Quicken Loans

[arjayes]

Anyone here done a mortgage with Quicken Loans? If so, how did it go? I'm looking to refi and have started the conversation with them. Just looking for some feedback.

They get mostly great reviews here:

https://www.creditkarma.com/reviews/mortgage/single/id/quicken-loans-mortgage

And here:

http://www.zillow.com/profile/Quicken-Loans/Reviews/

But almost universally terrible reviews here:

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/finance/quicken_loans_mortgage.html

I tend to disregard the last one because consumeraffairs.com looks like a sketchy organization, but it's hard to tell.

Recommendations for other lenders or brokers who operate in SoCal would also be appreciated.

Thanks, folks.

Bob S.

 

[2112]

Just out of interest (if you pardon the pun) what is the going rate for mortgages in the US/Canada ? I ask only as we had our yearly statement land on the doormat today. 2.5% for myself at the moment, although we've had this deal for a while.

 

[snakebitten]

Just out of interest (if you pardon the pun) what is the going rate for mortgages in the US/Canada ? I ask only as we had our yearly statement land on the doormat today. 2.5% for myself at the moment, although we've had this deal for a while.

I recently made some life decisions as a result of a sudden and substantial unexpected drop in household income.
Basically, decided to retire as much debt as reasonable to get the "burn rate" down to an appropriately adjusted level.
So I recently refinanced with a small(er) company in Oklahoma(?)
Caliber Home Loans
I got 3.25, but I HAD to finance at least $1.00 more than 99,999 to get that rate.
Oddly they want a bit more interest if the mortgage is smaller.

I also did the shortest term possible. 8 years, I think.
And then signed up for the biweekly, or whatever the every 2 weeks payment method is called.
That will shorten the payoff by a few more months, as well.

At the rates and amortizations nowadays, it almost makes sense to hang on to cash.
My previous 30 year mortgage would hardly show a dent in the principal each year.
These new short term low interest mortgages show rapid decrease in principle every month.


Good luck there arjayes.

Regardless of who you use though, the whole process is a pain in the butt. LOL

 

[snakebitten]

Disclaimer:

I'm an economics moron. Always have been. So PAleeeease be careful taking any advice on such a subject from me.

Actually, I can't believe I even made a post on the subject. I got family members that would roll on the floor laughing if they heard I was playing financial advisor.

 

[patrickg450]

Quicken is a good company

 

[arjayes]

Quicken is a good company

Quicken Loans has no affiliation with Intuit, the company that sells Quicken, QuickBooks, Turbo Tax, etc. Intuit owned the company for a few years (thus the name) but sold it in 2002. It's now an independent privately owned enterprise based in Detroit. Here's the hisstory:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quicken_Loans

I'm tempted to do the refi through my bank (Wells Fargo), but their mortgage dept gets awful reviews as well. There's a heavy sleaze factor in everything to do with real estate from agents to inspectors to contractors to lenders. I would be much happier as a renter but I've been screwed by several landlords over the years. There's no winning in this game!

 

[arjayes]

Good luck there arjayes.

Regardless of who you use though, the whole process is a pain in the butt. LOL

Thanks, snake. Couldn't agree more with your assessment!

8 year mortgage - wow. Never heard of such a thing. I think you can get auto loans longer than that these days.

 

[TXTenere]

I'm tempted to do the refi through my bank (Wells Fargo), but their mortgage dept gets awful reviews as well. There's a heavy sleaze factor in everything to do with real estate from agents to inspectors to contractors to lenders. I would be much happier as a renter but I've been screwed by several landlords over the years. There's no winning in this game!

I refi'd through Wells Fargo a few years back. Yes, total pain in the ass, but in the end, they delivered on everything that they said that they would.

 

[Dirt_Dad]

Can't say I know anything about Quicken, but this evening I did have my annual meeting with the financial planner. Considering the low rates out there I do follow the advice to take the biggest, longest mortgage I can comfortably handle, with no goal of ever paying it off. Not likely to ever find cheaper money. That cash can do better working for you someplace productive rather than tied up in the house.

Why do I have a financial planner? Because I've proven I can screw things up royally when I do it myself.

 

[Lutsie]

I considered refinancing with quicken last year but there closing costs were considerably higher then chase. But they do get good reviews from what I hear.

 

[2112]

I'm an economics moron. Always have been. So PAleeeease be careful taking any advice on such a subject from me.

::025:: Nice one ::008:: It's roughly the same as the UK then as new deals seem to be around a similar value as you have achieved. Best of luck with it.

