PREMIUM MORTGAGE CORP

These people pre approved me the first week of February 2020 and by the first week of April 2020 I still did not have a loan.!?! I came in with a rising guaranteed retirement income, 20% down, and an 800+ credit rating. They told me my income was too low for a conventional mortgage and had to go with an FHA loan. The communication from the broker was terrible, he could not even keep my sources of income straight after having everything in print ! They even demanded a years worth of bank statements from my children in addition to the rest their constantly changing "requirements" !?! I have never dealt with such incompetence from a mortgage company and this was my fourth home purchase. Their final "offer" for a loan was appalling, with a high interest rate, very high down, and high fees. Needless to say, I rejected their offer and acquired a conventional mortgage loan from nationwide banking firm in just over two weeks time with a lower interest rate and thousands less in down and fees. Premium Mortgage Company is one to be avoided when looking for a home mortgage.

I contacted three local mortgage providers and one national provider with slower than molasses processing. Directions and information were vague and piecemeal . There were suggestions that I might not be an ideal candidate but that each might be able to save the day for me. It was tiresome and wasted my time. The national company was mainly a call center. I then called Premium Mortgage and was very impressed from the start. First they took down some information over the phone and scheduled an appointment with one of their Loan Officers, Karen Licalsi. When I arrived Karen had already done all the research regarding my credit, debt, and income. There was no suggestion that I might be a difficult candidate only a positive ready to go attitude and performance. I was passed on to a Mortgage Processor, Dana Silverio, who was on the phone with me in a day. She told me what further information she needed and followed up with email. Her directions were clear and supplemented by useful information such as who to contact re getting information. Two days later she had the application processed and on to the underwriters. I was looking for a closing date within three weeks which I believed was probably not realistic due to my experience with the other four. I told Dana about the closing and she didn't blink an eye. The underwriting, survey, title search etc were done in two weeks and I closed exactly when I needed. I felt like an important customer and never got any sense that they were playing the "we will rescue you" game the others had. They performed ahead of the expectations I had which I know was really pushing things. I cannot say enough about this company other than there should be a higher category than A for them. It is not often in my 68 picky years that I have encountered this kind of positive and effective operation.

I bought 2 homes through Premium Mortgage. One about 10 years ago and one just recently The 1st one was my 1st time through the process and I delt with Mike, the owner. I am sure I had more questions than the average borrower but I was nervous about the whloe thing, particularly because I was a singleton at the time and was getting a house that needed significant rehabbing. The process went fairly smooth. The inspections and whatnot were done well enough to get me the $ I needed to do the significant rehabbing the house needed to be liveable - I used a 203k for this house. From start to finish I think it took a few months which is what I was told to expect. When the house right next to my 1st one went up for sale a few months ago, my husband (I married in between purchases) and I decided that it would be better for us to buy the 2-family as an investment than to let some long-distance investor decide who was going to live next-door to us. So we bought it. We financed with Premium again, this time with Karen who was nice (and funny) and generous with her time. Both times through the financing process I felt I/we were treated fairly and honestly. In asking around, our rates were in line with what others were getting and my closing costs seemed at least a bit more reasonable. I really don't have any compliants about them.

1) At my initial meeting with Premium, they told me they had a "float-down" policy, so that if mortgage rates dropped at any time during my application process, my rate would drop to meet the new market rate. This was the sole reason I chose Premium, as I'd also spoken to Patrick at Liberty Home Funding, and found him generally far more professional and easier to work with. 2) When mortgage rates did in fact fall in the midst of my application process, I contacted Premium to ask when I'd receive confirmation that my rate had been adjusted downward. I got a major song and dance about how they were backlogged, this would be taken care of "soon", etc, and this went on for at least three days. Finally, I went over there in person and was met by a higher-up official who told me that it was *not* their policy to float down, but because I'd been mistakenly told this, they would float my rate down this once, and once only --- so that if rates were to fall again, I'd be out of luck. I walked out with a piece of paper confirming my one-time floatdown. 3) In the midst of this, I wrote to Mike Donoghue, the head of the organization, to express my dissatisfaction. He ignored my mail completely. 4) Toward the end of the application process, rates fell again. In view of what they'd told me the last time (see point 2 above), I assumed I was entirely out of luck and would not get another floatdown. But when I went over there in person and made it clear that I was prepared to stick around until I got satisfaction, they did in fact give me the second floatdown. So in the end, they honored their original commitment --- but only after telling me several times that they wouldn't, and only because I had the time and energy to go sit in their office until I got a response. 5) I should also mention that nearly every single time I was in that office, the receptionist was chattering away with someone or other about hairstyles or last night's TV schedule or some other thing that was totally out of place and unprofessional. It gave the whole operation a very cheesy feel. 6) Throughout this entire process, Patrick at Liberty Home Funding stayed in touch with me, kept me educatied and gave me excellent advice. If I had this to do over again, that's who i'd do it with.

This mortgage process has been a nightmare, The personnel at Premium Mortgage are incompetent, unprofessional and uncaring. Karen Perry has repeatedly made promises and reassurances of loan commitment. Before you think that this is a case of bad credit or no money, we have a 20% down payment and credit scores above 790, with supporting income and documentation to easily qualify for this mortgage. Karen Perry, Mike Donahue and other staff have failed to return emails and phone calls even as the threat of homelessness became a reality. After the buyer closed on our home, and we still had nothing from Premium, Karen Perry even told us in an email last week "do not contact me again, I'll let you know when your loan has been approved" Frustration, stress, anger, and fear are the emotions that have been caused by dealing with Karen Perry and Premium Mortgage Corp.