Quicken Loans
Reviews and Complaints

Consumers beware! Get everything in writing before giving your deposit.

I dealt with a certain loan officer who took my $500 deposit after lying to me about key details and leaving out valuable information/burying points into to the cost of the loan and saying "closing costs are standard and non-negotiable" when I questioned him again about the high closing costs he finally came clean because we were closing the next day and figured it was too late to do anything but it is never too late.

I then cancelled the loan because I don't do business with dishonest people. I was told by the loan officer on our initial phone conversation that my deposit would be returned "if anything happened" and after I put down the $500 (Double checking again it would be returned if something happened) shortly there after I received paperwork stating different.

After arguing back & forth via e-mail he apparently forwarded my complaint to his director. His director contacted me to see if there was anything he could do to give quicken another chance - even offering to extend the rate lock and lower my rate another 1/4% because he was worried his loan officer lied/omitted details and was very concerned about quickens reputation (Not concerned enough to do the right thing and return my deposit though) and he should be because it only takes a few bad experiences and negative word of mouth costs them potential customers.

After not receiving my deposit back and trying to get them to the right thing I gave up and went with sure point and you know what... I got a better rate and way lower closing costs because the gentleman there was honest about everything.

Sets up loan packs supposedly takes an application fee then when the numbers get tight because no one is giving fair appraisals any longer they don't return calls or emails. They stall giving the consumers the facts as they learn them which puts the borrower behind the curtain of truth. Was tole before Christmas the appraisal came back lower but would still be Okay. 2 weeks later almost still being told I would close first week of the year but all along lender knew it would not happen without additional funds from me but waited until almost three weeks after getting appraisal to put the numbers to me then could not give me the rate. Also found out from a different lender the real truth is in my situation the FHA will not even write a loan package with what they 'Claim' would get it done due to new guidelines that took effect 1/1/09. Lied all along to me but dragged it out to prejudice my options and try and act like it was progressing normally. RIPOFF from the get go! NOT ONE WORD OF TRUTH FROM 12/23/08-1/05/09.

I was contacted by these people after filling out a request for loan information on lending tree. I was trying to refinance my 10/1 ARM which is around 190K. I have 5 years left before the rate could possibly go up but since rates are low now, I figured it was a good time to get out of the ARM.

Anyway, I had a hard time getting any information out of these people and they wanted me to give them my credit card for a good faith deposit of $750 which I would get back at closing. I did not want to give my Credit card to them and they would not give me any firm information without it. I did manage to find out that the rate was 4.99 fixed but that it was going to cost me 1 point for origination fees and 1 point for Fannie Mae fees and then they had some other charges including the usual legal fees and home appraisal etc. The longer I talked to this character on the phone, the more I was finding out that I didn't trust the guy. When I was finished writing down everything he told me on the phone it added up to nearly 7K to refinance my mortgage.

Then I did some investigating. I called the bank where I got my last mortgage (The 10/1 ARM) and got a fixed rate 1/4 point lower (4.75) on the same loan amount with 1 point and they waved several of the fees because I am a repeat customer and my daughter is in the process of getting her 1st mortgage with them. The Quicken Loans 1 point Fannie Mae fee is nonsense. It is only charged if you are cashing out and if your credit score is over 720 (which mine is) then the actual fannie mae fee is only .25 points not 1 point.

These Quicken loan people are fast talking and try to suck you in by having you pay this "Good Faith" deposit. In fact, you will be the only one acting in "Good Faith" and based on what I have read, you will never see your "Good Faith" deposit again whether you get the loan or not. After deciding NOT to use Quicken Loans, they called me and e-mailed me continually for the next several days trying to tell me that I was going to get stuck in my home and the value was going to go down and my mortgage was going to go up $600 per month and blah blah. Eventually, the guy pretty much told me I was stupid for not dealing with them. But then I told him that his Fannie Mae fee was BS and that I was going to report them for fraud and I have not heard from them since.

