Reviews (1)

From the beginning, I had an extremely difficult time getting estimates from our banker. We were first-time home buyers looking for a house - I needed to know what we could realistically afford. I had to ask for a standard breakdown of ALL closing costs (what all costs are included, not dollar amounts), if it included the earnest money, and even had to list out "what would a standard mortgage payment would be for - $170k, 180k, 190k, 200k, 210k, 220k, 230k" because I was not being given any dollar amounts. After the pointed question, I got an acceptable answer.

We want to put an offer on a house! We have the address. I ask for an estimated mortgage payment amount. The paraphrased conversation is as follows:

"Do you have a home insurance quote?"

No, obviously not. We haven't put an offer in on the house.

"If you can get a home insurance quote..."

Not going to happen, we haven't even put an offer in on the house.

"I really need the home insurance to give you an accurate quote..."

I DONT NEED A QUOTE. YES, insurance varies from city to city. YES, it varies on if it's in a floodplain or not. I'm aware of all of this, I HAVE done my own research, believe it or not. I want an estimate. Use the average in Texas. Use a number higher than the average in Texas. I really, really don't care, I just need a ballpark amount to see if we can afford this house.

"But taxes..."

You also have access to look up tax records. So do I. But this is your job, not mine, and I'm not going to do your job for you.

At this point, I'm irritated. I'm being asked to get quotes on home insurance and put an offer in on this house without being given an ESTIMATE, an IDEA of what my mortgage may look like. I was ready to walk away and find a new lender. I know our banker wanted to give us the most accurate information possible and I highly believe this is a result of Quicken Loans training, but these expectations are entirely unrealistic. Keep in mind this is still BEFORE we put an offer in on the house!

Our banker was good at fixing things when I put my foot down and clearly laid out my expectations as a consumer and what I expected of him, making it clear that I don't play games, I'm not a pushover, and I'm not afraid to switch companies because this was not as easy as I was told by a family member who also used Quicken Loans. For an online company, communication is the most vital part of the entire process, and it's what this company is severely lacking the most.

But we love the house, so we put an offer in and keep working with Quicken Loans. We are now in our 10-day option period. Phone call after phone call, I request text or email because I also have a job to do, and I'm not ceasing what I'm doing to make your workday easier or a little more convenient, and to talk through something that I can read for myself. Send it in a text or email, and I'm more likely to respond HOURS faster! So our banker did.

Then I get Grace. Grace doesn't make it clear that we will still be working with Joe - I like Joe. I may have to pull information out of him piece by piece, but I trust that he's honestly just trying to do his best. But he's a banker, not a communications person, so I also understand that.

Friday, 5 p.m., I get a text from my realtor who is on vacation that an appraisal has been ordered for our home. DURING our option period, BEFORE our home inspection, TOMORROW (a Saturday). We were notified by the other realtor because that is completely unusual. I look at my emails - no notification from Quicken Loans. But see, I'm still at work. So I have to wait to call an associate realtor that is in the office. He tells me to get a hold of someone and have them cancel it because it was our LENDER that ordered it (first time home buyers - I wasn't sure who ordered it). So I try to get a hold of Grace. No answer. I call Joe's work phone - no answer. So I call Joe, on his cell, at home, and he has to get online and cancel the order.

1. It was an "automated order." To the Quicken Loans Software Team: Cancel that automation crap RIGHT NOW. I was so livid - that is essentially "my money" that you're spending by ordering an appraisal that we don't even know that we WANT yet because we haven't had the house inspected! If we were to back out of that contract and you ordered an appraisal without my approval or consent, you best believe I would not be paying for that.

2. I got a response from someone "on behalf of Grace." Excuse me? No. That is the worst kind of customer service - basically "Grace doesn't want to deal with this, so I'm responding to you instead." Honestly, with that kind of service, I'm surprised anyone thinks this is an "easy process" unless they want to be completely hands-off the entire thing - which I am not that kind of person.

3. I demanded that any decisions that would cost the buyer money be communicated to us for our approval first.

The next day, my husband gets a call from customer service because he got onto our account and rated our experience so far as low as he could. He doesn't rate anything or give bad feedback EVER, so I was shocked when I found out that he was mad and frustrated for me (since he works in a classified area and is unable to handle the daily tedious tasks and communications). Talking to that rep, she said she bought her house through Quicken and she had the same communications issue. Cool - so it's a training problem. Management - take note. Your customer service training program for bankers (numbers people, not comms people, so this needs to be intensive and continuous) and loan specialists (I have no excuse for them) is AWFUL.

Then Grace was replaced by Sasha. I made it clear that email and text are the best and only ways to communicate with me effectively (by now, that's so I can keep a written record of all communications). Sasha was great. I relayed to Joe when we were ready for our appraisal and asked for notification of when it was scheduled.

I didn't get that notification.

I relayed frustration to Sasha that I was not getting communicated to the level that I expected and was highly frustrated. FINALLY - Sasha turned off ALL automation so that she would personally email me updating me on various events.

Does that take more company time?

You betcha.

Does that make the customer feel that people are actually looking at and taking care of the loan process instead of letting "automation" do all the work for them?

Absolutely.

Communication between Quicken and our realtor was also poor. She noticed they were great in the beginning and then stopped sending her the information that was being uploaded into our account.

From then on, it was smooth sailing. But of course, from then on, there was nothing left to do except to close. I feel that I kicked and screamed my way through this entire process to get people to READ notes, to do due diligence, and even do their JOB. Just because it's an online company does not mean customers want to be hands-off. It means I don't have the time or ability to visit a brick-and-mortar building and expected a higher quality of communication.

Will I use Quicken Loans again?

Only if every single rep communicates with others assigned to the account of my communication preferences, expectations, and turns off the DANG AUTOMATION. So, probably not.