Although there is no excuse for not returning calls, the loan was denied on June 26th and a Notice of Adverse action was sent to the borrower indicating that their loan was denied because they were currently days late on their current mortgageLoan programs require borrower's mortgages to be
current at time of application. That being said, we do have a customer service department that should have been contactedI checked the phone records and could only find a couple of calls to Mr*** from the borrowerIf the borrower would like another copy of the Statement of Denial, I will be glad to forward it to him.Thank you
The borrowers wanted to buy an old home via a “short sale” (which by their very nature takes a long time) that needed significant repair. The ONLY loan program in the world that will give a borrower both the money to buy the home in its current state PLUS cash to rehabilitate it is the FHA 203(k)...
Rehab loan. The loan is designed for people who want to buy a home that is in need of significant repair but don't have enough funds to do the work. Because the 203(k) program is complex and because it is government insured, has to be done very carefully to exacting specifications. Even a perfectly executed 203(k), with not one hitch, takes a significant time to approve/close/fund. It’s also a bit expensive which is why Semper does not charge anything up front. Normally two appraisals are required by the FHA. The appraisals, along with the plans are needed to make sure that the final value of the home after repairs is enough to cover the amount of the loan. The borrower pays the appraisers directly. Semper receives no benefit. The main consideration in this type of loan is the home. Because this FHA program is specifically for rehabilitating homes that have fallen into disrepair, there are often set- backs and hidden issues, such as discovering that the home has lead paint, or a cracked foundation or rotten sills or pest infestation…plus a myriad of other issues which could lie hidden. Obviously running into one of these hidden issues can be disastrous. If discovered, the cost of fixing them must be added to the 203(k) contract or the loan will be non compliant. If the issue is not insurmountable and can be added into the contract, it will most likely add extra costs and extra time. Another issue with 203(k) loans is that there are a lot of moving parts and third parties involved, such as contractors, painters, plumbers, electricians and so on. I have several emails from the borrowers, contractors, real estate agents and others involved in this loan. As some point in time, the borrowers felt that they were in over their heads and asked Semper to deny the loan so that they could get their down payment money back. (I have email backing this up). Despite there being no reason to deny the loan at that point, we did so in order to help the borrower get their deposit money back, which they did. NOTE: If we Withdrew the loan, which is what we should have done since the borrowers were the ones who decided to not go ahead, they would have lost their down payment. Shortly after withdrawing the loan, the borrowers filed a complaint with the Massachusetts Banking Department claiming that we denied the loan because we were "red-lining" their neighborhood. That’s right, after we “denied” the loan to help them out, they turned around and used it against us. However, since the home was located in one of the nicest neighborhoods in New Bedford the idea that we were red-lined them was ridiculous. Eventually the borrower (Mr.) understood that reality and rescinded his complaint with the State. Now it seems that they are filing complaints with every entity in an attempt to cause Semper harm. That is quite frustrating because Semper did nothing but try to help them. I have and can produce several emails from the contractor, realtor and others involved in the process that can prove that the borrowers were uncooperative, changed their minds on a whim, and otherwise made the process much more onerous that it needed to be. The bottom line: The only error Semper made was letting this loan go on for so long. The application was opened in April. Semper did not charge the borrower a DIME during that whole time. The loan officer, processor and underwriter spent hours trying to make the loan work only to have the borrower(s) WITHDRAW the application leaving everyone involved high and dry. Note: The FHA 203(k) consultant was the only one who received ANY upfront money ($1050). Additionally, both the 203(k) consultant and the general contractor were extremely frustrated with the changes these borrowers wanted to make to lower the estimate to the original 203K report, even after encountering issues that needed to be fixed. So the consultant allowed [redacted] to edit the original report to “remove the fencing work” only, but instead he removed 4 line items that were FHA requirements! Ultimately the contractor refused to sign the contract because it was non compliant and would have resulted in him doing $20,000 of work without being compensated for it. AND, the borrower wouldn’t sign it because he wanted to cut $20,000 worth of necessary work out of it. Needless to say, we never did receive the revised contract although we needed it to continue. I would ask that this complaint be stricken due to the fact that her claims amount to nothing short of libel. Semper was NOT at fault. We were moving forward as if the loan were to close. It was the borrower(s) who chose to quit....again, leaving all who had invested money in the project high and dry.
Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response submitted by the business and have determined that the response does not satisfy or resolve my issues and/or...
concerns in reference to complaint # [redacted]. Please add your rejection comments below.
The only response received from the business is that they had read the complaint and were investigating the issue and that they would have an answer to address the complaint by Monday, 1 June 15. The issue has not been addresed by Semper in any correspondence nor have they made contact with the consumer by email or phone as of 3 June.
Regards,
[redacted]
To Respond to Ms. [redacted]'s latest response. We are in contact with Mr. [redacted], Attorney for the US Army, whom is representing Ms. [redacted]. I informed him this week, via email, that our investigation would be completed by this Friday, June 5th 2015, and we would have the resolution over to him by Monday June 8th 2015. The investigation process took slightly longer than anticipated and will be wrapped up by this upcoming Friday.