Take it from someone who has had 5 mortgages, 2 refinances and several construction loans since buying their fist home in 1982. These people are snake-oil salesman. Go to your local bank and ask the mortgage officer for information on locally available programs and stay away from these guys. Shame on Lending Tree for recommending such people.

This company is pure corporate greed. Stay away from them. Take my warning and go to another mortgage lender. Other mortgage lenders will have lower closing costs and can get a better rate. Trust me and call a local mortgage company or bank that you trust. Do not give Quicken Loans your credit card information because you never see your $500 again.
If you want a taste of the "smooth" talking sales people that I am talking about, then call Quicken Loans and ask for Jim Chepes. Really you can talk to anyone there because they are all from the same mold of sleezy liars. Unfortunately the mold didn't break yet. Hopefully the government or some fair business investigation will find that this company is the low of the low.
I hope to save at least one person's $500 since I lost mine.

We received a good faith estimate from Quicken loans promising a 4.99 % rate on a 15 year loan. We were asked to put up 500 which would be applied to closing costs and would subsequently be refunded if the loan did not go through.

However, yesterday we were told the company would not honor the 4.99% 15 year mortgage term. Jim Duffy called and asked how our Christmas shopping was going. We told him that we had not been doing any shopping this year. Next, he told us that they would not honor the good faith estimate provided and told us that the loan terms were going to change. I advised Mr. Duffy that this was not was provided in writing to us. I told him he had lost our business and asked that he refund our money as was promised before. We were told that they would not provide a refund. We advised them that we would get an attorney and would pursue this in court, because this was not what the company promised.

I recently had a loan with Lehman Bros that was purchased by OCWEN, Quicken loans called to say that the institution wanted to do a refinance at better terms than my original loan and that I would not have to pay quicken anything to do this. As always I asked why and the officer stated that if the terms were better the a default would be less likely and the lendor was willing to pay all of the fees. I did the refi but not only did the amounts not match, quicken wrapped there fees into the lower payoff amount and then the previous mortgage company 1099 me as income for the difference. Now I owe taxes as income on an amount I did not have the benefit of using. It will take me two years to breakeven on the taxes paid to offset the lower payment given.

In my dealings with Quicken Loans here's what I've concluded is the major problem: They do not offer to send you a Good Faith Estimate that includes the loan amount, term, rate and the closing costs BEFORE they ask you to provide the $500 deposit to start the loan. What appears to happen then is the old bait and switch. Meaning, the consumer pays the $500 then, later in the process, the consumer receives loan paperwork with loan info or closing costs different than what was originaly quoted. And guess what, if the customer then decides to cancel, Quicken Loans keeps your deposit. THEREFORE, DO NOT PAY ANY DEPOSIT UNTIL THEY SEND YOU A GOOD FAITH ESTIMATE. However, this only offers some protection because if the costs or loan info comes out different after you've paid the deposit, the Quicken Loans deposit refund policy don't state that that the deposit will be refunded in these cases.

Anyway, below is a letter I wrote to the president of Quicken Loans and his executive team about my dealing with them. At the end of the letter, I've provided the email addresses of the Quicken Loans executive team.

QuickenLoans Executive Team,

While I appreciated the call from your Corporate office yesterday to respond to my e-mail complaint of 1/8, I'm still very concerned about Quicken Loans' lending practices. If your company listens to the recording of my conversation with your representative, you'll confirm the following:

1) The representative told me that there was no way to find out what were the best rates offered without pulling my credit reports. Because I didn't want a needless credit inquiry on my credit report (which lowers my score) I asked him if there was a way to simply tell me what would be the best rate offered by Quicken Loans with someone with good credit. (Other mortgage companies I've shopped were able to do this - of course with the understanding that the rate may be sightly different once they ran the credit, if I decided to go forward). The representative said this was not possible because the computer generates the rates once the credit score is populated. Based on my experience and my point #2 below, I don't believe this. Needless to say, I now have a wasted credit inquiry on my credit report to receive a rate that I would not have chosen had I known it up-front. Which leads to the next point.

