Guaranteed Rate Affinity
Reviews and Complaints

This company is a f***ing clown show. They make so many changes to the rates, inspection fees, and extra fees. They forced us to go through a 10-day inspection process and then charged us double what it should have cost. And after we paid the extra money, they turned around and delayed the whole process. We weren't even allowed near the property after the initial walkthrough, probably because they had a lot to hide. We bought a remodeled house, but later found out that all the work done was half-assed and poorly done. The drainage was cut and rerouted, and it's all draining on top of the ground, which is 100% illegal. When they removed a load-bearing wall, they cut all the electrical in the attic and rerouted it to the closest power source they could find. The dishwasher, furnace, AC, and 21 outlets and lights are all running off of one circuit. None of the work was done with the required permits, and it's all 100% illegal. The plumbing throughout the house leaks, the electrical is unsafe and done incorrectly, and the drainage is all wrong. And to make matters worse, they can't provide me with any permits that were needed, and they claim they don't know who did the work for them. But in reality, they own another company that does the work for them, they just won't admit it. In short, this company cuts corners and does shoddy work just to hide important information from the buyer and sell at a high price. DO NOT USE THIS LENDER/AGENCY/SELLER/RENOVATION COMPANY. They have everyone in their back pockets and clearly have more money than their unfortunate buyers. YOU CAN'T WIN WITH THESE PEOPLE!

We are first time home buyers, and I have little good to say about our experience with GRA. At first things seemed great- ***, Vice *** Lending and her team had good communication and a check list that helped us manage the paperwork. We responded to everything she sent within 24 hours. After not hearing from her for weeks before our closing, everything seemed in order. Then, a week before our closing, *** realized she didn't read the calendar right and our rate would be expiring. Instead of acknowledging her mistake and moving things around on her end, she forced us to scramble to move up the closing date, hanging our rate over our heads. Because of this, I had to get a POA signed and shipped out before our town shut down due to an impending snowstorm, and I was unable to be present for closing on our first house. Then the day before closing, she sent us terse emails about needing additional paperwork. When we pushed back or if we failed to respond to her emails within 5 minutes (because we were busy with our jobs) we received phone calls. In each email or phone call, her tone was accusatory, confrontational, and unprofessional, despite the fact that the whole scramble was to do the incompetence of *** and her team. Finally, her supervisor got involved and straightened things out. However, we never received an apology or clear explanation from *** about what went wrong and how she treated us. I am relieved our loan is sold, and we don't have to work with GRA anymore. I will certainly be advising those I know to steer clear.

I worked with Debra and it was a nightmare after the first week. As with the others on here, there was one delay after another. When we questioned anything she acted as if we were incompetent. There were a few times she had me in tears! She was the expert (as they say) but we were pretty much on our own or had to get information from our realtor, who was fantastic. As if months of torture wasn't bad enough, on the day of closing (we had put all of our belongings in storage and was moved out) I was called by the title company (thank goodness for them) to see if we understood we had to come to the table with a $15,000.00 down payment. WHAT? We had sold our home and had $132,000 in equity. WHAT? This wasn't our first rodeo, this was our 3rd house to be sold as we bought another one. When questioned, Debra could only say, "Well, didn't you understand? I told you...". When you tell us that this is what is being put down, we naturally assumed it was coming from all of our equity. She never once stated, "You will need to bring a check for $15,000." Yes, we had signed papers daily (DAILY) online, so no, we didn't read everything word for word. We were expecting it to be explained to us in detail and thought it was. Lesson learned. Then she acted like we were being unreasonable. The only reason they did this, was because we own a business, and although they couldn't use that money for our credit even though it was in the bank. However, she saw that money in the bank. So, we can't count the $37,000 in our business account as being able to be used, but you can write us a check out of it. She demonstrated an incredible lack of respect and integrity. Very shady...

James *** at the Dublin, Ohio location was very attentive and available during the process as a first time homebuyer. There were some problems along the way as with any process, but james was always there to inform and remedy the situation. I would definitely recommend company and specifically Mr. for your homebuying needs.

