Cendant Mortgage Corporation Aka Mortgage Services Fraudulent Company, Takes $250 for a "Loan Lock", You Never Get A Loan Mount Laurel New Jersey

Can suck it.... worst expierence i have ever had.. and a ripoff they are..

1. Erica was just a poor performing employee (in fact doesn't work there any more) and never contacted you, thus an extension might *repeat* might have been acceptable.

2. Rate locks are good for 45 days. You received your loan app package and decided it wasn't "right" for you and didn't send it back, then waited for someone to call you. If they don't here from you they cannot proceed with processing your loan. And then you call 45 days after your loan registered to see what was going on. Why should they extend a rate on a loan when you may have no desire to move forward in the future? Those extensions cost real money.

3. There was an honest mistake and you were assigned to a conventional loan processor instead of a government counselor. This would explain why Erica had no knowledge of the VA streamlined process. The first clue would be to check your loan docs and see if they requested your DD214 as part of the required docs. If not then this is the most likley case.

In response to the whole idea that the company did this fraudulently just to get your $250, isn't relevant. They make more money closing the loan then just canceling it. PHH does a lot more business than people realize as a private label provider (they represent other "well known" companies in mortgage originations). If they were truly doing this they would have been would be out of business many years ago.

Sorry your experience wasn't great but as far as them being a scam/fraudulent no way. I'd chaulk it up to a bad representative and a rushed origination.

I am a Realtor and have personally used Cendant Mtg many times and my clients have used them as well. Carolyn seems to think that the Counselor was the only one who knew when the lock in expired. Come on, Carolyn, you knew also. You had that set period of time to buy a home. If you didn't buy, why should Cendant be the one at fault. You went in knowing the terms. Sure, companies are only as good as their employees, but Cendant does go all out training their counselors to know the products. It's certainly in their best interest to know them.

I and my clients have been extremely happy with the service they have provided. And... they are the only ones that I know of who will provide the $250 lock while you shop for a home. If the rates go down, you can for one time get the lower price, while it's lock. It's a great deal. There are too many bad internet mortgage brokerage companies to complain about the good ones unfairly.

I don't care what word you want to call it, a "fee" or a "deposit," Cendant charged us $250 to get us a mortgage.

When we filled out the application, they charged our credit card $250. They held on to the $250 while they screwed around and wasted our time with their blinding ignorance (they knew absolutely nothing about what is required for a VA loan) and incompetence.

Only after I complained and called the VA did they return our money. I believe they would have happily kept our $250 for doing nothing for us if I hadn't complained.

Maybe Cendant doesn't charge for their applications any more.

Carolyn

The FEE you are referring to is a Good Faith Deposit and every single dollar of that $250 gets credited towards your closing costs, it isn't a fee at all.

Cendant never makes you pay to get approved, ever! The only time you pay anything is when you lock into your rate and move forward with your good faith deposit.

Brokers are a joke for people with good credit. They go out and get you a loan that you could get yourself. You end up paying them AND the mortgage company - consumers with good credit, save yourself the legwork. Go directly to the lender themselves.

If you have less than perfect credit, seek out a broker but make sure you really see what you are paying for the loan.

my name is Tom and I am a mortgage broker.

This age old scam of asking for a 'fee' upfront from the borrower is a trick. Its there to make sure you dont SHOP around to another outfit and get a better deal.

Its there to make sure they GET $250 whether it funds or not.

Now, i see a bunch of warm fuzzy stories from replies, but in fact i find it hard to believe.

Why?

I wouldnt INSULT anyone by charging them upfront ONE CENT for applying for a loan. My service is excellent. I never lose a loan to a competitor. My judgment is sound. I can pull credit , check ltv and income to basically KNOW if the things going to fund. I dont NEED a guaranteed fee for my time. Im going to make my money.

A steamline VA loan is a no brainer. The 'lock rate' period is in FACT yes, your loan officers responsibility to make sure it doesnt expire.

In fact, there are SEVEAL lock periods. 15 days, 30 days, 45 60 90 and beyond. Your loan officer should have offered you a price for each lock period.

The 15 ALL THE WAY TO 90day price cannot be any more than 1/8th of a percentage point MAX.

Its CONVIENENT that the rate went up A FULL PERCENTAGE POINT somehow in 30 days.