2) The representative quoted me an incorrect rate. For a 30 year fixed, he quoted me the 0 point rate and a rate of 4.375% with 1 point. (The next day when Quicken Loans Corporate checked in response to my complaint, that rate did not exist - the rate was in fact 4.375% with 2 points.) On the call with the representative, I entered the 1 point rate into an Excel spreadsheet and I read him back the calculated results of what the point would be and the resulting loan balance (which included the point). The representative agreed with my calculation. I also discussed with him the comparison of the 1 point cost to 0 point option as it relates to the No Cost Refinance option. Therefore, if he had incorrectly given me the wrong point information, he had multiple times during the conversation to realize his mistake. Also, I asked him to send me an e-mail with the rates he quoted me, and he did, however, he only included the 0 pt rate - not the 1 point rate. Therefore, because he didn't include this rate in his e-mail, this strengthens my conclusion that the Quicken Loans representative purposely quoted me a lower rate to get me to "commit, " and this commitment had to be in the form of the non-refundable $500 deposit. Which leads to the next point.

3) Both the representative and his supervisor told me that the $500 Good Faith Deposit was non-refundable under any circumstances. (When you listen to the phone recording, you'll hear the supervisor telling me this.) Of course this information is incorrect. So, had I acted on the incorrect rate information the representative gave me, and paid the $500 non-refundable fee, I would have been surprised when I eventually (this is the operative word) received the loan paperwork showing a 4.375% loan with 2 points - versus 1 pt. Once I would have seen this error, I would have, of course, asked to cancel the deal, and then I would have been informed that I would not be able to get my deposit back. This scenario seems to match other scenarios that have been reported on the Internet by other dissatisfied Quicken Laons customers. If Quicken Loans followed a process where the customer was able to receive and review a document containing the quoted rate plus all closing costs, many of your bad customer experiences would be eliminated. Which leads me to my last point.

4) I was not able to get properly documented loan and closing cost information before being asked to pay the non-refundable deposit. When I asked the representative to send me information on what he had communicated to me, he stated that he didn't want to spend time putting together information unless I was "committed" to the loan. (With commitment being paying the $500 deposit.) In fact, I was later informed by Quicken Loans that they were "passing on my business" due to me asking for additional information. This is counter to proper industry practices. Prospective borrowers should, per RESPA, receive a Good Faith Estimate (GFE) that details the loan and closing cost information before they commit to entering a loan. Yesterday, Quicken Loans Corporate stated that the Quicken Loans process does include sending a customer the GFE before asking for the deposit. However, in the "Seven Step Process" on the QuickenLoans website, there is absolutely no mention of the consumer receiving documentation of the loan information or closing costs before the application process starts. (Please see Attachment A at the end of this e-mail for my suggested changes to the Quicken Loans website and practice.) Therefore, if the official, documented process doesn't include this step, how are the front-line representatives expected to follow this process with customers? (Additionally, I saw a post on the Internet where a Quicken Loans employee complained that they had to prepare GFEs after hours. If this is the case, it appears then that representatives do not have the ability to send a customer a GFE while they are on the line with a customer for the first time?)

In sum, as you'll see from my points above, there are a litany of mistakes and erroneous practices uncovered in just one phone call with Quicken Loans. This could be indicative of poor training, or it could be a result of a corporate management style that emphasizes volume and revenue over accuracy and customer consideration. Regarding the latter, it was unscrupulous mortgage banking and lending practices that caused many of the financial problems this nation is currently facing, and sadly, it appears that companies in the mortgage industry remain more focused on their bottomline than ensuring that the same mistakes are not made again.