Gave me a furlough due to being laid off for Covid-19, then turned around and reported a payment late during the same period to the credit agency. Their phone system says that due to Covid their call volume is high. You listed to 10 minutes of their operator and then it hangs up on you. Not due to technical glitch, but because that's how they designed it. Horrible.

Guaranteed Rate Affinity on Iroquois Ave in Naperville IL was fantastic to work with on the loan for the purchase of our new home. We are so grateful to have had them during this home buying process. They were professional and extremely attentive to all our questions. Jon ***, Drew *** and Sharon *** are at the top of their game! We would highly recommend them for their outstanding service and on top of that - they have great rates!

I had the best, smoothest experience with my original home loan from Guaranteed Rate as well as my recent refinance. Lori is phenomenal. As a new homeowner with minimal knowledge, she sat down with me and patiently explained the process and what to expect. She was also gracious in responding to my endless questions at all times of day! I feel so blessed to have had such an anxiety-free experience both times and I would highly recommend this company to anyone seeking a mortgage lender.

In 20 years, I have never dealt with such a terrible lender. It was one delay after another and after several extensions to the contract, we did not close. No communication at all. When we asked for an update, Jon Smith, VP of Mortgage Lending, Team Lead, said "I don't know how else to say it, we will let you know" which he never did. I will never do business with them again! The buyer moved out of her apartment and was living in a hotel with her belongings in storage and the seller was out for several months ...only to start over with a new buyer.

I had a great experience with this company in Colorado Springs. Lori and her team handled my refinance, and it was easier this time around than when I first bought my house using a different finance company. Almost everything was completed online, streamlining the process for me and making closing easier since I was out of state at the time. Lori and her team answered all of my questions, worked quickly and efficiently to get me to closing, and were amiable. Having been through this process before, last minute document needs are expected, but I didn't have any issues providing those documents, and the whole process was easy. I highly recommend Lori Bautista and her team at GRA in Colorado Springs.

We had a fantastic experience with Guaranteed Rate Affinity throughout the home buying process. The representative we worked with (Lori), was exceptionally well informed and proactive. She communicated closely with us through every step of the process and seemed to genuinely care about helping our family. The on-line experience was simple and intuitive and Lori and her team did a great job making sure we had all the correct documentation to close on time. We've purchased multiple homes and this was the best all around experience we've had to date -- from customer service to ease of process. I've seen some comments about payment processing issues. Unfortunately, I can't speak to that -- we closed on our house about three weeks ago, so we haven't started making payments, yet.

James, Elizabeth, Candace - James is in Delaware but I believe Elizabeth and Candace are in Maryland. BEST EXPERIENCE EVER. My husband is a retired Army Vet and we were looking for our dream house. After shopping a few lenders, James stayed consistent (without being pushy) and truly cared about us and our experience. There are so few times in my life where we've experienced such high caliber customer service--and this is definitely among the top. Each one of these professionals worked tirelessly to close our loan, get us the best rate, and the follow up and collective knowledge was nothing less than superb. We are forever grateful to these professionals and their hard work and dedication to clients. Although my husband and I will not be in the market again anytime soon, we will be recommending this team to ANYONE who will listen!

I'm glad other people had a good time with their mortgage person. Mine wasn't very communicative. At the beginning of this process, I was approved with my income and my credit was fine. Gave her all the documentation she needed. She said I'll get approved for XXXXXX amount with XXXX for taxes and gave me the go head to start looking and even gave me a realtor to work with. Found a house. Put my deposit down. Went through the process of hiring an inspector for both home and septic inspections. All we were waiting for was the Appraiser. Then I get the news that all of a sudden the information that my mortgage person was putting in wasn't good enough. Needed to know about my 401k and retirement etc. Therefore saying that I wasn't getting approved? All of this time and she didn't bother to say anything until I messaged her myself. Long story short, all the money that was put into inspecting the house was spent for nothing. I didn't get the house due to "changes" to the loan program I was part of (I double checked with the state...the requirements didn't change). She either doesn't know what the hell she's doing or knew that she messed up but wanted to cover her tracks. FYI this my first home...or well...WAS my first home

