Metropolitan Financial Mortgage Company

People at this mortgage broker were very nice and prompt at first. But in the end, contradicting to what they initially promised, I have not heard from them for a long time. I have eventually contacted 4 other mortgage companies and lenders.

This mortgage broker were referred by my Realtor, unfortunately, and it started out by Mark, the loan officer, calling me on 8/8 to start the application, then meeting Dominic, the owner I believe, at a local coffee shop, followed by Mark again processing, then David, another loan officer, emailing me the Good Faith Estimate(GFE).

The problem first was that this team was the only one ran my credit report without my consent. I did have an intention to say Yes when they asked my SSN but didn't expect that happening without my word. During this phone call, I asked to see if there are any first time home buyer program out there still available in the location I was looking at. He said he is mass-emailing all lenders to see what is available. Never heard back regarding this.

A few days after the call, I met with Dominic along with my Realtor. Explanation was clear and he answered all my questions. I passed the paperwork and he mentioned about my pre-qualifing loan amount based on my credit, wages, and history assuming my paperwork does not contradict. He said he will get my pre-approval as soon as possible and will only take half a day. He also mentioned about the looking into first time home buyer program, and informed me that he would like to contact Realtor on Tuesdays and buyer on Thursdays every week to check the status. It happened only once; the next week.

A few days later, I called and they said my paperwork was delivered to the loan officer yesterday so will work on it as soon as possible. On 8/15 the pre-approval came from David with different amount than Dominic's initial amount, no big deal as it happens. I asked for the GFE and a week later, GFE came with ridiculous amount of closing cost. The loan amount was now even lower than pre-approved! I asked for GFE on my pre-approved and I have heard time understanding how the amount can differ.I asked for the explanation and no response. 

Origination fee now is regulated by government and cannot be any number other than 1% of the loan. This company charges 2% and the closing cost is twice as much as the company I decide to go with.

I heard from my Realtor that they are (as well as a few more clients) having issues with this broker as well and I just sure hope no one gets stuck with this company.

Our son and daughter-in-law bought a house and applied for a FHA mortgage through METROPOLITAN FINANCIAL MORTGAGE.  Everything was going fine and METROPOLITAN assured them that there would be no problem closing on July 20, 2012.  Less than a week before the closing METROPOLITAN called them and said their mortgage was denied by the underwriter, no explanation why.
My husband and I stepped in and offered to co-sign the loan, hoping this would put things back on track and the mortgage would again be approved and closed.  METROPOLITAN had us go through the usual song and dance; checking our credit, investigating our financial records and history, etc.  My husband and I each have a credit score of 839, and nothing in our background to deny a loan!  METROPOLITAN FINANCIAL MORTGAGE still denied their loan...
Because our son and daughter-in-law had already given notice on the home they were renting, as of July 20th, they were homeless and had to move in with us.
In order not to lose their dream home, they quickly scrambled to find another mortgage lender.  The new mortgage company could find nothing wrong with their application and approved their loan without the need of co-signers.

The people at Metro FMC, while very nice, ultimately missed a big item on my re-fi application that resulted in the whole re-fi going bust. They neither apologized for what I would call an oversight on their part, did nothing to assist in a work around, and retained the $600 appraisal fee that I paid. And the issue happened 3 weeks after I started the application process, leaving me in a real lurch and ultimately on my own with little time to figure out how to still get my mortgage refinanced in time for some home improvement work I was set to begin. I went to another lender and had a supremely better experience.
The issue was that appraisal of my property came back with a mark of "illegally zoned" because there was a second kitchen in the basement. It is mother-in-law apt in the basement of my walk-out rambler, and the kitchen was there when I bought the house in 2002, and still there when I refinanced once before in 2007. But this time around, the underwriter that Metro FMC had chosen would not approve the loan.
So my gripe to Metro FMC is "hey, you are the experts." It takes 3 weeks to get an appraiser out there only to find out this issue? It's not like my 50s era walkout rambler is the only one with mother-in-law unit! There are hundreds. If there is zoning violations, the experts at a mortgage company should know about these things and do some basic vetting questions before we get to a $600 appraisal. For example, a exceptionally bad roof could be another cause for no approval on a loan. There might have been a way to mitigate the issue beforehand. And if this caught the experts a little bit on the blind side, then the professional thing to do would be to refund the appraisal fee to the customer. They learned something about their business, but at my expense.
And in the end, they didn't seem at all sympathetic to my plight. I had to ask them to check on several possible work arounds, such as "what if I take out the kitchen and have appraiser come back?" They checked on the things I asked about but offered no proactive solutions of their own to the problem. In the end, there might not have been much they could do, but they didn't even try.
So here I am, 5 days after all this hit the fan, and I haven't heard any follow up, apology, or no forthcoming refund of the appraisal fee. I'm working with a bank mortgage lender now, versus a mortgage broker, and they at least are being a lot more attentive to my application. I let them know about the aforementioned issue and they have some solutions that might help me with the situation. I can't count this second chicken as hatched yet, but I am cautiously optimistic that they will get the loan through, and hopefully in the nick of time for some plans I have for cash out I am planning to take and do improvements on my house... like maybe taking out the second kitchen!