Be very careful if you're looking to refinance with Quicken Loans. I was connected to them through Lending Tree. I had obtained a quote which is supposed to be free. Next thing I know, they send me loan documents and harrass me every day with calls and

E-mails up to 6-7 times per day for almost 2 weeks, saying they want to lock my rate in, move forward with the loan and such. And then they bill me!

FOR WHAT? I had signed no papers and we had no agreements because the documents they wanted me to sign was "A LOT" different than what we had discussed on the phone. Also, don't give them your credit card info. They try to get your credit card info in advance so the process goes "quickly" forward after the inspection on the house is done, etc. But, you'll be "quickly" charged for services you didn't recieve.

I seriously can't believe this company is still in business. They rip off their customers, make employees work like slaves, and kick all of the fraudulent activity under the rug. Dan, Jay, Bill, and every other executive for this company have cheated thousands of people and employees. Why aren't they in jail? If this ever gets the attention it deserves, and all of the fraudulent activity is uncovered, they will go to prison for a long time. It's truly amazing that they have dodged a bullet for this long. It wouldn't surprise me to hear someday that Dan paid off someone so he wouldn't go to jail... Probably the same way he didn't go to jail for operating a gambling ring in college. I wonder how he managed to buy the Cavaliers with his criminal gambling background?

My wife had filled out on line that we were looking to refinance and consolidate, which quicken loans responded to.in her conversation with gregg scott on 9/11/08 he had talked her into a loan, that did not fit our needs, and had her put an adavce fee down of $350.00 to secure the loan interest rate at that time. Now here in lies the problem. A: my wife used my credit card to do so, without my knowledge. B: at no time did scott gregg say this was non_refundable, something my wife would have come to me at that time for my input. C: papers were filled out by quicken loans on my behalf, without my consent d: after I became involved I talked to scott gregg and told him that I didn't feel the loan was in our best interest and notified by e-mail and voice mail. E: scott gregg left me to believe that I could get my monies back and referred me to nick in customer service, at which time nick told me I wasn't going to get my money back.
Now I am asking you, to do what you can to prevent this from happing to other people in the future, and am wondering if I have any other recourse.
Thanks for your time

I am a current employee at Quicken Loans. Just to give you a quick background, I was born and raised in Arizona and have spent most of my life in sales, mostly automotive. I have been at Quicken Loans for just over a year and can honestly say its the worst job I have ever had. I can honestly say that this is a company that is owned, ran, and managed by crooks. Before I get to our illegal daily practices and crooked ownership, I want to start with some of the common practices of the 2 managers that run the call center that I work at in Arizona. Their names are TIM BIRKMEIER and MATT STOFFER. Just to start, these are 2 of the most fowl mouthed managers that I have ever worked for in my entire life. Whether its comments derogatory towards woman or racists jokes aimed towards his panics and african-american clients, there actions and speech are appalling.

I can't speak for all of the Quicken Loan call centers, but I do know what goes on in this Arizona sweat shop. TIM and MATT work their 150+ loan officers at our site about 60-75 hours per week, and the company does NOT pay overtime, but that labor is mandatory to keep your job. I have copies of schedules that show 10-12 days, 6 days a week. Although they do have the Fair Labor Act poster hung in 3 different spots at the site, I think someone has forgotten to read them thoroughly. But its not as if they hide it, MATT and TIM are quite open about the fact that they want you at work from 8-8 and to work through your lunch hour.

