Academy Mortgage Corporation

Called in to discuss a mortgage option with rep Amanda. After giving her my personal info I asked that the credit not be pulled and that didn’t seem to be an issue. After looking at the house with no other interests of properties it was a good idea to not go forward with the process. Amanda called back the next day to tell me everything came back well and I had a great credit score. I had just noticed the credit was in fact pulled and asked her why even tho I asked not to. She replied “oh yeah, that’s right. You did say to not pull.” After bringing the situation to branch manager Ricks attention he said oh it doesn’t hurt your credit that much and was quite rude. Talking over me, interrupting me, and trying to convince me otherwise he continued to tell me he doesn’t even know what to do for a situation like this. While discussing the issue with Rick I mentioned the employee who I talked to and she chimes in with “A good employee!” So now my conversation was being monitored without consent. I did not consent to a credit pull and did not consent to a monitored conversation. I would just like my credit to go back to what it was. Other complaints on here from other branches have offered to reverse the credit pull to their customer I don’t know why this branch has such a lack of service.

If I could leave 0 stars I would!! I have never dealt with people that don’t care about helping you. Actually, I had the same issue with our title company. We were helped by other lenders, who worked hard to secure our mortgage any way they could but Academy Mortgage did not even try even when we asked for other options. It was a take it or leave it attitude. This attitude was shown through by giving us late information a week before closing and not trying to find other solutions to secure our mortgage. We were only provided other options once our builder got involved. Because of them, we incurred additional charges. Also, the staff working on our mortgage were incompetent. They consistently asked for the same documents, sent us wrong forms to sign and provided us with false information.

I give this mortgage broker and her parent company, Academy Mortgage, a big fat ZERO!!!!! Do NOT work with Judy W at Academy Mortgage! She will scam you and convince you that she has your best interests at heart because she is a "Christian woman!" Well, I don't believe Christian women should lie to their customers to get them to buy a loan through them. She promised to obtain a lower interest rate, lower my payment and remove the mortgage insurance. The ONLY thing she did was reduce my payment by $100 a month while increasing my interest rate, placing me in a loan of her choice thus removing me from the conventional load I previously had and eliminating the chance of my son taking over payments after I die (she never told me this before closing), and my mortgage insurance amortization tables indicated I would continue to pay mortgage insurance for years. I paid over $6000 in closing costs of which a large sum I'm sure went to Judy. Also, she kept contacting me after I requested that she remove me from her list. She continued to send me junk. I finally provided her with the details which took pages to explain as to why I didn't want her contacting me for the reasons listed above and she had NO RESPONSE! Not even I'm sorry!!! That was two years ago. Today I got a text from her. Are you kidding me? After all of this?
Do NOT use Judy W for your mortgage needs. You too, will be scammed to build her bank account and it will be at YOUR expense! Read the reviews! Make a wise choice when it comes to refinancing your house! It's a very expensive mistake to choose a deceitful mortgage broker as she will take your money with a big smile!

If I could give zero stars I would!!As a first time homebuyer this has been the worst experience. The loan officer that I worked with doesn't communicate very well. When something is asked of me by this company , I make sure I get them everything they need in a timely manner. But when it comes to me wanting to know about my application process, and why it's taking so long I don't get a response. These lenders have to realize everyone does not have perfect credit. People run into certain situations in life and everyone makes mistakes. There are people who are going to need some financial assistance with down payment and closing. I've come to realize if you're one of those customers with not so perfect credit, companies like this will drag their feet when it comes to you. I regret working with this company , and I never will again in the future. We are now 3 weeks past my closing date. I've had to reschedule several deliveries and appointments constantly. I've had to put my items in storage. I've had to pay movers twice. All this unnecessary money being spent all because these people aren't doing their jobs. At the end of the day all they care about is getting their check. No type of sympathy at all for what they've put the customer through. Please save yourself the trouble and don't work with this company!!!!!!!!!!!

The good person we were working with left the company and the people we had to work with took a long time to get back to us with information and processing the loan. They had to work with American Financial Resources who were much worse. There was lack of communication and after 3 months and a lot of putting off they wanted 3 more weeks and the seller said 3 days or we quit. SO this company cost us the home we wanted, had pre-qualified for, and possibly the ernest money.
I would say avoid these people at at all costs!

