USAA review: horrible mortgage servicing 61

Worst...mortgage lender...EVER! My wife and I have been USAA insurance customers for almost 20 years without a single complaint...their customer service has always been excellent. When we decided a couple months ago to refinance our original VA loan, we looked no further than USAA because of our many years of past experience with them. 45 days into the loan process, we only now realize how big of a mistake we made by selecting them for our mortgage business. There is a HUGE disparity in the quality of their insurance services and that of their mortgage services! The loan processor assigned to us was the most incompetent, lazy, and lease knowledgeable financial services professional with whom I have ever dealt. He never answers his phone, never returns messages left in his voicemail, doesn't respond to repeated E-Mail inquiries regarding the status of our loan...and when we finally contacted a "supervisor", she was quick to promise prompt action but dragged her feet for days. Consequently, we've completely missed the closing date that was originally scheduled, and USAA is now requiring documents from us that have never before been needed when we've applied for home loans and are asking the exact same questions of us that we answered more than 30 days ago soon after we first applied to refinance. USAA mortgage services are a scam...they are not at all interested in providing loans at today's low market rates. Don't walk...RUN...away from USAA financial services.

I am currently in Escrow on a property and am having the exact same problems as listed above. I am not sure why I thought my loan would be the exception 45 days ago, probably because of the 15+ years of great service from USAA that I have received in the past. For the last month and a half I have spent every free moment on the phone as have my realtor and escrow officer trying to get a hold of the "person most familiar with my file" well 7 days before closing she finally calls back and "isnt so familiar." My loan was a VA (which I thought I had earned the benefits for after 3 combat deployments in 4 years) but she never ensured that the property was VA Approved (which according to the VA is the lender's responsibility) although the initial underwriter ensured me it was. She never got my certification of eligibility and she certainly had no intentions of closing on time. So now I am stuck with a conventional as my only option, paying $300 in PMI a month for a home that would have been VA approved with a 60 day notice. I am warning you, if you are like me and think that because of USAA's great track record in other arenas that they will be great with Mortgages you are WRONG. Guess they need to work on their new "Home Circle" option and make it more customer friendly.

My experience with my USAA/GMAC mortgage has been great.
The customer service people are very helpful and are honestly
trying to help me. Some of what I read above is about bad appraisals
and the market... I could complain about those things as well
(the house was appraised low, and they would only finance 85%,
we had to borrow money from my partner's mother)... but does
this have anything to do with the bank? They are a business,
they have to protect themselves from the falling real estate market.
My partner left me and I have been trying to get a loan modification,
and like I say, the people are very understanding and I have no
complaints how I've been treated. Tyronne is right, the bank owes
me nothing. Not everyone should qualify for these programs, it's
basically tax money that is supporting these programs right? The
qualifications should be tough. I don't want tax money wasted on
people that don't deserve it.

I have been a member for over 30 years. I thought USAA could do no wrong. USAA has provided me with impeccable service; banking, insurance and investments. Great Customer Service! until now. I can't even begin to describe the problems I just went through with obtaining a mortgage through USAA USBank. Poor communications, misinformation and they even missed "guaranteed" closing deadlines. - Retired CDR, USN.

All the comlaints sound so much like mine it isn't funny. USAA is the worst company I have ever had to do business with and unfortunately I am stuck with them.
I had no problems until I refinanced my loan with them. The rep on the phone said they could do everything and I wouldn't have to use a third party. I agreed and then found myself working with a third party in Texas. Then the mortgage rep with USAA went on vacation and two other people who didn't know what was going on tried to handle my loan. After two weeks the other rep returned from vacation and had no idea what was going on and asked me for paperwork that she found on her desk after I said they had already been sent. I refinanced because of a divorce and had a time limit. If I hadn't been in the middle of a divorce I would have dropped them and gone with someone else but I didn't, my mistake. The rep from the title company wanted to meet me at Burger King to sign my papers because he had no office. All of the papers had my ex-wife's name as a co-borrower. I told him it was wrong and he just crossed through her name. Both companies were aware of my divorce because it was the reason for the refinance and I had to send them copies of the divorce agreement. I was VERY particular about the loan amount and what I could afford. At that time the house was worth $181, 000 and I owed $80, 000. I refinanced for $145, 000 with some of the extra to give my ex-wife based on the payments they said I would make. A year after this and 6 months after the taxes and insurance was paid my mortgage payment was increased more than $400 a month and they said the "forgot" about my taxes and insurance. They have never taken responcibility for this and when I could no longer make the higher payment they said they could not help me. They caused the problem but were not willing to help fix it and sent me a letter saying "We recommend you sell your house". By this time the economy had dropped some but still worth what I owed. Because i had been so particular about the loan I didn't qualify for the Obama plan. It doesn't help anyone trying to get a loan they can afford. Only after my house had dropped to $96, 000($85, 000+ below market value and below what I owed) were they willing to listen and refinanced my loan for 40 years at 2% and all it took was 7 months of standing my ground as they played their games.

PS I don't care if the processor is not USAA, USAA is the one who has hired them to service USAA members. USAA is the one who tries to make it seemless, a single umbrella, to the USAA member. Even worse is it's my wife's first experience with USAA, she now hates them.

Well it's may 2010... I, an absolute adorer of USAA, insurance, banking, credit, brokerage; am about to pull my hair out dealing with their mortgage side. Locked our interest rate for a house I didn't know when was going to close, processor NEVER picks up his phone, hasn't responded to any of our agents calls, responds to email once or twice a week, USAA staff, the USAA website, and the third party processor weren't consistent telling us what docentation needs to be submitted, they rarely update the status section online for our mortgage, all of that on top of having no branches. I am well aware of the no branches, but the customer service for my other accounts has been so good so consistently it hasn't mattered.