Semper has read the complaint and we are currently investigating the issueWe will have an answer to the complaint by Monday June 1st
Although there is no excuse for not returning calls, the loan was denied on June 26th and a Notice of Adverse action was sent to the borrower indicating that their loan was denied because they were currently days late on their current mortgageLoan programs require borrower's mortgages to be
current at time of application. That being said, we do have a customer service department that should have been contactedI checked the phone records and could only find a couple of calls to Mr*** from the borrowerIf the borrower would like another copy of the Statement of Denial, I will be glad to forward it to him.Thank you
The borrowers wanted to buy an old home via a “short sale” (which by their very nature takes a long time) that needed significant repair. The ONLY loan program in the world that will give a borrower both the money to buy the home in its current state PLUS cash to rehabilitate it is the FHA 203(k)...
Rehab loan. The loan is designed for people who want to buy a home that is in need of significant repair but don't have enough funds to do the work. Because the 203(k) program is complex and because it is government insured, has to be done very carefully to exacting specifications. Even a perfectly executed 203(k), with not one hitch, takes a significant time to approve/close/fund. It’s also a bit expensive which is why Semper does not charge anything up front. Normally two appraisals are required by the FHA. The appraisals, along with the plans are needed to make sure that the final value of the home after repairs is enough to cover the amount of the loan. The borrower pays the appraisers directly. Semper receives no benefit. The main consideration in this type of loan is the home. Because this FHA program is specifically for rehabilitating homes that have fallen into disrepair, there are often set- backs and hidden issues, such as discovering that the home has lead paint, or a cracked foundation or rotten sills or pest infestation…plus a myriad of other issues which could lie hidden. Obviously running into one of these hidden issues can be disastrous. If discovered, the cost of fixing them must be added to the 203(k) contract or the loan will be non compliant. If the issue is not insurmountable and can be added into the contract, it will most likely add extra costs and extra time. Another issue with 203(k) loans is that there are a lot of moving parts and third parties involved, such as contractors, painters, plumbers, electricians and so on. I have several emails from the borrowers, contractors, real estate agents and others involved in this loan. As some point in time, the borrowers felt that they were in over their heads and asked Semper to deny the loan so that they could get their down payment money back. (I have email backing this up). Despite there being no reason to deny the loan at that point, we did so in order to help the borrower get their deposit money back, which they did. NOTE: If we Withdrew the loan, which is what we should have done since the borrowers were the ones who decided to not go ahead, they would have lost their down payment. Shortly after withdrawing the loan, the borrowers filed a complaint with the Massachusetts Banking Department claiming that we denied the loan because we were "red-lining" their neighborhood. That’s right, after we “denied” the loan to help them out, they turned around and used it against us. However, since the home was located in one of the nicest neighborhoods in New Bedford the idea that we were red-lined them was ridiculous. Eventually the borrower (Mr.) understood that reality and rescinded his complaint with the State. Now it seems that they are filing complaints with every entity in an attempt to cause Semper harm. That is quite frustrating because Semper did nothing but try to help them. I have and can produce several emails from the contractor, realtor and others involved in the process that can prove that the borrowers were uncooperative, changed their minds on a whim, and otherwise made the process much more onerous that it needed to be. The bottom line: The only error Semper made was letting this loan go on for so long. The application was opened in April. Semper did not charge the borrower a DIME during that whole time. The loan officer, processor and underwriter spent hours trying to make the loan work only to have the borrower(s) WITHDRAW the application leaving everyone involved high and dry. Note: The FHA 203(k) consultant was the only one who received ANY upfront money ($1050). Additionally, both the 203(k) consultant and the general contractor were extremely frustrated with the changes these borrowers wanted to make to lower the estimate to the original 203K report, even after encountering issues that needed to be fixed. So the consultant allowed [redacted] to edit the original report to “remove the fencing work” only, but instead he removed 4 line items that were FHA requirements! Ultimately the contractor refused to sign the contract because it was non compliant and would have resulted in him doing $20,000 of work without being compensated for it. AND, the borrower wouldn’t sign it because he wanted to cut $20,000 worth of necessary work out of it. Needless to say, we never did receive the revised contract although we needed it to continue. I would ask that this complaint be stricken due to the fact that her claims amount to nothing short of libel. Semper was NOT at fault. We were moving forward as if the loan were to close. It was the borrower(s) who chose to quit....again, leaving all who had invested money in the project high and dry.
Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response submitted by the business and have determined that the response does not satisfy or resolve my issues and/or...
concerns in reference to complaint # [redacted]. Please add your rejection comments below.
The only response received from the business is that they had read the complaint and were investigating the issue and that they would have an answer to address the complaint by Monday, 1 June 15. The issue has not been addresed by Semper in any correspondence nor have they made contact with the consumer by email or phone as of 3 June.
Regards,
[redacted]
To Respond to Ms. [redacted]'s latest response. We are in contact with Mr. [redacted], Attorney for the US Army, whom is representing Ms. [redacted]. I informed him this week, via email, that our investigation would be completed by this Friday, June 5th 2015, and we would have the resolution over to him by Monday June 8th 2015. The investigation process took slightly longer than anticipated and will be wrapped up by this upcoming Friday.