AMERICAN SECURITY MORTGAGE

unknown

I began working with Brian Pearce at American Security Mortgage in July 2012. I had heard that he was good at helping people clear up any difficulties in their credit so they could qualify for a mortgage. He ran our credit reports and came up with a plan that should have us ready to buy in a year. I took his advice VERY seriously and we were ready in about 6 months. Once the mortgage process began, Brian was there every step of the way and he explained everything in great detail! He helped us to get a loan at an excellent interest rate that was USDA guaranteed and he made sure that everything was done ahead of time so there was no waiting around once everything was approved. Unfortunately, our closing was cancelled the day before we were supposed to close because the sellers failed to tell anyone that they hadn't made a mortgage payment in over 8 months. Due to tons of interest and penalties, they were going to have to bring over $17,000 to the table to close and they didn't have that. Instead of leaving us without a home, Brian helped us figure out what to do. Our attorney got us an early occupancy agreement while the sellers worked through a short sale with the bank. Brian helped us get extensions on our interest rate and mortgage approval for as long as he could. We ended up closing 3 months after or original date and Brian was there every step of the way. I cannot imagine working with a big bank where I would just be a number! I highly recommend Brian Pearce and his team at American Security Mortgage.

I recently purchased a home and based on my realtor's recommendation decided to use AMS as my mortgage provider, BIG MISTAKE! My closing was scheduled for 45 days, with ample time to get all of the documents in order for a smooth closing. I had everything AMS needed to their office over a week prior to closing. Two days before closing, someone from their credit agency left a random message on my wives phone with no details. I found out a day later that there was a need to confirm funds in an account that was not even in her name, and the whole time I had been working with the loan officer to produce all forms and paperwork. The day before closing I was notified that there was an issue with a POC item, and the underwriter was having issues signing off on the loan. This POC was to get the HVAC replaced the day after closing and the seller was contributing to that replacement. During this process with AMS I spoke with 4 different people, who at times asked 2 or 3 times for the same paperwork. There were numerous surprises in this process, to many to list. The best part of all is my loan office was on vacation the week of my closing, and when I spoke with her assistant she stated that I could only talk to my loan officer. I know if I leave the office and something hanging I have a back up ready to assist. I would never use this company again, and I hope that other members stay away from them. They have turned buying my first home into one of the worst experiences of my life, at a time when I should be celebrating I am running around trying to clean up after their incompetance.

This was my third time buying a house, so I was not new to the rodeo. From the start, I was given multiple different contacts within the company by my broker who often sent conflicting and incomplete directions to me. One of these "helpers" left my full bank statement on a chair in the reception area of the office, which I then had to pick up and hand to her for a second time. Having my financial info casually left in a public area was a little scary. Due to the conflicting direction about what needed to be signed when, I missed a window of low interest rates and wound up with 5.375 instead of 5.0. They also waited so long to process the loan, in the final week before our scheduled closing, I was scrambling to get additional bank information to them every day. Different representatives would contact me asking me for more information, sometimes duplicating requests already made. Again, this is all in the week prior to the closing, forcing me to take time away from work just to "get things in on time". Note that we had scheduled the closing 2 months out, so there was no reason for this scramble. The Friday before we closed (it was scheduled for Monday morning), it was 4pm and I still hadn't heard anything back from the broker. The law office had not yet received the package from them (the last step before closing). My broker was out of the office and unreachable. As was the first helper. I finally managed to get a hold of the second helper, who "usually leaves at 4" and seemed irritated that I called. She didn't know anything either. So I was literally not sure if the closing was going to happen until about an hour prior. And the final straw was that I had told the loan officer multiple times that since my partner was buying for the first time, I wanted his name on the title and settlement statement so that we could qualify for the first-time buyer credit. At the closing, my partner's name wasn't on anything. But at that point, it was too late to do anything about it. So in addition to all the time, aggravation, and a higher interest rate - they also cost me an $8,000 tax credit. Thanks a lot.