Complaints

• Initial Complaint

  10/26/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  We got approved for a home loan from Semper Loans and were told that the interest rate would lock and that our loan ******** ******************** was checking rates daily and would advise us on when a good time to lock the interest rate would be. We were then told we couldn't lock the interest rate until after our inspection period. After our inspection period we still did not hear from ****. We reached out and he sent us a form that had an interest rate of ***** bought down for us to sign. We spoke with him and asked him why it took so long for our interest rate to be locked and asked why we had not heard from him and he admitted that it was because he was not on top of it. We told him we had no interest in buying down the rate and wanted the interest rate without buying the points. The last page of this document said the interest rate ***** without buying any points. **** then sent us a paper, the same day, that said our interest rate was ****. When we called and told him the math did not add up and we should have the interest rate of ***** without buying any point, he quickly said someone in the office must have made a mistake and was very dismissive of our concerns. We asked to speak to anyone else at the office and we were not allowed to do so since he is the manager. This was all happening within a week of our closing date. We then called Semper headquarters and the lady we spoke to was very apologetic and said someone from higher up will contact us ASAP to sort it out and that **** was in the wrong and there was no need to push our closing date. We did not hear back for 2 days so we called again and again the person we spoke to said someone will call us ASAP. No one ever ended up calling us and we ended up having to close with the higher interest rate. We feel that **** did not act in our best interest and took advantage of the fact that we are first time home buyers and Semper Home Loans brushed it under the rug.

  

  Business response

  10/27/2022

  We are sorry to hear that your experience did not live up to expectations. W have spoken with **** and he is aware of your complaint. We saw by the disclosures that you originally received that the rate was locked at ***** with $6K in Discount Points. While we don't know exactly what transpired, it appears that you didn't want to pay discount points so you were provided with a new disclosure that showed **** with no discount points. This new disclosure nullifies the original disclosure. So the rates at the time you decided to not pay discount points was ****%. From our conversation log it appears that **** left messages but that when you called back you spoke with ***** who is not licensed to discuss loan pricing. So there seems to be a communication gap. 

  Regardless, we agree that **** should have been more active in trying to reach you to explain the situation. Although **** is an experienced and successful Branch Manager with an impeccable record, with rates fluctuating as wildly as they have been many people choose to buy the rate down because they would normally recoup the discount amount in 3 years or less. Making that decision is entirely up to the borrower: they can choose to take the undiscounted rate or pay discount to reduce the interest rate. What can't happen is to NOT pay discount points and expect to get a discounted rate. So while I am not privy to any conversations, we are not in the business of bait and switch. It doesn't make sense, it's unethical and if caught a MLO can be summarily terminated. It is important to note that MLOs do NOT get paid commission on interest rates. They get paid on loan volume. So if it is discovered that **** tried to bait and switch, we will take action. 

  Although our response *** not suffice to satisfy you, we want you to know that we will have a conversation with **** and update any policies that *** be unclear regarding loan pricing. 

  Thank you for your business and best wishes with your new home. 

*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. ↩