I dont think i have EVER seen the bond yield skyrocket that fast in a 30 day period. How could interest rates skyrocket a FULL PERCENTAGE point in 30 days?

So whats stopping these people from doing this ON PURPOSE ? Offering an impossible low rate -then stall as an exuse so they cant get it....

so they can say 'ooops , and raise your rate, thus making a HUGE YIELD SPREAD?

Im not saying this is what happened here, but the way it is set up?

Your d**n right they could. If you walk away in disgust? Well , they got your $250 dont they?

I wouldnt do business with a company that pulls this bs

regardless if they have people rushing on to say they are legit....

You noted in the beginning of your complaint

"Our loan counselor, Erica, didn't know what a VA streamline was and sent us reams of paperwork for a regular loan. She sent us the correct forms a couple weeks later when I called to complain about reading and signing all the mounds of unneccessary paper." - Why did you let a couple weeks go by? if you knew you locked in a rate for a certain amount of time, a couple weeks is way too long to allow for getting the paperwork to sign.

"They didn't like my husband's special POA needed for me to sign for him. He got one with all their requirements but then they didn't bother to even look at it." - how on earth did you come to this conclusion? what was it that was needed? You never said why it was unacceptable, just that they did not look at it.

"Meanwhile, they blithely let our loan lock expire." - They do not let rates expire - did you send in the proper VA documentation needed to obtain a Certifiate of Eligibility needed? Did you send in your corrected forms to allow for processing time?

"I called our "counselor" Erica to ask about the loan lock on the day it expired." - How is this the companies fault? You called on the day the rate expired, if you had this much trouble you should have called a supervisor or the office of the president WAY before the expiration date.

I obtained a VA loan through Cendant as well as worked there, never had a problem. They are not fraudulent and would not be able to provide VA and FHA loans for all these years if they were.

In response to your comments. No I do not now or have I ever worked for Cendant Mortgage company I how ever do consider them a business partner of sorts since I have also taken out two more mortgages with them on investment properties. As always it's my money therefore it's my responsibility to see that the people I entrust with it are doing their job and doing it correctly.

I honestly find your comments quite offense in that if a reply to your posting does not side with your grievance you some how must feel that the person responding works for Cendant Mortgage. Did you ever think it possible that you might just be in the minority or in fact that your looking for someone to blame. I too found mistakes on things that they either forgot to take care of such as escrow accounts or the proper tax payments but once pointed out to them the problems were take care of immediately.


I have purchased brand new cars and have nothing but trouble with them while other people I know have purchased the exact same vehicle and have nothing but good things to say about them. The same is with cellphones, TV sets you name it. No matter who you deal with or what the product or service is there are bound to be problems. In any case you as the consumer are the one who is responsible and you the consumer needs to take action to see that your interests are first and fore mostly addressed.

It's the world we live in sorry to say but NO one is going to look after your money like you do. Not Cendant mortgage, not Lending Tree, not Wells Fargo, etc. etc. Believe me when and if I ever have a complaint about Cendant that warrants being posted on this site you'll be the first to know.

with most mortgage operations, and with some more than others.

We did a mortgage in Cincinnati c1992 and I would follow up every few days. When I noticed that no progress was apparent, I started asking questions and... gosh.... golly gee! Our application had been forgotten in someone's work basket. So they hot-footed our application to the home office in upstate Ohio and got it back two days later.

We used Cendant here in Anderson c2000 and our house and lot came with two additional lots. Cendant wanted all three lots in the mortgage, but then they forgot to pay the taxes on the two "spare lots". One of those "spare lots" included our private lake dock, which is very valuable here. I caught the problem when I got a tax letter from the county. In 2003 we did a refi when mortgage interest rates were 25% less than 2000 by using a mortgage broker recommended by the buyer's broker we had used in 2000. That broker got the two extra lots removed from the new house mortgage.

Morals of the story:

1. I am partial to using a broker who is highly-recommended by a trusted source;

2. The agents of very large mortgage companies may be inexperienced, under trained, under-motivated, and they are usually remote from your property. Remote control never works very well in these situations.

Dear Brian,

Your response to our complaint about Cendant sounds like an ad. Do you work for them?

And even if you are a real, former customer who likes what Cendant did for you, that does not invalidate our concerns about the gross incompentency we experienced with them.

