Crefco Consumer Real Estate Finance Company RUN FROM THIS COMPANY!!! Beechwood Ohio

I started my mortgage process with this company in the middle of May of 2018. I was reassured by the initial mortgage officer Tyler Smith that "Look at our ratings" and this office was out of Maine. I hadn't bought a house since 2001 so I knew I would be encountering some new dynamics and that it should take 30 days to get the mortgage done. The rest of the staff came in (From a different Ohio office and the underwriting staff in Florida) and I asked for a list of things I would need to produce about five documents. I was then asked to pay for an appraisal and that "Whatever you invest up front will be credited at the closing table and you will only have to write a check for the balance of the down payment". This is important as you will see why soon. We ran into septic and well issues and I asked "What has force, FHA or local rulings for measurements?". It took two weeks and I still never was given an answer, this was 6 weeks into the process. Endless requests for banking statements (I had to go to the bank every two weeks and on some occasions on Mondays because I had to explain any deposit over $500.00, I knew that was federal law so I complied). I was at the bank getting statments, signed and stamped on each page to fax to them. They were asking early on for explanations of deposits for $100.00 dollars or more after the second week.

Finally about July 27th I asked "What is the amount criteria for explanations?" and Beth Carlin told me "oh, it is $500.00" I said "Why have you asked me for three of these explanations?", she could not answer. You will be flipped between Beth, Alphonoso Mack and Lars Ericsson who will rarely call and then it takes ten days to 14 days to call you back. They even email slowly. I had four issues within the context of the mortgage that should have been easily answered with an FHA handbook and couldn't get a straight answer. The other issue was that I was asked for documents, they would be sent to underwriting and accepted and three days later they will be rejected. This happened FIVE TIMES, along with the incompetency and lack of courtesy to call and explain. When I pressed them all why they can't just go to udnerwriting and give me an answer was the day I found out all the paperwork has to be sent to FLORIDA first. WOW. Finally after 7 weeeks I had enough. I started calling all the officers mentioned above and leaving voice mails getting firm with them about wanting efficiency in getting back with me, they responded a little quicker but it was still rolling into the 7th and 8th weeks. I decided to call Chad Turner, the owner. You will never speak directly to Mr. Turner, his assistant always transfers you to voice mail.

After over 81 pages of documents, revisions, addendums and reciepts, bills, copies of checks, bank statments, letters, copies of licenses, et.al. were sent in at over 100 dollars of cost and well over 18 hours of my time I was really upset. I called Mr. Turner twice, called and asked to see what they were charging me on the back end of the loan because I was PROMISED a $3500.00 down payment and it was $5780.00 (rounded) the first time, then it was $3800 (rounded) the second time. I told them I wanted disclosure and to see all their numbers. They produced a screen shot of under 2000 dollars. I knew this was wrong, I pressed again to no avail.

They will delay you constantly, they LIED about the down payment scenario and I was left holding the bag for $1630.00 dollars in up front costs to get the septic/well inspected, have a reverse osmosis system put in the house, a water test, not to mention the hundreds running all over town gettting documents, meeting my realtor (This company made us all look like fools to the sellers), faxing endless and sometimes needless documents.

These mortgage "officers" were not at all on the same page all the time. I was asked for the same documents from two of them. I asked for answers with voicemails to simple questions at 9 in the morning and wouldn't get answers until three days later. There were still two unanswered questions looming after two weeks of being asked when I finally called Tyler Smith on the carpet and said "You are now telling me that I only had to bring the balance to the closing table and now it is the whole $3700.00? You said up front that would be credited and the balance would only be required". He wrote back "I am sorry for the miscommunication...". He called back on 7/28/18 and apologized for the "miscommunication". I said "Tyler you lied, OWN it". He would not. I demanded all my documents back and he said "We can't send you all that back because we shred it". I asked for all the documents to be sent back as he agreed to put them on a thumbdrive and put them in the overnight mail". They never showed this week.

Do not believe thier five star ratings, these are inept and competent people. You will be hung out for days waiting for questions to be answered, you will chase documents down, you will submit documents, have them accepted and rejected and these people don't know bupkiss about FHA rules. I wish I could have gone conventional, but even then I wouldn't give these folks a second chance. I was actually giving them advice on how to streamline their process (simple efficiency measures!!!) and it was like teaching a 12 year old how to make spaghetti on the stove "Yeah, that does sound better".

So, if you want to blow money down a rathole, call these people, you will be frustrated every three days, you will be waiting on calls in perpetuity, you won't get a straight answer out of anyway (they are all covering things up so they don't have to be accountable or accept blame for any mishap they produce).

Go LOCAL, get with someone who has YEARS of experience, can give you a timeline, will consult with you on ALL the documents you will need first, someplace you can go see them FACE TO FACE. That is honesty and integrity. I will also be filing a complaint with the Ohio and Florida State's Attorney generals and the BBB. RUN NOW........find a REAL mortgage company.