ComplaintsforInnovative Mortgage Services, Inc.

• Initial Complaint

  08/12/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Sales and Advertising Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  In June 2022, my wife, who is part of a Marketing group, met Anthony A*****, our Innovative Mortgage Services Loan Officer, who claimed to own a mortgage company. He, in fact, operates a net branch under Innovative Mortgages Services, under the name of A3 Mortgage. We had a lease option that was due and needed to close by July 4th or we would have to pay an additional $12,500 for the price of the home. Anthony assured us he could close our VA loan in time. We applied and Anthony quoted a rate of 4.75%. From the outset, I stressed that I wanted to lock as soon as possible since we were clearly operating in a rising interest rate environment. Anthony did not lock the loan right away, instead he floated the initial disclosure, which I signed in order to get the appraisal ordered as quickly as possible. Anthony said he would lock first thing the next day and forgot to do so and he claimed rates went up to 5.5% - or another $181 higher in the monthly payment. Anthony also disclosed that he was charging an origination fee of 2% when the VA loan maximum fee allowed is 1%. I sent an email to Anthony and he did not respond in a meaningful way. When I finally got him on the phone the day before closing he said he had worked it out with the Lender to change the amount I had paid as a deposit - $10,900 and reduce it by 1% ($3,200) - and falsely claim that they seller was paying the extra 1% above the VA maximum when in fact they violated VA rules and charged me 2% because it was smoke and mirrors claiming that the seller was paying 1% when in fact they used my funds and the seller didn't pay it, I did. I ended up closing the loan paying the 2% under duress because I would have had to pay $12,500 if I didn't close on time. They deny any wrong doing by misrepresenting the loan documents that I signed and I am not satisfied with their response when the loan documentation clearly shows the illegal 'work around' to have my pay 2% when VA only allows a 1% fee.

  Business response

  08/15/2022

  This is a frivolous complaint without any merit whatsoever. ******, the borrower, is a licensed and experienced loan originator and is completely familiar with the mortgage process. Everything was done in a compliant, transparent and professional manner. There is no basis for any of the borrower's claims. He was offered the option to lock his interest rate and did not do so. Volatility of interest rates are beyond the control of the loan originator and lender. The originator's compensation never changed from loan origination through loan funding. By law, the originator's compensation may not change. The borrower paid only those fees and expenses that were originally disclosed (and actually less because the seller did contribute towards some of the closing costs). The borrower appears to have buyer's remorse and is attempting to renegotiate a transaction that was fully and fairly disclosed. Despite the borrower's incessant efforts to harass Innovative Mortgage nothing will change the facts herein.
  See Attachment/File: Legal Reply- ***** 2.pdf

  Business response

  08/26/2022

  Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2022/08/15) */ This is a frivolous complaint without any merit whatsoever. ******, the borrower, is a licensed and experienced loan originator and is completely familiar with the mortgage process. Everything was done in a compliant, transparent and professional manner. There is no basis for any of the borrower's claims. He was offered the option to lock his interest rate and did not do so. Volatility of interest rates are beyond the control of the loan originator and lender. The originator's compensation never changed from loan origination through loan funding. By law, the originator's compensation may not change. The borrower paid only those fees and expenses that were originally disclosed (and actually less because the seller did contribute towards some of the closing costs). The borrower appears to have buyer's remorse and is attempting to renegotiate a transaction that was fully and fairly disclosed. Despite the borrower's incessant efforts to harass Innovative Mortgage nothing will change the facts herein.

  Customer response

  09/13/2022

   
  Complaint: 17839320
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

   

   

  Dear Sir,

   

  I logged into your complaint portal to respond to the response by Innovative Mortgage Solutions.  Please provide this response:

   

  The Innovative Mortgage Solutions response says they correctly disclosed the loan disclosures.  They disclosed 2% origination on a Veteran Administration loans which only allows a lender or broker to charge a total of 1%.  If the loan was disclosed in accordance with VA guidelines, why was it disclosed with a 2% fee?  Anything above 1% violates VA lending guidelines and is not allowed.  The loan officer then conspired with Loan Depot, the end lender that Innovative brokered the loan to, to reduce my initial deposit and pretend that the seller paid 1% of the 2% broker fee that was charged.  In the end, I paid for that out of my personal funds.  This is not allowed by the VA.  Innovative's lawyer is misrepresenting the facts of this transaction.  They are unwilling to speak in detail about this transaction and use broad terms like "we disclosed correctly" because they do not want to get into the details of this transaction because they know that they incorrectly disclosed the loan with 2% when VA only allows 1%.  Further, they do not disclose that they sent all of their loan originators to a "Best Practices" email informing all loan officers that since the market was expecting rapidly increasing rates, that they should lock as quickly as possible.  So, my loan originator ignored their own best practice and not only did not lock when I said I was concerned about the rising rates (after initial loan disclosure) he said he would wait until first thing in the morning to lock.  He obviously forgot (negligence) and now they are claiming that I am "harassing" them for filing a complaint with the BBB and CFPB about their unethical and illegal business practices.  What loan originator would play the market in a rapidly rising interest rate environment?  Would any borrower want to play the market when inflation is out of control and the Federal Reserve is increasing rates to reduce inflation?  Seriously?  I chose to use BBB as a tool to hopefully settle this matter without further legal action.  The legal team of Innovative Mortgage Solutions does not appear willing to address the details of this matter and are clearly hoping that I will just "go away."  This, in itself, should serve as an expected response for anyone else who has a problem with Innovative Mortgage Solutions.  They will not get into the details of the complaint and simply try and say they disclosed correctly when they clearly did not adhere to VA guidelines.

   

  Please post this response for me.

   

  thanks

   

  --

  *************************

  ************

  facebook.com/steveknowsloans

   

  
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***************************

  Business response

  09/14/2022

  I've attached the initial Loan Estimate (LE) which reflects the total origination fee in the amount of $6,401.  The LE does not specify the party paying that expense.  It strictly lists the expense.  Note that at the bottom right of the LE the seller is contributing $10,488 towards the closing costs.  That would include $3,200.59 (or 1% origination fee), thereby reducing the borrower's total origination fee to $3,200.59.

  I've also attached the Closing Disclosure (CD) which reflects on page two $3,110 paid by the borrower (1% origination fee) and $3,291 paid by the seller (1% origination fee).  At no time did the borrower, ******************, pay more than 1% origination fee to Innovative Mortgage Services, Inc.

  At no point whatsoever were the initial loan expenses charged by the broker any more than what the final loan expenses that were charged by the broker.

  I've also attached Chapter 8 of the VA Pamphlet which specifies which fees the borrower can pay.  The borrower, ******************, never paid fees beyond what VA permits.  Any fees that the VA did not permit the borrower to pay were indeed paid by the seller.

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