AimLoan.com / American Internet Mortgage
Reviews and Complaints

I am a senior who obtained a refinancing loan through aimscamloans. Three months into the loan I switched my insurance provider to allstate, aimloan provided a website with which to scan a copy of the declaration page as proof. I immediately complied, but then received notification they still had not received the document? I then called their representative to verify the email/website address'... Resent the documents and the matter was delt with... So I thought! I then received notice they have purchased a 3000 dollar insurance policy I don't need? I am on a fixed income! This company is not only unscrupulous but heartless as well!

WARNING - AIM Loans is not for everyone and can cost you dearly.

If your loan is low risk with no complications, AIM Loans will give you a great loan rate.If not, count yourself lucky if all you experience is a bit of inconvenience.

In my case, they cost me over $60, 000. You could fare much worse. The problem is not their criterion for issuing loans. It’s that they hide it from you.

They let you discover it on your own and accept no responsibility for problems that might arise. At best, they may offer an impractical solution with no willingness to consider workable alternatives. In my case, I chose AIM Loans' 3.25% rate lock over a local mortgage broker's rate of 3.625%. After rates had risen significantly, AIM Loans rejected my loan simply because the appraiser found a two burner electric stove top installed in an outbuilding that could easily be removed.

This building didn’t even contribute to the appraised value of the property. Their only solution to this problem was “for the city/county to permit the storage/cabana building in its current state (no alterations).” However, this is impossible since the stove top must be removed to comply with local zoning codes as the appraiser pointed out. Several times (both in writing and on the phone) I requested they ask the appraiser to verify the stove top has been removed and provide an “as is” appraisal. The "Home Valuation Code of Conduct" permits such limited communications between lender and appraiser.

If the appraiser was unwilling, AIM Loans could have ordered a new appraisal. Both actions are standard practices. But AIM Loans didn’t even acknowledge my requests. AIM Loans’ goodbye to me included “We underwrite according to Fannie and Freddie guidelines and they do not allow for unpermitted kitchens.” This is a gross misinterpretation of the guidelines especially in this particular case.

Up to the very end they tried to hide their true intention of not wanting to deal with any complications. In the meantime, the local mortgage broker’s rate rose to 4.125%. Fortunately he has dealt with issues like this many times in our local area and it wasn’t a problem for him. So why didn’t AIM Loans warn me?

Simple, they don’t want to scare off potential customers.

Just let the process filter out the undesirable ones regardless of the consequences to them. So now you’re forewarned.

THEY MAKE IT ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE TO REFI HOME LOAN AT ADVERTISED RATE
MY REFI WAS UNDER 40% loan to value. I have been in my primary home over 25 years same job over 30 years. All verifiable income. W2's, signed tax returns, debt to income less then 30 percent, fico score over 800. I was looking to reduce my rate and finance 15 year loan, but nothing satisfied them. It is my opinion that no matter what I did they would make it impossible to get my loan approved in time to keep my locked in rate.
They won. I cancelled my loan application and will use my cash assets and pay off my existing loan with bank savings rate paying me .10 percent. This loan company is for the upsell. Beware.

baited with low GFE and lock. then more than 2/3 of the way through the process, i received an email from chelsea that i didn't quality despite providing all information and documents by day 3 of the lock. i later receive a phone call saying i should switch to another product that was thousands more to close and 1% higher. underwriter also refuses to even open my file to review my documents until AFTER the appraisal, and hence commiting the applicant to the $500 appraisal fee before deciding whether or not the applicant qualifies. chelsea and irma are frauds by lying and hiding fees. i was charged $395 and another $100 to be notified that if i didn't switch to another loan product, i'd pay $395, $100 and another $495 in appraisal fees for nothing.

I am sorry to say run, don't walk from AIM Loan. Lowest rates + poorest service. Total incompetence combined with a lousy, non-communicative manner. Again, like my predecessor who wrote a similar review I have owned numerous homes and income properties and refinanced each as was beneficial to me and these folks are, far and away the most incompetent. They strung me along for 6 weeks, then were not able to make the loan happen because of the nincompoop appraiser the company chose. I spoke with this guy and having sold real estate on the westside of Los Angeles for 12 years and being well acquainted with how this works, knew he was clueless as he was not able to locate three comps in the area...because HE WAS NOT FROM ANYWHERE NEAR WHERE MY HOME IS. So, the loan was dropped not because of a low value, because my loan to value is 50/50, but because the appraiser simply didn't know how to find appropriate comps.
And AIM's manager Bryce seemed quite content to let the loan go, along with 6 weeks of my time. There was no one to try to work this out as far as I could see. Perhaps there was, but as I wrote before, they don't communicate so who would know.
I had a loan with AIM several years ago with another property and refinanced away from them because my new lender had better service and a lower rate. Fooled once, shame on them...fooled twice, shame on me. Lesson learned. Hope I saved you a similar fate.

