BlueBrick Financial

I am currently in a 7/1 ARM (5/2/5) with an interest rate of 3.125 and paying $188 PMI. When I applied for a 3.375%, fixed rate, no cost loan as a means of eliminating monthly PMI payments (netting about $150 in savings), I delivered all paper work and each item on the list personally to my processor, Paul Jarnagin, on Monday, April 12th. I also included a copy of my current Flood Insurance policy as I knew they would need this information, although it was not asked for. Additionally, I also asked if it would ?speed up? processing if I also provided copies of my last two years of Federal tax returns. I was told by loan officer, Chris Seago, that it would not make any difference. Over the next month I heard nothing from them. No request for additional documentation, no status updates, I mean NOTHING. Finally, as I was starting to grow concerned over the complete lack of communication, I sent an email to them on May 7th asking if I could get an update on the status of my application. That day I received a response from a new processor, Tim Patch, stating that my application was waiting for income and credit verification and the process would take approximately two weeks. It had already been a month! So I stopped by to talk to my loan officer, Chris Seago, and ask him where we were. To my consternation I found out that my file had not even been opened yet and Paul was just ?getting to it? as they had a large backlog. On May 13th , I received an email from Paul asking for additional documentation, that being the original note describing the terms of my current mortgage. I hand delivered the needed documentation by close of business that day. Paul then submitted my file for final review and closing. Why wasn't this in the original documentation list? On May 16th I received an email from Paul stating that he was very sorry, but my loan request was denied. The reason for the denial was simply stated that the review board ?found no material benefit to the consumer.? I immediately contacted both Chris and Paul and asked how going to a fixed rate loan that would eliminate monthly PMI escrow of $188 dollars was of no material benefit to me? They both replied that they had no knowledge that my loan carried PMI! I asked why they didn?t extract that information from my lender and was told ?that the lender would not give them a payment break down.? So why didn't they ask me for the information? When I got home and opened the PDF attachment to Paul?s email (informing me of the denial) I was quite taken aback to see that the application they applied for was for a 3.75% fixed rate loan! This is a far cry from what I thought I was applying for! No wonder it got turned down as absolutely no savings was evident from this application. So later that day I provided my payment break down to Paul, documenting the PMI, so he could resubmit the application. I also queried Chris about why the interest rate was so much higher than 3.375%. I was told that the 3.375% rate was no longer available, as rates had moved up to 3.49% that afternoon, and, regarding the applied for rate of 3.75%, Chris replied that it is easier to drop the rate after approval than it was to increasing it so we typically apply for a higher rate. This was news to me! On the next day, May 17th, Paul sent an email informing me that the resubmitted loan was approved, contingent on me providing the Underwriter of a copy of my 2012 Tax return, as the IRS was not able to provide a transcript. I understand this, as it was shortly after taxes were due, but I had offered to provide this information at onset and was told not to as it would not speed up processing of my loan. Well, it looks like that was not true. Unfortunately, I was not able to review my email until after close of business on that Friday. Still, despite conditional approval they would not let me lock the rate! On the next business day, Monday May 20th, I sent Paul an email asking if he needed the entire return. He replied shortly that ?yes, we need all of it plus confirmation of payment IF you owed taxes.? Confirmation of payment? Ok, but why wasn?t that included in the previous request? If I hadn?t asked about what he needed it would have been the next business day before he told me of my need to also provide proof of payment. A copy of the return, with payment confirmation was on Paul?s fax machine that night. I assume he submitted it that Tuesday. We heard nothing from the Underwriter on Wednesday the 22nd. As interest rates continued to move I was growing anxious. By 5/23 we still had heard nothing. Why is this taking so long after the previous ?additional? documentation request was met with an Underwriter response the next day? I called Chris and left him a voice mail describing my dissatisfaction, and stating that I felt like I was being jerked around. By this time the rates continued to move up and I was watching my target interest rate and associated savings, slip away! Adding to my consternation was that fact that after almost 40 days they still would not lock my rate! Later that day I stopped by to meet with Chris personally and told him that all these delays were completely avoidable and I should have been locked by now and ready to close. He told me that despite all of this I was still saving over $240 a month if the interest rate ended up being 3.75%. We parted amicably, but his savings estimate was inaccurate. When I got home I crunched my numbers again and sent him an email stating that I believe they had neglected to include my flood insurance escrow and that I cannot reproduce his savings estimates unless I do not include this escrow amount. Later that day I was copied on his email to Paul telling him to include my flood insurance premium. Yet another processing oversight had occurred, plus they lost the flood insurance declarations page I provided them! On Friday, May 24th, I received an email from Paul stating that the Underwriters have approved my loan and we will be cleared to close once I provide a copy of my flood insurance policy (which I included on the initial document delivery on April 12th!) along with a signed copy of the attached form attesting to the fact that my home lies in a special flood hazard area. I did not see this email until after close of business Friday, before the Memorial Day weekend. Hence, more time was lost as nothing was going to happen until after the holiday. This was yet another avoidable delay, as I clearly stated up front that I had flood insurance, which prevented me from locking an interest rate which was already higher than my target. The requested signed form was on Paul?s fax machine by Tuesday morning, May 28th. Other than the omission, there was another aspect to the flood zone acknowledgement which I found extremely curious. I received this document on Friday May 24th, yet it had the signing date completed as 5/20/2013, with ?Dan Richardson? identified as the Loan Officer! A date of May 20th? On a form I received four days later, on May 24th? How was I to interpret this? Did it sit on someone?s desk for four days or did the date need to be the 20th for some other reason? Anyway I put in the correct date on the form and faxed to Paul. Unfortunately for me, after Memorial Day, on Tuesday May 28th, interest rates exploded on fixed rate loans, jumping nearly 0.5% that day! After watching my refinance savings evaporate, I sent Paul an email asking for a rate update and if he could tell me how long the approved loan request could stay open without closing, thinking maybe I can wait a bit to see if rates fall. I also asked Paul if he needed more than the copy of my flood insurance declarations page that I had provided at onset. On the same day, I also sent Chris Seago an email asking for a rate update and associated payment breakdown. Following this I heard nothing, NOTHING, from Paul or Chris. Only after I initiated contact with the president, two full weeks later, did I hear from their office manager, who just happened to be the brother of my loan processor! He then tried to hard sell me on closing at a 4% fixed rate, and guess what, his new monthly payment estimate was also in error, once again omitting my flood insurance escrow! Whethr or not these guys are completely inept, or simply liars, when you recieve the "BlusBrick Financial" no-cost refinance flier in the mail just tear it up, it's complete fiction, and run, just run from these guys! Their process sucks and they don't care!