Consumer complaint received 2015-07-01
Product: Mortgage — Conventional fixed mortgage
Issue: Application, originator, mortgage broker — 
Company: ASPIRE FINANCIAL INC. (TX)

XX/XX/2015This statement concerns my dealings with XXXX. They are located at XXXX XXXX XXXX. in XXXX, Texas. My first contact with them was prior to XXXX XXXX, 2015. I base this on an email that I received from one of their Mortgage Counselors asking me for copies of my current mortgage statements. The email was sent to me by a XXXX XXXX XXXX on XXXX XXXX. 
When I first met with XXXX XXXX I was left with the feeling that he really had no idea what he was doing which made me rather uncomfortable. I stressed to him the importance of having this refinance done and completed before XXXX XXXX, 2015. He assured me that it would be done without any problem. As you will see, if they had gone with a VA loan that I inquired about at a later point. Meeting this deadline would not have been a problem. 
Over the next several weeks, I became acutely aware of the fact that XXXX XXXX did not have the experience or knowledge to be able to handle my application. At one point he ended up asking for help from a Senior Consultant, a XXXX XXXX XXXX. Unfortunately, all this did was make me even more uncomfortable than I already was. I ended up wishing that I had immediately bailed out and taken my business with me. I would eventually realize that doing any business what so ever with XXXX was a huge mistake in judgment on my part. 
I could never get either one of them to give me a straight answer about anything. I told XXXX XXXX numerous times that the Refi. needed to be done before XXXX XXXX, and why it was so important. I have text messages from XXXX XXXX as far back as XXXX XXXX assuring me that he was well aware of the urgency, and that it should not be a problem. 
On XXXX XXXX, I got an email from XXXX XXXX where I could electronically sign some documents and send them back to him, which I immediately did. On XXXX XXXX, I sent him a text that I had just received the GFE ( Good Faith Estimate ). 
XX/XX/XXXX I hand delivered a document that their processing dept. had requested. This ( The GFE ) turned out to be the very last thing that I would receive from him in the way of documentation that a loan was being processed. While I was in the office, XXXX XXXX came out to meet me. We started talking about the appraisal, and he said something that caught me off guard. He said, " XXXX, I am not supposed to tell the appraiser how much we need for the appraisal to be so that you will have a 20 % equity in the house. But that does not mean that you can not tell him because technically he works for you since you are the one paying for it. '' It may not be illegal for him to tell me this but it sure seems like it is unethical. I ended up paying {$500.00} for an appraisal that I was never able to make use of. As you will see, I never even got a copy of it. 
Over the next month and a half, all I got from him was excuse after excuse after excuse as to why no progress was being made. At one point, the loan amounts had to be changed, ( Because of the appraisal ) so within three days I started asking for the new GFE. I must have asked at least a dozen times. I NEVER got one. I have a text dated XXXX XXXX asking when I could expect a new and updated GFE. The loan amounts may have changed but his excuses did not. 
At XXXX point, I was told by someone in the processing department that customers like my wife and I were the kind of customers that everyone looks for. Both of our credit scores were above XXXX. We had absolutely no credit card debt whatsoever. Our debt to income ratio was less than 30 %. We both had long employment histories with the same companies. My wife alone had a yearly income above $ XXXX per year. Get the picture? So I was having a difficult time trying to understand why things were not moving any faster. The only thing I ever heard XXXX XXXX say to me was " I 'm just trying to get you the best deal I can. ''