $12,000 in fees Jason was trying to hide. Once again, Jason claimed I dont understand consumer loans and that the GFE "overestimated" the APR to be "safe". This is complete BS. My closing costs excluding their origination cost would be $2,508.88 which would make the APR 3.3089%. The difference between 3.3089% and 3.559% is the origination fee Jason is trying to hide by claiming I do not understand consumer loans. 

Once it was clear I was not buying his deception on the origination fee, Jason tried to close the deal by pointing out how much I had to lose by not making the deal. He claimed he was going to save me $3200 by not making payments for 2 months. When I pointed out that I was still going to make the payments, just at a later date, Jason once again claimed I didnt understand consumer loans. When I pointed out that, by delaying payment for 2 months I was actually paying more in interest, Jason once again said I dont understand consumer loans. He tried various sales closes (I'm going to pay and additional $120/mo by not taking his deal, I am going to pay an additional $64,000 in interest by not taking the deal), until I told him I'd rather pay more money to my current lender than allow someone to lie to me for 20 minutes and make a dollar. 

Conclusion:

This is just one experience with one person that works at Flagship Financial. I do not know if this is an exception or the norm. The loan itself is a great deal and, barring the week I waited to talk to someone and the 20 mintes of bullshit I was fed by Jason, I wouldnt have a problem doing business with this company. I dont have a problem with Jason or Flagship Financial making money off the loan. I do have a problem with them making 4% and I certainly have a problem when my loan officer lies to me for 20 minutes to get me to close the loan. Buyer beware.