We decided to go with academy mortgage because a close friend of ours said that they had an amazing experience with them. I even decided to go with the same guy they used. We were very straight forward about our situation we are first time homebuyers and we have never applied for a home loan. We wanted to see if we were in the position to purchase because we have been working on this for 2 years. We wanted to know if our credit score was high enough based on THEIR database (we monitored our credit on our end and thought it was high enough but I know they look at it on a different database and it can be different), and also if we had a large enough down payment based on what he said we could afford with our tax returns. Also, realistically we needed to know if should we go ahead and switch to month to month with our house that we are leasing instead of renewing for another year as we went through this process. So, based on the information that we had given him and the information that he had requested, we informed him if we are not approved no big deal but we would at least want to know why we are not approved and what steps should we take to get approved as in clear out some debt, our credit score needed to be raised, or have a larger down payment.. We are wanting to do this process as smoothly and as easily as possible we are also aware that it’s all trial and error and we know that it is a long process but we also trusted that we would be guided in the right direction on which ever answer we received back, whether we were approved or not. Giving the information that he requested we gave it to him he literally ran our credit and sent a text and said sorry we cannot approve you due to some “other overlays” and credit score was not high enough. Okay no biggie but when I in return called him he did not answer. I felt this a better conversation over the phone not via text. I Left voicemail and texted him very politely asking him to give us a call so that we can know what we need to fix and what exactly does “other overlays” mean. I emailed and my husband gave him a call. Based off of his website information he quoted on quote said “I will be in control of your own file from start to finish, and I will be up—to — date on the status of your loan at ALL times. I understand the importance of maintaining continuous communication throughout the loan process and committee to providing you accurate, timely, and honest mortgage advise.” This we found to be very untrue. Considering this is a hard inquiry that hits our credit we were prepared for that but we also trusted that him knowing that this was our first time trying to purchase a home that we had not done this process before that he would’ve been a little more informative and called us back to explain why we’re not approved other than credit because thats only a PORTION of what goes into buying a home. We seeked him out because we heard amazing things about him and this being a huge moment in our lives we wanted to put this in amazing hands to help us. Instead it was like he saw that we needed a little more help and it was not an open and shut case he just ran our credit and ghosted on us. I definitely would not work with this company again!

We decide to try them last fall. We were put into contact with Mr.G***. after he kept giving us the run around and running a credit check every single week after we asked for him to not do that, we decided to no longer go with their services. We terminated and requested a cease in late November early December.
Ever since then we have been called, emailed, and texted. We have been extremely polite. Unfortunately, it got to the point that we had to block the number. We then started finding voice mails from academy mortgage. They his their phone number to show as private. So we couldn't block them.
We again received multiple texts and emails and even letters after we again politely asked them to stop.
In the past two days, today and yesterday, I answered emails from a new employee and again expressed that we were not interested.
This is now a total of 21 times we have stated not interested. This number is only on my end. My fiancee has also requested a cease of everything more than I have.
This company will harass you. It is driving me nuts. I am so sick and tired of seeing ANYTHING from Academy mortgage show up anywhere kn my personal life.

Initially I am in a process of building my credit. I have had my credit in low standard for years. I didn't have a clue on how to start until a good friend of mine start advising me. Long story short, my credit is moving up slowly. Now that my credit situation has improved slightly and I started tracking my credit through free sites, like Credit Karma or even use my USAA. I have a beautiful boy that's not currently with me who I would wish to be with in our new home.
Now the good part. I reached out to a realtor and she found a lender that will work with me in getting a pre-approval for a VA Loan. I worked with the lender "Academy Mortgage" by phone and emails. His name is Chris. I was very prompt on what my situation is and he understands and he made sure they can approve me and help me/work with me in achieving that goal. Initially, we don't know what my credit score was so we pulled the score...Score was ***. I said to him wow that's very low but he stated that their minimum requirement to get me a pre-approval was ***. So I sent him this email (lucky I have a paper trail).

