MONARCH MORTGAGE

We are a military family moving from Florida to the Norfolk area and knew we wanted to buy a house when we arrived. About 3-5 weeks prior to our move we began talking with Monarch to set up as much paperwork ahead of time as possible to streamline the process. We were told that USAA and Navy Federal were not as reliable in the region by our realtor. Specifically, those two banks would frequently be late in getting paperwork ready for house closings and that if we wanted to have a quicker more reliable home buying process we should go with the local bank. As our move date approached all of our personal financial information was submitted and all we had to do was negotiate a final price with the home we had chosen to move forward. We asked numerous times if they needed any more information(and they had already asked for a lot) and they assured us they did not. We were able to agree on a price with the home buyers and began the next phase of the process with the bank. Over the next two weeks we submitted all paperwork they asked for. Numerous information was requested that we could have provided earlier, however now we were detaching from a previous squadron, coordinating a move, driving north with our life in our car, and living out of the Navy Lodge. All the while more and more paperwork was being requested. This would not have been an issue had we not asked them over and over "what else could you possibly need, we wont have internet/scanner/fax for a couple of weeks?" Backtracking a bit, all of these requests came not from the loan officer we had originally met with, but with his assistant (this will come in to play later). He went on vacation after we met the first time face to face and hadn't heard back since from anyone other than his assistant. During this period we attempted to take a vacation and go to a wedding that my wife was in. We went into their office on 21st prior to leaving and spent almost 2 hours getting them more information they had requested at the last minute. Somewhat of a unique circumstance, my wife was beginning a new job around the time of our closing and they required signed documents stating her start date, salary, and that she would working remotely from home. Not normally a problem however my wife's salary was not disclosed to the staff as she was brought on at a senior level and so therefore most of the communication was required to go through the CEO of the company (these facts had been very clearly explained at the beginning of our loan process and had been part of the reason we spent 2 hours in the office as mentioned prior). Then towards the end of the process, our patience dwindling with Monarch, specific wording had not been inserted into the letter signed by my wife's boss and we get a call from the senior loan officer(original guy we talked to--hadn't heard form in over a week and a half. vacation had been over for a week at this point.). He let us know that he needed a new letter with said specific information (including her salary). My wife said no problem, but that her boss was traveling and that as the CEO of a large non profit he might need a day or so to personally turn around the document. Senior Loan officer, said ok and my wife asked if there was anyway we could make our loan work with the previously existing document as she had not even begun her job yet and due to Monarchs lack of forethought already bothered him numerous times asking for variations of the same document. Senior Loan Officer then told my wife he'd get back to her. 5 minutes later my wife got a call from someone at her new company asking if she new of Monarch Bank and if we trying to get a home loan with them. My wife was confused as she had no idea why they would have called the Company, but that yes she was. Before my wife had a chance to understand what had happened another person from the company called asking the same thing stating that the Bank had left a message on a random employee at her new company's voicemail requesting the CEO write up a document, sign it, and send it back to include: her start dates, travel schedule, and salary (which he stated her actual salary--information we had numerously explained was confidential to all staff except the CEO) and other personal information. This was the most remarkable part of our experience with Monarch. The Senior Loan Officer who had been no part of our Loan in over a week and a half had taken it up himself to call my wife's new company without taking into account what she had asked of him. We had trusted him with all of our personal/banking information for the last 3 yrs and he left our personal information on someones answering machine that had nothing to do with Human Resources or Accounting. My wife was embarrassed by this loan officer before she ever started her new job. Many of the staff worked at the company for years and knew they were making considerably less (my wife took 50% pay cut to come work for this nonprofit) than this newcomer. When I asked him to apologize to my wife for putting her in an awkward spot and for leaving our personal information on a voicemail he arrogantly told me it was within his job to investigate the legitimacy of her new job. I told him I understood and that we had told him the sensitivity of the information he was given from day one and that he had to talk to the CEO himself. He was unwilling to wait the extra day and when I again asked him to apologize for what he did he told me "I'm sorry that you feel that way." It was no apology. I heard nothing from Monarch, no one apologized for his behavior and he continued to call my wife (he would not talk to me after our discussion of his professionalism) asking for documents after he again told us that letter was the "last one." At the end we closed on the house a week later than our original closing date. Exactly what we were told would not happen. I wish I had gone with USAA and given them my business. They have always been reliable and courteous. I can not speak for all of Monarch Banks, but our experience with this "Senior" Loan officer means that I will never recommend banking with Monarch to anyone I know. ---Last fact that I could not quite find a way to fit into the above statement. We had asked him for the best possibly loan ideas and he told us that 30yr fixed rate was the best way to go compared to a variable rate. It was not until a week after our original meeting with him that a friend recommended we ask about 15yr rates. our rate went from 4.25% for the 30yr to 3.75% for the 15yr. When calculating the interest we would pay over time it came out to roughly $125,000 less if we went with the 15yr. Funny how he never mentioned that to us. Overall negative experience. Cant be said enough. We are happy to have the house we are living in know and glad to move on.