We sought a conventional home loan and went with Union Bank as they offered the lowest interest rate and lowest origination fee. We have not had a loan with them before. We have excellent credit and could easily afford the loan. The trouble began at the very beginning. They could not get their online document signing system ( XXXX ) to work for us ( the system would not send us a text with our password ). We figured it would be ok to do the loan the old fashioned way and proceeded. Then, they requested that our credit be unlocked for 30 days. That seemed like an unreasonably long time, especially for someone who has been the victim of identity fraud, so we requested to be notified when our credit was pulled. No response from the lender. Shortly thereafter, we were requested to sign a form containing sensitive and personally identifying information. We obliged, but were requested to fill out and send the form a second time due to the form being " sent from the wrong email address ''. 

There were some other hiccups along the way, but we did the best we could to get them all the information they needed in a timely manner. Then the first bomb hit. Our escrow was not going to close on time. The reason? We hadn't filled out a form. Apparently we did get an email containing the form we were supposed to sign ( on XX/XX/XXXX ; closing scheduled for XX/XX/XXXX ), but it looked like documents we had seen before. In addition, the document was in duplicate, but the form we needed to sign was not duplicated and only at the end of the second document. Also, the email body only stated to review the document. I suppose we should have read both the original form and the duplicate form. Then we would have seen the form at the very end. But who is going to read the same form twice? Especially if it only needs to be " reviewed ''? So shame on us for not " reviewing '' the document well enough, but they never followed up asking were the form was. Only after we had passed the original escrow closing date did they ask for the form. 

The second bomb .... They tried to sneek in an additional {$200.00} on the final forms. All the forms they had sent us up to that point showed no points, as we requested. Only when we were with the notary and signing the final paperwork did we see the addition of {$200.00} for the purchase of 0.125 of a point. Yeah, its not that much money in context of the entire loan, but it was very dishonest. We had no warning, no explanation, no disclosure that we would be forced to buy points. Their explanation .... the 30 day rate lock had expired and we had to buy the points to keep the interest rate we were quoted. Why weren't we given options or at least notification prior to the points and charges appearing on our final documents? Upon my complaint, the loan originator said he sent a request to his manager to drop the fee. It was denied. 

The third bomb ... .. At the eleventh  hour, everything was signed and all we had to do was wire the money for the closing costs, and they would not accept the funds. Their reason ... .. the paperwork from the credit union hadn't been updated. This is absolutely absurd. We sent them everything they requested. I double checked what information was requested to be updated and the credit union info was not in that request, only the investment company info. When I inquired as to why the credit union documents hadn't been requested, he simply stated that the documents need to be within the last certain number of days for their system to accept it. I understood that, but again asked why the credit union documents weren't in the request. He stated that it was, pointing to the investment company info. I think he was confused because no matter how hard I tried to get him to understand that the credit union and the investment company were not the same ( they don't even have the same name! ), he couldn't seem to understand that. 

This was absolutely the worst loan experience we have ever had ( we've had 4, and 2 refi 's so our sample size is not 1 ). I would NEVER recommend Union Bank to anyone. In fact, I am closing all of my checking/savings accounts with them because it was so horrible.