"Chris,

Below are the requested documents. I’m only missing 2016 Tax Return. I have the paper trail but I need to find it as I cannot get it from Turbo Tax website. I hope this help expedite my Loan if approved. Based on what we disccussed, my loan credit score is at ***, shy of 1 point for *** with is minimum credit score to get a loan approved. I’m hoping that my new opened credit card posts as a new credit so my credit more likely to go up once its posted. Please let me know if you need any other documents from me."

They have all my documents and information and I'm excited for the next pull...After a few months or so, I check my credit and it's moving up. I was very excited that my dream will finally come through. When one of my credit showed 601, 549, 490 I asked him to go ahead and pull it again because I can guarantee it will be over *** "meets minimum requirement" So he did, then he said he'll get back to me. I called and called the next day for the verdict, I even asked my realtor to check on the lender to see if we are qualified so we can start finding my home. She stated that he will email me, ok so now I'm waiting and finally got my email from Chris, and to my surprise this is what he emailed me:

"***,

We have repulled your credit and your Mortgage Credit Score is now a ***, but it also tells us that you can now improve your score even higher by completing the actions on the attached Creidt Plan and outlined below. Your previous scores were ***, *** & *** and all have gone up between 11-20 points.

At this time it is still not possible to qualify for any type of mortgage, as the VA is not issuing an approval under any of the scenarios we tried, even though you are now meeting the minimum score needed, as VA will not issue an automated approval.

I have attached the Credit Plan and it is telling us that they are advising for you to payoff your Merrick Bank charge-off and that for 2 of the 3 credit bureaus, this should have a big impact on improving your score to above a ***. At a *** or above score, this would greatly increase your chances of being approved for a home, but ."

Wait the minute this doesn't look right. At first pull he advised me to do the following, wait for the new credit card to report and make on time payments. Which I did and now I got a ***...but now he's giving me another scenario to improve my credit to *** then they can work with me. What's going on here, as I was told *** is the minimum requirement for VA Loan that they can work with now its ***. I furiously called Chris to explain. I told him this doesn't make sense, he knew I was trying to improve my credit and it is challenging. I brought my credit to *** over the minimum requirement he specified for the VA Loan. Now he wants me to make it *** "which is minimum for most banks. If he was up front with me "hey your credit is very low and we cannot work with less than ***" I would have had him pull my credit again after I stated that my credit is going up and one of them is 601. This is unethical and can ruin people's lives. I am desperate but not stupid with numbers. If you say lets get up to *** I can work with you in getting the number, but if you tell me *** and I brought it up to *** then you want me to go up to ***...that's very unethical and unprofessional. I want my credit to go up and not go down or be lied to. I wish our conversation is recorded because he missed informed me of what's their minimum requirement for VA Loans. I'm a Veteran and I serve this country for 12 years, I make mistakes, but I never stepped down on people. I reach out my arms and help the people below me.

The location is not listed:
Acadamy Mortgage
9428 Baymeadows Rd Set #545
Jacksonville, FL 32256

As a past customer and client of Academy Mortgage I trusted them with the loan process to purchase a new home and they completely mislead me causing me to loose my earnest deposit and inspection fees along with payments made to pay down an account with the assurance my loan was going to be approved. This does not include my time spent constantly leaving work to gather every piece of document to take care of every request asked of me in addition to the time spent packing leasing out my property and preparing to move with continued promises that we would be closing on time.

The loan officer that Academy Mortgage has working for them name is Chris B. This individual should not be allowed to originate loans.

There were many opportunities that academy mortgage had to be honest and not use such deceptive practices and mis-lead me through the process. Upon loan denial which was over a week after the scheduled close of escrow which I was promised the whole time would be met – My loan was denied because I was not married. I went and got a 2nd opinion on the issue, and another lender immediately denied me because my DTI was too high. Now these are both two simple items that Academy’s employees failed to identify up front. This could have been caught early on by the loan officer, processor and underwriters. Instead they continued to drag me through the process promising they would get the job done. In the end, Academy only refunded me for the cost of the appraisal. I’m requesting this be investigated and Academy issue a refund for my money lost on the earnest deposit and money spent on inspections.

Very poor performance.

They were disorganized and rude. At one point threatened to cancel our loan as one of the office workers said she was sworn at.

We did not close on time and would have switched lenders if we would have had time.