There is something seriously wrong with aimloan.com.

I was approved immediately with my high credit score, zero debt and good long-term income. (Any bank will approve me.)

After paying for the appraisal, aimloan.com ordered the appraisal and that’s when the real circus began. The appraiser called from a rural county 50 miles away and asked a lot of questions that let us knew he was totally unfamiliar with our area. I wrote 7 back and forth emails and was given the run around. Leonela Serrata was downright rude. The president of aimloan.com, Vince Kasperick and was copied on all of my emails concerning my complaints. He never offered any help.

Then I went to the Better Business Bureau online and read numerous complaints about Aimloan.com trying to run up the interest rates and fees, after the homes were given low appraisals that were appraised with inexperienced appraisers and poor comparative analysis. Aimloan.com blamed one homeowner for not supplying comparative homes to dispute the appraisal. This is strange since the homeowner has no access to real estate data, or sales data like an appraiser would. Did the homeowner pay aimloan.com to conduct their own home appraisal?
(Bankrate.com just had an article about the looming lawsuits that are coming to the real estate market because of low cost, inexperienced appraisers and sloppy comparative analysis.) I have had 11 appraisals since 1977 and I have always appreciated my appraisers, which came from major lenders and banks with no problems whatsoever. (unlike the majority of our country, my area is very high growth and stable.) I know 4 local real estate agents and every one of them told me to run away from aimloan.com.

I never, ever expected to choose my own appraiser. I simply requested that the Appraisal Management Company (AMC) choose from one of the thousands of appraisers in my own county or the county closest to me. I wanted an accurate appraisal. But they said no, which leads me to the conclusion that they had no intention of asking their appraisal mgmt. company to hire an appraiser in my county. They wanted to find an excuse to run up closing costs or raise my interest rate, so they deliberately chose an unqualified appraiser to mask that fact.
Aimloan.com tries to hide behind compliance of federal law, and they tell the unsuspecting that they have no control over their Appraisal Mgmt. company’s decision to hire the appraiser. But if the Appraisal Mgmt. company was asked by aimloan.com to simply choose an appraiser in my county… one who knows my market… that is in full compliance… and they know it.
Something rotten in Denmark….I think they are in bed together.

It boils down to good old-fashioned bait and switch when it comes to their advertised rates and fees. They just found a clever and potentially undetectable way to cheat people. And if you read the 83 nightmare Bettter Bus. Bureau complaints, they never own up to doing anything wrong. They blame everybody else for their mistakes.

I do intend to file a Better Bus. Bureau complaint after what they put us through and will put up a website warning other consumers to stay away from aimloan.com. I also intend to open up a case with the State of California Attorney General’s office and my state office.

Stay away from aimloan.com. DANGER!

I have a good income, a stellar credit rating, owe half of what my house is worth as found on Zillow, and was told I qualified for the BEST rate they had (rate was 3.35%, but APR was 3.5% after fees). Then this happened:

3/16/12 - Approved
4/17/12 - Lock Confirmation
4/15/12 - AIM Document Request
4/27/12 - Docs provided
4/27/12 - 2nd AIM doc request
5/1/12 - 3rd AIM doc request
5/4/12 - 4th AIM doc request
5/15/12 - 5th AIM doc request
5/22/12 - 6th AIM doc request
5/24/12 - AIM Final approval
5/31/12 - I sent an email expressing dissatisfaction and concern
6/5/12 – Closing at my house
6/6/12 - 7th AIM doc request (after closing!)
6/10/12 – Closing failed – too late!
6/25/12 - 8th AIM doc request
6/26/12 - 9th AIM doc request
6/27/12 – AIM now wanted an appraisal!
FIRED!

Live and learn, stay away from AIMLOAN.com. Now I have to start all over again and AIM hit my credit report – TWICE – during this process. Thankfully rates have not increased.

