GMAC MORTGAGE

Description of Work: My wife and I moved to Houston, Texas for a corporate relocation in June of 2008. When it came time to pick a mortgage company, there were 5 preferred vendors to choose from. We have excellent credit and when comparing the companies based upon their rates and services offered, GMAC Mortgage and CitiMortgage were the most competitive. We ultimately decided to go with GMAC Mortgage and initiated the paperwork. The following week on June 26th, while driving from our former home to Houston, we received a call from CitiMortgage informing us that they had dropped their rates. We immediately called our contact at GMAC Mortgage, Shawn McCann, and offered him the opportunity to match the rate that CitiMortgage had quoted us. Shawn wasn’t in the office so I left him a detailed voicemail asking if GMAC Mortgage could match CitiMortgage’s rate. His voicemail greeting indicated he would be returning calls the following week. When the next week had come and gone and we still hadn’t heard from Shawn, we initiated the paperwork with CitiMortgage, figuring that GMAC Mortgage couldn’t match the rate and that he wasn’t even going to bother calling us back. Later that week my wife received an email from someone in Shawn’s office asking us to forward by email or fax the declarations page from our homeowners insurance so GMAC Mortgage could proceed with the loan application. My wife replied to the email saying that we had received a better offer and offered Shawn an opportunity to match that offer but he never returned our call so we would be using CitiMortgage. Shawn called me that same day inquiring about my wife’s email and I recounted for Shawn receiving the call from CitiMortage on June 26th and leaving him a voicemail with the opportunity to match the rate. Shawn claimed to never have received the voicemail. I then asked him if he could match the rate CitiMortgage had quoted us and said he could not. Shawn seemed angry and his tone completely changed, bordering on the belligerent as he told me that if we didn’t use GMAC Mortgage we would have to pay them for their costs, which exceeded $500. I kept thinking to myself, is someone that wants to do business with me actually threatening me? Shawn then proceeded to tell me that he had done some calculations and that if we had to repay GMAC Mortgage their costs, it would take 39 months at CitiMortgage’s lower rate to earn our money back. This was when I informed Shawn that while we might not live in this home for the full term of the 30 year fixed mortgage, I knew I would be staying in the home well over 39 months. I told him I was still inclined to go with CitiMortgage unless GMAC Mortgage could match their rate. Shawn told me the new rates would be coming out later in the afternoon and he would call me back. That afternoon he called me back and told me he would be able to meet or beat the rate offered by CitiMortgage.