1st Signature Lending LLC

If you want to play Russian Roulette with your loan request, 1st Signature Lending is perfect for you. First, there is the question of ethics. By Federal law, Mortgage lenders are required to provide a "Loan Estimate" disclosure, which outlines the rate and fees associated with your loan, within three days of accepting your application. Despite numerous requests for this document, it took eight weeks for the company to finally respond. When I advised them that I would be filing a complaint with Federal Mortgage Regulators, they came up with all types of excuses as to the delay, none of which would hold water. Secondly is the issue of competence. Imagine being told two months after being pre-approved and with loan closing just a few weeks away that your request had been declined, not because of you not qualifying, but because the type of loan you requested (On-Frame Modular) did not qualify. That's right, despite being provided with this information by my builder early on, it took the folks eight weeks to figure it out. What's even sadder is that these people showed zero remorse, making no attempts to accommodate my request while showing me the door. Having funded eight home previously, I have come to realize that there are good and bad Mortgage Lenders. 1st Signature is the worst.

You hear so many horror stories about buying a home, but Scott made it almost too easy. Zero issues! His team was just as easy to work with! Answered all of my questions and kept me informed.

Beware of this broker. VERY poor service and expects the customer to do his work for him. Encouraged me to pay for an appraisal that I didn't need. Lacks fundamental understanding of finance. Only interested in YOUR money and NOT what is in your best interests. Don't walk away...RUN!

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I contacted 1st signature lending on 4/4/13 about refinancing our modular home. We have excellent credit (both of us, upper 700s). Richard Romm ran a credit report and said that we qualified for an FHA streamline loan. He said that we could get a 15 year loan at 3% with all the closing fees rolled into the loan (zero out of pocket money.) We agreed, and he overnighted the loan application forms, along with a list of documents that were needed ( income, bank and tax stmts, etc.) The paperwork had listed $1700 out of pocket closing costs. We called and Chris Ceberhardt, the manager, said that because of the loan type, they could not include all closing costs in the loan but it should be a wash. Our mortgage payment was $700, and we wouldn't pay 2 months mortgage, and also would receive some escrow refund. We filled out the paperwork within a couple of days, along with sending all the necessary documents (copies bank, income, tax stmts, etc.) Then they call and say we have to change to a 3.5% interest rate if we don't want an appraisal--something to do with FHA regulations. If we stay at 3%, then we have an appraisal and $2700 out of pocket closing fees. The problem with an appraisal is that most properties are no longer worth what was originally paid for them and if the appraisal comes back low, it could affect the amount they are allowed to loan us. So we agreed on the 3.5% with no appraisal and they told us the loan would close on 5/15/13. They told us not to pay the May mortgage payment. So around mid May, I called them, thinking we were closing any day. When they returned my call, they said that they couldn't give me a 15 year loan. The term of the loan on the FHA streamline could'n't be lower than our remaining time on our current loan. We had 21 1/2 years left to pay on the original 30 year loan. So they offered us a 25 year loan at 3.75%. At this point, I called another Mortgage broker to make sure they were telling us the truth. They were telling the truth about the regulations, but were just guilty of not knowing all the different regulations regarding modular homes versus regular homes, so I decided to stay with them. BIG mistake. I understood that our rate was locked in and thought we were about to go to closing again in early June. Then about 6/8/13, I received another good faith estimate in the email that said 4.25%. I called to find out what was going on and they said the market interest rates had gone up before that could lock in the 3.75% and basically--sorry about your luck. So it was 3 months later, and about 10 hours worth of work on our part filling, finding, copying and mailing forms--and we still were no closer to refinancing. Of course, towards the end of this process, we couldn't even hardly get them to return a call. At the original 3% they quoted, we would have saved $53K on the life of the loan. Now, we are working with another company, and will be lucky to get a 5.5% rate--only saving a few thousand dollars. They cost us at least $40K over the next 25 years because of their incompetence. PLEASE DON'T LET THIS HAPPEN TO YOU.

From our initial contact to closing was less than 2 weeks. They’re upfront and honest. They act genuine and they really are genuine. Harriet Williams, loan originator assistant, told me what to expect and the amount that I would have to have at closing. The amount was the EXACT amount—not higher, not lower. I had to pay less than half that I did when I re-financed before by using a broker. Chris was very flexible about where we could meet to start the paperwork, to decrease our inconvenience. The only up-front price I had to pay was to get my credit score from Credit Plus. I would give them an A+ if it was available! When you call the office, press 1 to speak them about loans.