I refinanced my mortgage about two years ago with AimLoan and it was WONDERFUL!

I shopped around and found them on BankRate.com. I was very leery since it was all online and the costs seemed VERY competitive - almost too good to be true.

Other companies told me they would match AimLoan's GFE but I did not like the fact that they had not given me their best offer even though I told them I was shopping around and that is what I wanted. That to me is deceptive as it means they had better but lied to me at the onset.

AimLoan's final transaction, on the other hand, matched what they quoted me in the GFE as well as what I got in the original calculator.

I was so pleased with their service that I just recently refinanced with them again - same experience:

EXCELLENT!

DO NOT BELIEVE THE COMPLAINTS! Those are people that were probably not accurate in the information that they provided. Be honest and upfront from the beginning and AimLoan will give you accurate costs at the get-go.

I read all the complaints on this board before taking the risk of working with AIM and believe me, I was concerned. The reason I decided to give them a chance with our refi was because they matched the rate and closing costs from Amerisave which saved me $1, 200 right off the bat. I think it went smoothly because I warned them from day one that I had read a lot of ### about them and not to screw with me because I wasn't afraid to get on Complaintsboard.com. To be honest, the process couldn't have gone any smoother for us. We have credit scores over 800 and just wanted a simple refi from a 30 year down to a 10. We locked in at 3.375% and closed in 14 days. They never did an appraisal (maybe because we live in the middle of nothing in Vermont) which saved us $250 additional dollars. Other than providing them with the required documents, there was no effort on my behalf, just sit and wait. Their closing costs are high, but get them to match Amerisave who has rates almost as good as AIM. When you consider how much you're saving with the closing costs, it's worth it. I didn't use Amerisave because I didn't like their rate lock process. To summerize, I am happy I gave this company a chance to redeem themselves. The process to refi went very smoothly and quickly. I don't regret using them.

AimLoan.com is using the same APR for 4.50%, 4.625, 4.75 and 4.875% of 4.981% for 30 year fixed rates with no points and only $1995 in fees over the past 4 months. Check out the sunday papers in Dallas, Minneaplois, Chicago, Seattle, San Jose, Pittsburgh, Houston and other cities over the past 4 months since January, 2011. Very fishy to say the least. The http://BBB.com has a "revoked" for their status with an unpaid bill and lots of consumer complaints. Problems... Problems... Heres the link...

http://www.bbb.org/san...

I applied for a loan with Aimloan.com. They said I was approved based on the info I gave them. I just had to prove it which I did and then some. My credit score is excellent and my loan to value ratio is about 50%. I have never been late for any payments on any bills. I was denied a refinance loan. They said my DTI was too high. Their website states that there is no maximum requirement for DTI. Apparently they do not abide by their advertising. I wasted $325 for an appraisal of my home. They should have told me they were not going to approve my loan before they wasted my money on an appraisal. Also the guy that was the loan processor was worthless. It seemed like he just started the job and did not know what he was doing. I would fax him the info he asked for then ask me again for it. They may have low rates, but just try getting a loan with them. You would be better off dealing with a local bank so you have a someone in person to deal with.

Aimloan kept inventing hurdles when I tried to refinance through them, but luckily for me, so they said, they could help me out with their convenient (overpriced) solutions. I set about trying to refinance when the interest rates dropped. After being lured in by their low rates and paying $300 for the appraisal, they started finding "problems." Even though I have a credit score of over 800 and have paid an extra $60k in principal in the less than two years since I got my original loan, somehow they believed that lowering my monthly payments would make me too risky for their best rates. Then their "independent" appraiser said my house was worth $100, 000 less than the real bank appraisal that I'd gotten less than two years prior (this was all after the real estate bubble burst, btw). They ignored me when I pointed out that--even though my house was literally 40-60% bigger--the appraiser valued my house significantly less than his "comparables."

Their solution was something like this:

"No problem, we have a loan that's perfect for you: the interest rate is 0.5% higher, you have to pay an extra two points, and we'll need to use the mortgage to pay off your wife's student loan that you cosigned (which, at 2.25% and deferred until she would finish school 2.5 years later would be a raw deal for me), but we can help you out because we're so generous and accommodating."

No thanks.

I got the same interest rate that aimloan originally advertised by going through a local bank. Their appraiser showed my house to be worth $115k more than aimloan's crony, and I got everything taken care of with no problems.