 

[Dogdaze]

Considering the low rates out there I do follow the advice to take the biggest, longest mortgage I can comfortably handle, with no goal of ever paying it off.

Not to hijack the thread, but here in Switzerland, if you are fortunate enough to have a mortgage (min 20% deposit required) you cannot have insurance to pay off the debt in the event of death and the mortgage debt is passed to next of kin, ie; children and you only finance 60% of the capital the other 40% is interest only, so in essence you never relieve your debt......

 

[sail2xxs]

I just went through the refi process this past August. After checking bankrate.com and a couple other places, Pentagon Federal Credit Union had the best deal for what I was trying to do. They are a bit of a PITA on the paperwork side, and they are very tight on credit, but if you are at FICO 760+, it's worth it.

Quicken loans did not have competitive rates and fees. I think they try to take advantage of the brand name.

Good luck!

Best,

Chris

 

[2112]

Not to hijack the thread, but here in Switzerland, if you are fortunate enough to have a mortgage (min 20% deposit required) you cannot have insurance to pay off the debt in the event of death and the mortgage debt is passed to next of kin, ie; children and you only finance 60% of the capital the other 40% is interest only, so in essence you never relieve your debt......

Not the sort of 'inheritance' I would be hoping for !

 

[Dogdaze]

I guess they hope the houses appreciate year on year. Considering the average house price (not apt) is about $2.0 million in the Zurich area, here's hoping!!! :'(

 

[2112]

Eeeek, that is pricey. I suppose most major cities are expensive to live in these days ? I can't imagine a flat in New York is terribly cheap, especially if it has a view !

 

[snakebitten]

Thus Texas dirt!

Especially Rural.
And if you don't mind a little flooding now and then, (build dwelling on a hill you make from digging the pond) you can get enough dirt that you don't need curtains. Neighbors can't see ya.

 

[Dogdaze]

Thus Texas dirt!

Especially Rural.
And if you don't mind a little flooding now and then, (build dwelling on a hill you make from digging the pond) you can get enough dirt that you don't need curtains. Neighbors can't see ya.

I can only wish!!!

 

[arjayes]

I just went through the refi process this past August. After checking bankrate.com and a couple other places, Pentagon Federal Credit Union had the best deal for what I was trying to do. They are a bit of a PITA on the paperwork side, and they are very tight on credit, but if you are at FICO 760+, it's worth it.

Quicken loans did not have competitive rates and fees. I think they try to take advantage of the brand name.

Good luck!

Best,

Chris

I agree on Quicken Loans. I have excellent credit and was well qualified in every way but they came in at 4.25%. It's weird because I signed up to get mortgage rate updates from them by text message so I could track where rates were heading. And for the last couple of weeks their daily rate was 3.75% for a 30-year fixed. If they had come in at 3.75% I would have looked no further, but they weren't even close.

Decided to enter my info on lendingtree.com and let the hounds loose. Man, the response is instant and intense! I took one phone call yesterday from a local mortgage broker and I'm glad I did. Good guy, no greasy sales bs (which I was getting a little of from Quicken). Met him today at a restaurant to hand over the 35 pages of forms I had to sign. Transferred all the other account statements, W-2s, tax forms, etc, to him electronically. Thank God for that at least.

The hard part is done now. All in all not as painful as I expected, but still have to get through appraisal and will take 4-5 weeks to close. Won't be locked in until Monday but as of now it's 3.75%, no points, and a total of about $1500 in fees. I'm very happy with it.

The mortgage I'm replacing came to be through a refi 10 years ago in 2005. I went with a company called HMS Capital who used to advertise like crazy on the radio in SoCal. The loan was for 30 years but the whole thing was structured as an equity line of credit at an interest rate of prime minus 1.5%. Since the crash in 2008 when interest rates dropped dramatically I've been at an unbelievable 1.75%. The first 10 years were interest-only, so I've been paying about $750 per month on a > $500k mortgage for the last 6+ years. But the 10 year cliff is just a few months away, at which point the loan converts into basically a 20-year mortgage with the same floating interest rate. But with the fixed rates so incredibly low now I figured I better lock in.

Now just keeping my fingers crossed that rates stay the same on Monday so I can lock in at 3.75%.

Edit: For anyone interested the San Diego broker I'm using is called HomePlus Mortgage and the loan officer I'm working with is Christopher Ross. So far highly recommended. Hopefully that won't change.

 

[Derekj]

I had a good experience with Quicken many years ago. The last time I refinanced was with lending tree .com. I had all sorts of companies calling me. Bit of a pain getting them to quit calling after a while , but well worth it.