Your Stealth Shopper Strikes Again
Published on 06/15,2009
Stealth Shopper Strikes Bank of America, Chase and Ditech
Saturday, June 13, 2009
When the purchase of any product is contemplated one of the buyer's first concerns is how much does it cost. It is a simple question that determines if the conversation can continue. Would you make an offer for a home before you knew its price? Why is it then that some lenders will not tell us the cost of their financing before we waste our time giving them all our personal information.
Lets see how three of America's largest "Direct" lenders scored.
Bank of America - scored 6 out of 10
Calling B of A for a FHA loan your Stealth Shopper was assigned to Daniel Fruge. Daniel first explained an application was required to obtain a quote. Once he understood there would be no application until I received a rate quote he responded professionally with rate, fees and APR.
Unfortunately, when I requested a Good Faith Estimate, Daniel would not provide it without an application. This is where B of A lost several of their hard earned professionalism points.
Chase Mortgage - Scored 3 out of 10
Attempting to talk with a Chase loan officer provided your Stealth Shopper with his first challenge. It required three calls to the number on their website 800-873-6577 . The first two calls ended with a recorded message explaining my call could not be processed. Gosh, did Chase suspect the calls were from the dreaded Stealth Shopper?After the third attempt I was put through to Joe Brown. I told Joe I was shopping for a FHA loan and during the conversation he asked me twice the amount of my downpayment. Here I lost a little confidence because, in my experience, everyone chooses the minimum which today is 3.5% and Joe should have known that. It seemed I was dealing with an inexperienced loan officer which is really not a good idea when looking for a FHA loan..Joe did not wish to provide a quote without an application but your diligent Stealth Shopper finally squeezed from Joe a range of FHA interest rates from 5.5% to 6.0% and when I persisted he gave me 5.50% and 2 points. I stayed on the case and requested a 1 point rate and he told me 5.75%. Whew, that was exhausting.Unfortunately, Joe did not provide APR for either rate which is a RESPA requirement nor did he volunteer to provide me with a good faith estimate.
Ditech - Scored 0 out of 10
Ditech is a division of GMAC owned by General Motors and if Ditech's arrogance is an example of how General Motors does business it is easy to understand why they are bankrupt.Your Stealth Shopper struggled mightily with two attempts to pry a rate quote from this corporate colossus and failed miserably; about the same result as an amorous flea crawling up an elephants leg.The first call on Saturday was directed to Garret Dywer after the screener tried unsuccessfully to obtain as much of my personal information as possible. Once Garret came on the line he politely explained that he could not give me the time of day much less the cost of doing business with Ditech until I divulged all my personal information. Sunday morning I decided to give Ditech another chance. This time, Brook came on the line after I dodged the screener's queries. Brook also would not provide rates until she had my application. Her stated reason was that it is against RESPA regulations to provide rate information without the applicant's application. This excuse is total BS and when your Stealth Shopper grew a little attitude and carefully explained, slowly, using small words, that it is absolutely not against any regulation or law to provide interest rates without an application Brook hung up on me.
Warning: Never complete a loan application until the loan has been throughly explained and you have received a rate quote and a good faith estimate accurately showing all the costs of the transaction including third party costs and prepaid expenses.
Being in sales I understand that it is good tactic to gather as much of the borrower's information as possible. It is a established fact that once a loan officer has an application he or she has better than even odds of getting the loan. That said, it is also the borrower's duty to obtain all the costs of a loan before they provide any personal information. In my opinion, it is extreme arrogance for any lender to insist on an application before they provide price.
Disclosure:
Your Stealth Shopper is also a loan officer and competitor of the lenders shopped and the scores were arbitrarily assigned based soley on my attitute after each call.
I was hungry for this kind of information. I'm so happy that someone actually took the time to look into this nonsense that consumers feel. Thank you Bill and thank you realestateloans.com!
Thank you Mason