Not only does TIM and MATT screw their employees, but we are also trained to screw our customers. BEWARE, if you are a customer or soon to be a customer of Quicken Loans, please double think your decision. I will be the first to admit that I don't have alot of mortgage experience, but what we are trained to do, I know is wrong. Besides our base salary that we are paid, we are also paid on premium of the loans we sell, (which is how high we can jack up the customers rate, how much extra money in points we can charge them as well, and if we can convince them to take an adjustable mortgage instead of a fixed). So the higher the rate and fees we give the customer, the more we get paid. How are we trained to do that you ask? TIM and MATT put it by saying 'find the low-level clients that you can make your money off of'. They have never said it in whole site meetings, but in smaller team meetings I have heard both MATT and TIM say things like, 'If your dealing with a redneck from the country or a '*bleep*' from the city, you need to make sure their rates and fees are much higher, thats where you make your money. But if its an educated, rich '*bleep*' from the suburbs, we may not be able to make as much money off the loan. (The two bleeps were racial slurs often used at the office at Quicken Loans). Isn't that why the mortgage industry is so screwed up? How can 100 different people with the same loan, same assets, and same credit score, be given 100 different rates and fee structures. Also, on the loans that we do give the borrowers much higher fees and rates and adjustable, MATT and TIM make sure that we don't fill in the race/ethnicity section at the end of the application, so it doesn't look like we are over charging or screwing one race or class of people vs another. Which in fact is exactly what we are trained to do.

Also, Quicken Loans makes money off of what we call our 'Good Faith Deposit'. It is a non-refundable $500 charge to your credit card that is used to make sure the client is serious about doing business. This is a complete scam. We are trained, even if their is no loan that we can do, the customer doesn't own a house, or they call us up for a loan we don't provide, we take $500, period. Thats where most of the money and profit of the company comes from. I stopped taking deposits shortly after I knew what I was doing, but then was quickly reprimanded by TIM and MATT, and my job shortly threatened thereafter if I didn't continue the deposit process. We are trained to lie and promise customers anything to earn there business. We are told to tell the customers that we will do a free loan for them next time they use us, even thought we may be charging them $10, 000 to do the loan now. Plus another $10, 000 to do the loan the second time, because we can't do free loans. It's all a flat out lie, and a flat out scam!

But despite all this, Quicken Loans was voted the number 2 place to work by Fortune Magazine, in all of the USA... how? I have to call CNN, which I believe owns Fortune Magazina and find out. Maybe its because its owned by Dan Gilbert, and his Michagen State cronies. This is a man that was arrested for illegal gambling and stealing peoples money, but yet he owns the 15th biggest mortgage company in the USA... Go Figure. Maybe its because the entire upper management of the company consists of Michigen State alumni, and old college buddies. Maybe its because they will only hire employees that this would be their first job, and have had no previous employment. It's easier to run a sweat shop when your just out of high school and or college and don't know any better. For all these people know, 75 hours is normal to them.

And last but not least, you probably guessed it. How many jobs do you think TIM and MATT had before joining Quicken Loans? You guessed it, a combined total of NONE. Oh well, next time I hear one of them get of the phone, I always picture them saying 'Would you like fries with that mortgage'?

They tell you your 350 is allowed to be refunded in full but keep it. I was approved I had given then a signed purchase agreement with no seller concessions. but when it came time to close they wanted 3300 more to close they told me to talk to realtor 10 days after original loan was to close and told me to have the house marked up 5000 more and I could close. Stay away unless you want to jump through fire hoops. I will recommend or tell anyone to use quicken loans because they gave realtor an loan approval letter stating my loan was as good as gold now I’m out 350. They don’t answer calls or return phone calls and keep you at stage 3.

I am an employee of quicken loans and let me tell you, all the people reading this across the country, some things that you need to know. First and foremost, quicken loans fees are much higher than any other lender. Why? Because the company wants to make money, period. they tell us employees to tell the clients some ### about "you’re paying for first class service, we are the best, blah blah blah" when it comes down to it, they just work us likes dogs there and then have "training " to try to 'sell' the client and get the deal. Its a shady company.

Do not use this company. We were only trying to find out rates and cost, when we found out what their rates were we decided not to use them (too high). We told the sales person that we were not interested and he has proceeded to call us everyday 2-3 times a day. Quicken Loan has made 21 calls in 10 days to our phone. We have caller id and we know it is him so we do not answer. We have since filed a complaint on the "Do Not Call Registry". Hopefully they will find this company and they will stop the calls.