Refinance with Amerisave

[clifp]

I think the Fed getting serious about raising interest rates. So I've decided that its time I convert my HELCO and Pledged asset variable loans which are currently at ~3.75% to a 15 year fixed.

After doing a lot of searching I've narrowed it down to three companies.
Penfed
Quicken/Schwab (Quicken gives Schwab customers with more than $1 million in assets .25% off their loans)
and
Amerisave mortgage.
I've settled on a 3% 15 year fixed mortgage so the only issue is points+closing costs.

I've had a lot of experience with both Penfed and Schwab/Quicken and especially with Schwab I know it will be a straight forward process.

But Amerisave quoted me a loan that is almost $7,000 less in closing cost than Quicken and $9,000 less than Penfed, which is real money.

Amerisave has rather checkered past both on this forum, and else where and got hit up with a $21 Million fine from the CFPB for deceptive practices.

Has anybody had recent experience with Amerisave (last 5 years or so)?

[Another Reader]

Quicken is NOT a low cost lender. The Schwab discount does not change that. I would avoid them. PenFed has good rates on some products. Try Aimloan if your file is easy to underwrite. Their rates and fees are very low. www.aimloan.com

A good loan broker can save you more than the Quicken folks and should offer rates that are the same or better than Aimloan. A good one can help you with underwriting issues as well.

[jkern]

My friend and my daughter used Amerisave for new purchases and a friends parents used them for a refi. There was a little work involved for the borrowers, but they all went well.

[Fedup]

I used them for refi in 2011. They were horrible, but cheap.

[rayvt]

I have refi'd several times with both Amerisave and AIM. Both were fine. I had no problems.

[clifp]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rayvt I have refi'd several times with both Amerisave and AIM. Both were fine. I had no problems.

I decide to go with them today.

It helps to have forum members that have used them rather than rely on the unwashed masses of the internet's comments.

Their rep was very responsive/motivated and threw in an extra $1,000 off closing cost.

There were several other vendors (including Costco) who were in the same range, I really was surprised that both Penfed (because of the 1% origination fee) and Schwab/Quicken were significantly higher.

[clifp]

Unfortunately, Amersave has been pretty much a disaster.

The sales rep and the processing lady have both been pretty responsive. But Amerisave must use the world's most brain dead underwriters.

I want to borrow $500K on $1 million+ house. I have liquid assets >$3 million (roughly 50/50 between IRAs and regular) and bunch of other non-liquid assets (rental property, money I've lended, and some Angel investments that are actually paying dividends). Eventhough I gave them tax returns showing AGI income over 100K in the new weird world of underwriting, I'm only getting credit of income of 60K.

So the best they would offer me was loan of 250K at 15 years @3%.

[Another Reader]

My suggestion is a knowledgeable loan broker that can quickly evaluate your situation, shop your loan to the lenders likely to have more sophisticated underwriters, and package your financials appropriately. The on-line warehouses don't cope well with anything outside the W-2 crowd. I'm very hard to underwrite because of all the rentals, the IRA's and the small pensions. I use a broker that can get my file through.

[Scrapr]

Quote:

Originally Posted by clifp Unfortunately, Amersave has been pretty much a disaster. The sales rep and the processing lady have both been pretty responsive. But Amerisave must use the world's most brain dead underwriters. I want to borrow $500K on $1 million+ house. I have liquid assets >$3 million (roughly 50/50 between IRAs and regular) and bunch of other non-liquid assets (rental property, money I've lended, and some Angel investments that are actually paying dividends). Eventhough I gave them tax returns showing AGI income over 100K in the new weird world of underwriting, I'm only getting credit of income of 60K. So the best they would offer me was loan of 250K at 15 years @3%.

Sounds like Wells fargo as the economy was starting to recover. I was trying to Refi the loan (that they held). I knew I was in trouble when the phone rep said...Wait...you get a salary and profits She could not wrap her head around that. Then she wanted a firm number on the profit.

I just strung her along for a couple months and dropped it. I sold them the following year. I tried to get the closing agent to slip a FU in the closing docs. She was much more professional tham me

[Blue Collar Guy]

What did the unwashed masses say? go with them or not?

[rayvt]

You have to realize that virtually all of these places only generate loans that conform to FNMA/FMAC guidelines. They don't keep the loan in-house.

" I have liquid assets >$3 million (roughly 50/50 between IRAs and regular) and bunch of other non-liquid assets (rental property, money I've lended, and some Angel investments that are actually paying dividends)."

They look primarily at income. Reliable income that looks and smells like W-2 income. Profits & private loans & angel investments won't cut it. Those income sources can dry up at a moment's notice.
You can bitch about it all you want, but if you want the loan you have to play their game. Your bitching will fall on deaf ears.
I've even had a loan processor agree with me on your logic -- but he said that logic doesn't matter, you have to fit the FNMA guideines.

Even places that generally hold their loan in-house want to have the option of selling the loan to FNMA, which means it has to fit the guidelines.

Set up an automatic monthly withdrawal from your IRA(s), an IRA with enough assets to cover 3 years of said withdrawals.
After the loan closes, you can cancel the automatic withdrawal.