Avoid Academy Mortgage Corporation at all costs. Anxiety, confusion, lack of communication, last minute emails right before processing deadlines and thousands of dollars lost due to pushing back closing dates due to Academy Mortgage missing deadlines. David K only sent automated emails to me. David K was the branch manager (whom is responsible for his reports as manager), the MLO was Erik M and the processor was Shawn D. They were extremely late processing my loan and I regret going with this lender. Being a finance manager, I was well aware of the home buying process and was proactive on gathering all the documents necessary ahead of time. Unfortunately their apologies after closing the deal, didn't fix the weeks of lost work, re-scheduling moving arrangements twice, and having to pay penalties for not moving in time. The cookies sent to me didn't pay for the thousands I lost either, but thanks. If you need proof of communication and emails, feel free to contact me.

Jeannene, and her team, are the absolute best!! We feel very confident having our loan in her hands and won't go anywhere else!!

I have never had a mortgage before, so this is entirely new to me. Jamie P and his staff met me where I'm at and walked me through it, supporting me every step of the way. I felt like I must be asking dumb questions because I knew nothing of the process, but they answered each question in language I could understand , and they were tirelessly patient with me.
The process is daunting - even with all of this support. But they walked me through it and broke it down into more manageable steps.
Sadly we were in the market for a house to make it handicapped accessible due to my husband having ALS. That being said, I was not in the best frame of mind to be taking on such a big undertaking. They were always very sensitive to our ordeal and made this process as simple as possible, adding many personal touches, which took a lot off of our shoulders. I can't put into words how grateful I am for their support.
I would highly recommend this competent, professional, user-friendly group of people. The office staff were amazing, too. I'm not kidding - I'm tearing up, thinking about how helpful they were during what has been a very difficult time for our family. We've been very lucky.

If I could give them 0 stars I would. We've had nothing but problems when we started working with them on our mortgage. The underwriter didn't get started on our loan until late in the process, resulting in almost not closing the loan. Right after deciding to go with them, the owner went fishing in Alaska. He promised us that other employees in his office would handle our loan. Nothing happened at all until I was proactive enough to bring all the documents. I continued to call many time's to see if they needed any more documentation..They knew when we would close, on the exact date for about a month a head of time. They also told us they did not need any more documentation since we have stellar credit. We asked to lock in the interest rate quickly, but they did not. Their answer was that they thought it would go down! The Fed had said they would raise rates and they did. This was well known. Thus it caused us to pay a higher interest rate on the loan. Just days before closing they called to say they needed one more document. This was a document that they said earlier we did not need. Finally on the day of closing they told the title company, and every one else but us, that the closing was canceled. Then they claimed they needed more information from our HOA. A few minutes later,they claimed their fax machine was not working, and they could not send the documents. Finally, we said we would drive to their office with all the information that they needed. Suddenly, their machine started to work and we were finally able to close. This was the most unprofessional company I have ever dealt with. We have purchased many homes and condos, and this has never ever happened before. By the way, fees are excessive compared to other mortgage companies. I WOULD NEVER RECOMMEND THEM TO ANYONE! THEY ARE TERRIBLE TO WORK WITH!

Eric and his team were amazing and made the process so easy!

Jolene was fantastic to work with! She made the process of buying our new home easy and stress free!

This has been our first time working with Academy Mortgage and we have been very pleased with the experience! All of our questions got answered in a timely manner, quotes were spot on, closing followed the correct schedule... we have nothing to complain about this process! It was probably the most pain-free mortgage lending experience that we have had and would happily do it over again.

Thank you!

Maria is phenomenal and is wonderful to work with. I recommend her above all. She is quick and efficient. She explains the process to you and makes it easy to understand. She will be with you every step of the way.

Dave P and his Team were by far the best and most professional team my wife have ever did business with. This is our 3rd home we have purchased and the easiest and smoothest purchase we have ever experienced. They made my wife and I fell like we were family it was very rewarding to do business with Mr. P and his Team (Heidi & Ami).

I couldn't have asked for a better first time home buying experience!! Joe was so helpful and patient with every question and request I had, no matter the day or time. I had a strict timeline and though seemingly impossible, Joe, Mercedes and his team were able to help me close earlier than anticipated. I can't thank them enough and am so grateful I had them through this process.