asshopo

Ok, so, I have had some bad financial issues over the last few years and I started to take care of them, starting off with refinancing in April. My loan officer (not Ameriquest) suggested refinancing for a year or so without an Escrow account to free up some cash to pay off debts, thus bringing my poor credit score up. On the next refinance, they were going to roll in any missed insurance and tax payments along with insurance/tax late penalties.

Between April and now, I've had some more bad mistakes from the past come up and bite me in the rear, making me tight on money again.

I decided to pull my credit a few weeks ago and its not high enough to refinance with my current loan officer yet. So, I decided to see what else was available. I called Ameriquest. They offered me a loan that seems to good to be true for an anstonishing appraisal for my house. Apprasial is $17k higher than any other lenders appraiser can offer. Enough cash out to pay off my car, freeing alot of monthly money to take care of more debt. Prepayment penalty is 1% of 80% of the appraised house value, which translates to about 1 months mortgage payment. Seems to good to be true, so I am being very cautious. I haven't signed anything yet and am still doing homework. They claim they can do this because they stretch the appraisial a bit (about a year's appriciation value) to "help the customer out". I know this is a tactic to keep me in their loan for a few years, because I wouldn't be able to get another loan for the amount to pay off Ameriquest mortgage. Even so, the ability to pay off teh car and taking care of more debt is still appealing, for obvious reasons, but I also don't want to make the wrong decision with my house. I can't afford for me, my wife, and our kids to be out on our rear cause I screwed up somehow with a bad mortgage.

I checked with the BBB and there doesn't seem to be any local complaints for the most part, but there is alot of Ameriquest hatred out there on epinions and a few other sites like it. Only reason I am not totally counting them out based on website/consumer opinoins I've seen is because you can find the same amount of complains about Best Buy, Circuit City, or any other large company.

My question is, has anyone here, or anyone you know, worked with Ameriquest and what was the experience like?

tingly

As a mortgage broker that has worked previously for one of ameriquest's competitors in the retail market i've heard some things regarding their company that could be construed as shady. First off, I don't know your credit score or what loan-to-value you qualify for. My suggestion would be to find a broker who could probably get you qualified for a greater LTV than ameriquest would. From what I understand you're going to have 3 or more points on any loan from ameriquest. This is just what I hear so consult your Good Faith Estimate. As far as a stretched appraisal goes, most individuals in the mortgage industry can get one done. It's not always the best option though if you can get qualified for more based off a regular appraisal.