I am in a dispute resolution process on my credit card account for the amount of $685.00 paid to Guaranteed Rate Affinity on 7.29.20. This was requested by a predatory lender for an appraisal and application fee on a loan application that had not been processed and an appraisal that should not have been done at the time of the loan process. It was rushed to be done so that I would have to pay out the $685.00. We were just at the Purchase Offer stage, in which I had 15 days to get an inspection done on the property with a right of rescission. And it was at the beginning of this stage that I received this invoice asking for $685.00 for an appraisal and application fee from Kelly *** the lender I was working with at Guaranteed Rate in Naples Florida. I asked why I should pay for this up front, she said it was pay at closing but, in reality she had me pay it upfront. Here are some warning signs that are usually experienced by victims of loan scams: Upfront Fees — The lender might disguise these as application fees or document fees or some other name, but they all mean: “Send me some money before I perform any service.” Think about this: You are being asked to send money in order to be loaned money. That’s a scam. Legitimate lenders must disclose all their fees. Typically, they are rolled into the cost of the loan, not paid for in advance. This is when she just ignored my question as to why I am paying it now, but she did say it was part of the closing cost. The "$150 is the app fee" and "then the rest", which is $535.00, " will be paid at closing". When I asked again why I should be paying it now by asking "okay so, I am paying this at closing and should ignore this invoice?", she just ignored me. During the time of the inspection I noticed the AC on the property had a major leak. The inspector asked the Seller to fix the AC. I went back two other times to this property and the AC was not fixed properly. It was during this 15 day period that I informed Kelly *** (loan officer @ Guaranteed Rate) about the problem with the AC and there is a great probability that I will not buy this home. I asked her to hold off on the appraisal on August 4 @ 5:54 PM. She said the appraisal was ordered already and not sure if they went out yet. My loan was not even finalized yet! Again, we are in the 15 day right of rescission. I later now know that the order for an appraiser does not go out till a week or two before the closing date. She collect the costs on 7.29.20 and the closing wasn't till 9.11.2020 Since I have gone through a legitimate loan process after recently purchasing a home I understand the correct way of how things are done. Appraisal costs are not due till the closing. It is part of the closing cost ( as Kelly herself has stated in the above email). The lender does not order an appraisal till the purchase offer is final. I find that this Lender Kelly *** to be predatory because she also had me put $20,000.00 in escrow during the Purchase offer which I found out is extremely high. I only put down 3,000.00 on the home I just bought to give you a comparison. So, in asking for an appraisal fee and application fee for $685.00 and having me put $20,000.00 in escrow, all before I had a chance to inspect the property seems that Kelly was trying to lock me in a home I wasn’t sure I wanted or was worth me buying. To sum up, this really should not have happened at this stage. A loan officer or lender does not order an appraiser during the purchase offer stage. I had a grace period of 15 days to look over the property and make a decision to go forward or not. Kelly tried to lock me into a loan by having me put down costs and unreasonable amounts of money before my right to rescission period ended. Appraisal costs application fee $685.00 are collected at closing not up front. And $20,000.00 in escrow is just unheard of! I didn’t know what I was doing and she took advantage of that.

I began my loan process with a financial institution in April 2022. I was pre-approved for around 400k after weeks of searching for a home and making several offers. Eventually, an offer was accepted, and we entered into a contract on May 2 with a closing date of June 8. I complied with all requests during the process. The home required certain repairs due to the nature of the FHA loan. The lender's team diligently worked on my file, although the closing date was postponed multiple times. I assumed these delays were standard, not realizing the contract needed an extension. Communication gaps occurred, yet I believed it was part of the process. On June 15, I received a conditional approval, pending some additional documents. The closing was rescheduled for July 18. Unexpectedly, on July 11, my credit was rechecked, and by July 12, I was informed of a loan denial due to my debt-to-income ratio, which had been consistent since April. My credit score had improved above 700 in this time. Now, the seller is withholding my earnest money, and I'm striving to recover my funds. This situation is disheartening as I feel misled by real estate professionals. My goal was to relocate before the new school year for my daughters' sake. I'm seeking guidance on how to proceed and have ample evidence to support my claims. Unaware of the need to extend the contract, I only learned of the denial on July 12.