First Option Mortgage, LLC Don't call these people first!!! Jacksonville, Florida

My Husband and I called First Option Mortgage after hearing their commercials and decided to call seeing as they were local and we were just recovering from a bad credit score we wanted to go with a less stringent company rather than go through more reputable companies such as Wells Fargo, BOA, etc. Boy did we chose wrong!

We had many set backs in order to get the loan finalized. The initial approval was pretty quick and they gave us a pre-approval with no problem. We were able to make adjustments to the amount on the pre-approval letters based on the offers we were submitting to purchase the house we were interested in however after we found "The House" everything went down hill from there.

Though there were no changes to the information/finances/credit report we provided during the pre-approval process the Mortgage Banker, Mr. Kevin Hamilton, contacted us to inform us that there was an error in the initial application submitted and that he would need to start the application process again. We were rightfully upset however we complied and gave in all the additional documentation requested. Mr. Hamilton stated there were some issues with the bank statements submitted and needed us to go back 6 months on our bank statements and send those to them as well.

The closing date had to be pushed a week later due to this error made on the mortgage banker part however after the back and forth the loan was finally approved. At this point we were nearing the closing date and the seller requested that if we did not close by the close of business on the pushed back date for closing we would forfeit our deposit on contract and they were no longer obligated to sell us the property. The bad part about this was they had a cash buyer waiting in the wings for our deal to fall through.

We were infuriated! We were so close to getting our home and because of an error on the mortgage bankers part we were in jeopardy of not losing out on the home we wanted but also the money that was deposited on contract. Things got worse the day before closing. My husband and I had to add a parent as a co-signer to our mortgage, for credit score purposes, and so the closing paperwork was to be mailed out of state to be signed by our parent in order to be back in Florida so that we may close on the closing date. Mr. Kevin Hamilton did not mail out the documentation until late that evening which cause the documents to be recieved by the closing agent in the other state late in the afternoon. By the time the closing agent was able to get the docs to our parent to be signed it was already to late to ship overnight to make it to Florida, to add insult to injury it was o a Thursday evening and the closing was on a Friday therefore if the package was not received by that Friday we would have to close the following Monday. At this point you can imagine our discontent.

We contacted Kevin Hamilton to see what he could do to assist us in getting either the docs back in time or delaying the closing due to an error on his part, since he did not send out the paperwork when he was suppose to, his excuse by the way was that he had other accounts that were also closing and he was getting those prepared as well, though as I pointed out to him he had already delayed our closing by a week. In any case when I told him that there was an alternative option and told him that it would cost over $400.00 he stated that "if you really want this house then you are going to have to figure it out" I was enraged!!!

The title company for the seller was very very helpful. She really felt bad for us being treated the way we were by both Mr. Hamilton as well as First Option Mortgage as we contacted all the supervisors and none would take a our call. We ended up having the documents shipped same day through Federal Express which cost us over $400.00.

I was disappointed to be treated in this way when the only job of this company was to get us approved, close on the deal and sell our loan to another company. They made our life a living hell for four straight months!

I DO NOT recommend this company to anyone. BUYER BEWARE!!! Not worth the hassle with these people go another route. You have been warned. Best of Luck in your searches.