They ultimately COST US THOUSANDS in interest. While they wasted our time with their sheer buffoonery, we could have gone with another mortgage company and locked in a lower interest rate.

I also don't appreciate your making it sound as if Cendant's multiple screw-ups were somehow our fault.

I purchased my present home in 2003 with a mortgage from Cendant Mortgage. My loan officer Jason Hahn was the consummate professional and to be quite honest he felt more like a friend helping a friend then a company employee. Yes it's true that if you let your loan lock expire you will loose the $250 fee but it's your responsibility to know how your money is being spent and when your lock expires. Trust me mine expired more then once in the 18 months it took us to find the right home.

Every time it came up Jason or one of his associates would just re-lock us in as per their procedure. If I am not mistaken the loan lock was refunded at the time of closing. At the time my credit wasn't worthy of as low a rate, as I would have liked. Actually one mortgage company who my wife was personally associated with told us their was no way we would ever get a mortgage or at least not for a year or more of proof of good credit practices.

Well not only did Cendant lock us in to a mortgage but we got a rate far lower then a lot of people and family we know had gotten. All of who had better credit at the time. Well it's been 3 years since we bought our home and our credit is back up to AAA rating thanks in part to Jason Hann and Cendant Mortgage.

The bottom line is if your not happy with your representative you need to be diligent and stay on top of things from the get go. There were a few glitches with our mortgage but we got them all straightened out with very little effort nothing more then a phone call and a follow up email to confirm the phone conversation. We have since referred several friends to Cendant all of who have been as happy as we were.

I'm sorry you had a bad experience with them but you can't judge an entire company by one experience. To be completely honest the worst part of our buying experience was our attorney. Cendant was gracious enough to point out several mistakes his office made in paper work preparation or should I say lack there of. Of course due to legal ramifications I will not disclose his name but unlike Cendant Mortgage we don't recommend him to anyone not even people we don't like.

If you were not happy with your representative you should have insisted on changing to a different one and contacted her supervisor imediately when she sent you the wrong paper work. After all it's your money, your home and bottom line your responsibility.

Lisa,

Your reply to my complaint about Cendant appears to have been WRITTEN BY Cendant. It's like the nauseating propaganda found on their packet folder.

I mean, come on, what would be your motivation for saying such things? You "love" Cendant? Please, it's a corporation, not a basket of kittens.

Carolyn


Let's not have any more rebutalls to this please.
Nothing anyone can say changes what we went through with these losers.

When I get the chance, I'm doing an update on how Cendant LIED their asses off to the Veteran's Administration about all this. It's amazing what a sleazy company Cendant is.

I applied for and received an FHA home loan through Cendant Mortgage in Dec. 2002.

They are a real mortgage company, and I have had no problems with them since my closing.

I did have some frustrations during the process, notably that it was very difficult to reach my loan manager, but that was during the height of the mortgage boom. Persistence paid off.

There were of course some minor misunderstandings and paperwork errors, considering the amount of documentation required, but I took it upon myself to keep on top of the situation, and all of my problems were resolved.

Cendant mortgage is a lender that operates under several "brand names" such as ERA Mortgage.

That does not mean they are fraudulent.

Just wanted to let you know that I had a good experience with them and still do.

I applied for a mortgage with them, and even with a bankruptcy (discharged 5 years prior), I still obtained a loan with a favorable rate. My money that went in to lock my rate was apllied to my closing costs as a credit. I have always had excellent service through them, and they also handle my home equity line of credit. The paperwork was easy to understand, and the entire process went much more smoothly than I ever imagined.

I applied for a mortgage with them, and even with a bankruptcy (discharged 5 years prior), I still obtained a loan with a favorable rate. My money that went in to lock my rate was apllied to my closing costs as a credit. I have always had excellent service through them, and they also handle my home equity line of credit. The paperwork was easy to understand, and the entire process went much more smoothly than I ever imagined.

I applied for a mortgage with them, and even with a bankruptcy (discharged 5 years prior), I still obtained a loan with a favorable rate. My money that went in to lock my rate was apllied to my closing costs as a credit. I have always had excellent service through them, and they also handle my home equity line of credit. The paperwork was easy to understand, and the entire process went much more smoothly than I ever imagined.