HOMESTREET BANK

fast and easy

First - they are horrible communicators no sense of urgency. Received emails after 5:00pm for me to handle urgent issues, then no follow up or confirmation that things were proceeding. My loan was supposed to close no later than 4/24. No one at Homestreet realized that was today - until well today.

They did not read revised documents provided to them and had no sense of urgency to meet timelines.

I was excited to do business with a hometown bank but will NEVER use them again!

unknown

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terrible
he failed to communicate or give any honest information
enough said!!!!

Not recommended. Stay clear.

Smoothly

The loan process went very well and the people were very nice at the Vancouver location. Again, the people at my local bank were great. To get the best loan rate Homestreet Mortagage required us to open an account with Homestreet Bank. It also required we have auto pay for the loan. Aprox 2yrs into the loan we received a letter (Letter head Homestreet Bank, remember this) that we were one month behind in our payment. I am thinking how can this be. Its auto pay from Homestreet Bank to Homestreet Mortagage. They both use the same letter head, corporate office and website. I log on and sure enough the payment has been deducted from my account and was ontime not late. I called the bank and they said it was paid on time and I should contact mortagage department. Called mortgage dept. He stated they never recieved payment and if I don't make the payment within two days they will report it to credit agencies. He said the bank and mortgage are seperate and do not talk to each other and not his problem that bank did not make payment. I asked for a manager and got same response, make the payment within two day or we report your loan in default. I could not believe this was happening. I called the bank manager and they said they would look into it. The next day the bank called and said they talked them into not reporting me while they looked into what happened with the payment. One week later I received a letter from Mortgage department. It stated since I am having trouble making my payments I may qualify for the Obama plan and it may help me avoid foreclosure. At this time I informed them I was getting a lawyer and planned to sue if it was not cleared up by the end of week. I also demanded a written letter from Homestreet stating none of this was my fault and it was the bank at fault.  She said they could not do that but would call back the next day. The next day she called to say the bank went ahead and made my payment for me and would send a letter saying I was not at fault and would continue to investigate what happend to my payment. Six months later I recieved a letter saying they were closing my case and the payment was never found. My case? I immediately started working on moving my loan and all banking to IQ Credit Union.

I met with the lending officer the first week of October. I realize that with rates so low, they would be very busy, but given my circumstances I did not expect the process to require almost a full 2 months. The lending officer was always courteous and responsive to my questions. I believe, however, that there could have been more attentive communication. Here is an excerpt from the email that I sent to the lending officer the day after final papers were signed:
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. . . 
The issue for me has been communication:   1) You originally prepared two estimates for a 15-year loan - one with no cash required, total loan $115,619, monthly payments $1098. The other included an up-front cash payment, $3,616, yielding total loan of $112,000, monthly payments $1071.45/month.  I told you at our meeting that I would bring in the cash so I could have the smaller loan and lower monthly payment. You reminded me that I would need to have a cashier's check when I met with escrow.  I take responsibility for forgetting how this transpired, so when I asked about the check and was told by both you and the escrow agent that I didn't need to bring the check, I didn't pursue it - having totally forgotten that this would lead to the higher loan amount. Although I should have remembered, I would think you would have made a note for yourself.    (2) At that October meeting I also gave you my card with different phone numbers. I explained that my cell is usually not turned on, so it would be best not to use that number. The first appraisal representative apparently missed the explanation . . after you emailed me asking if I had heard from the appraiser, I called John (the owner) and we set up the appointment. A few days after the appraisal was completed I happened to turn on my cell for another purpose and discovered three messages from the first appraisal rep asking me to call. He apparently didn't even try my home or work numbers. I assume this delayed the appraisal, which in turn delayed preparation of final papers, which delayed final signing.  (3) When I met with Sonya (Title company) to sign the (final) papers last week Friday, we had to stop because I caught the appraisal fee still included in the settlement costs. When we called you, you said you had forgotten, and would follow up. That was fine, but, again, we shouldn't have had to make the phone call in the middle of signing.  
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I believe the lending officer might have been somewhat overwhelmed by the number of refinances he was handling, but I believe the three items mentioned above should have been better managed.

This was our third mortgage transaction with Michael Gikas at Homestreet Bank. Each one has gone well which makes this review easier to write. The rate and fees were both great. We had a small glitch with money getting transferred to our old lender which was out of the hands of Homestreet Bank. Michael Gikas got the issued resolved within 24 hours. We are very pleased with their service and professionalism.

I wasn't as happy with my loan offers. I felt that the employee was in too much of a hurry and I did not feel clear about the term. It felt that he were more interested in placing the loans than customer service. But I think that was just with this agent and that the whole Homestreet is good.

The service was free. I chose them because I work for the University of Washington and you can get a discount for using them. They are excellent. They are small so it's more personal. The broker I used has won all these awards for what she does. They were great. They were very responsive. They were very informative. They were proactive. They helped me find a good rate. They were good. I would use them in the future if I needed to.

I have taken a construction loan from them. I have been using their services for the last 7 years. They are fantastic in their job. Their customer service is very good. I like their services and will continue the same in future.

Terrific. We got a competitive rate and felt we were dealt with very professionally. I would recommend Jay Huber and the folks at Homestreet bank to anyone.

From day one Homestreet has been a great experience. We bought our house 5 years ago during the heart of the housing boom and got a very solid, low interest, fixed rate loan that Homestreet never sold. We refinanced twice, once to pay to go back to school, once to get a lower rate, and now for an FHA loan. Mark hannum has been wonderful (he's been our contact for about 4 years now), always asnweres meail and phone calls and gets stuff sone quickly.

I use Kent Stiner for my mortgage broker and he is definitely the best of the best around Seattle. He has never steered us in the wrong direction of anything. He is always there when you need him for questions and he is also very outspoken and professional.