I can barely describe my disappointment. This is te first of many many complaints I will be lodging all over the place, especially if we get penalized for not closing on time (I.e. Them locking my rate without my authorization).

Dear Screwed By USAA..
I wish you luck in trying to sue USAA. You'll lose, trust me. Although I'm sure your story is a bogus overboard. May you not forget that the Homeowner programs offered by the Gov't are NOT mandated by any lender! This is a service that they abide by IF they wish to participate in this. Your cannot qualify for a loan modifictaion, if you are current and making your payment! By the way, how quickly you forget you SIGNED a 30 year mortgage PROMISING to re-pay this loan. NOWHERE in those documents did it state "if the economy tanks, and your value of you home drops, we (the lender) will modify your loan terms to meet your needs" NO, NOW DOES IT? Is it the lenders fault you can't pay your mortgage? Is it the lenders fault you lost your job? NO! Now quit whining about USAA not wanting to help you on your mortgage loan, because first of all it's NOT USAA that has your mortgage loan. They sold it to GMAC! Your writing letters to USAA and alling them to cuss them out- is NOT going to do you any good. You need to take your madness to GMAC if you want any help! You writing the CEO of USAA a letter will get you NOWHERE! This is because USAA does NOT own your mortgage - GMAC does! You did NOT apply for any Loan Modification with USAA- You applied with GMAC and they are the ones that rejected your loan mod- so don't go off on how its USAA. Do NOT forget you signed over 50 pages of documents knowing that your mortgage would be sold to them! You have nothing on this. I suggest you quit and don't waste any money on rying to get your "loan mod" to work. They don't have to approve you for anything, especially when YOU signed a 30 year mortgage.

USAA/GMAC has made my life hell. My mortgage, car insurance, home owners insurance, and flood insurance are all through USAA. Prior to October 1, 2009 I would have given USAA praise on their service, but now I wouldn't reccomend them to my worst enemy. I applied for a loan modification on October 1, 2009. It was mishandled, lost, pended, and denied. The reason for denial was that my income would not be sufficient to make a reduced mortgage payment. I don't know how this makes sense as I have kept my mortgage current by using credit cards, selling jewelry, a vehicle, cancelling my health insurance, Purchasing all of my clothing from thrift shops, eliminating eating out, movies, vacations, cutting out all non-esential spending and using all of my savings. In the same e-mail that I received declining my loan modification application, USAA offered to consider me to refinance as I had such a good payment record. They even offered to roll the cost of closing into my mortgage for a house that is currently at a negative equity of $40, 000.00. Being desperate to save my house and credit I called USAA and was finally contacted by a customer relations representative. He told me that he had looked into my denial and that I should submit an additional three month profit and loss statement and that my loan modification would be re-evaluated. On January 15th I was again turned down. Although I have called numerous times and spoken to numerous customerr service representatives, none of them can explain how it is figured that I can afford to pay my full mortgage, but I am not considered able to pay a reduced one. I was even told by two of the customer service representatives that I wouldn't be considered unless I was at least 60 days delinquent. I have reviewed the guidelines for loan modifications and cannot find this particular guideline anywhere. I think that USAA uses the Hope For Homeowners program as free advertisment to attract desperate people who they turn down so that they can offer to refinance again and gain even more profit. I have written to Josue Robles, CEO of USAA, my congressman, and even to the White House in an effort to understand the basis of my denial. So far I have gotten no answers. I am thinking about selling the rest of my jewelry and hiring a lawer to see if in fact USAA is not properly granting loan modifications. I invite anyone to explain the math to me of how a home that is at $40, 000.00 negative equity, in an area where home sales are non-existent, that is current on payments could be turned down. Even if USAA were to for close at at cost to them of about $40, 000.00 to $60, 000.00 and auction the home, it would still not even be worth the mortgage owned. I don't think I am asking for preferential treatment, I just want fair consideration in a program that is offered by the White House in a country where I pay my taxes. If I am too poor to be considered for a loan modification, why can I not then receive food stamps, medical assistance, and government aid? I don't know where to turn to at this point. I am horrified by the way USAA/GMAC has treated me and feel sick about every penny of profit they make from my business.

To Schamness:
Your beef is not with USAA. It is with your loan servicer. And NO, your servicer is NOT USAA. It is one of thier 3 investors they use. It sounds like you are trying to do a short sale, which incase you dont know is a lengthy process. Not to mention the fact, when a bank approves your short sale, they are doing you a favor. So it is wise to be patient and not forget you signed documents stating you would have this mortgage note for 30 years!

We had been satisfied clients of USAA for the majority of their services for the last 6+ years.
We remortgaged our house with USAA in 2006, and things were ok, until dec 2008 when my husband was made redundant.
We have been working with an estate agent to sell our house as we can no longer afford it on my income alone, we have had 2 offers made on the house. The first was made In february 2009, all requested paperworks from all parties were submitted and received by USAA, then we waited, and waited, and by July our Buyer pulled out because they had waited too long. A week later we were lucky enough to get another offer on the house, this time a cash offer. All paperwork again filled out, and filed, and acknowledged as having been received by USAA.
We waited, and waited and our second buy has now pulled out of the deal because of the length of time it is taking USAA to approve the sale of our house.
It's as though they are trying to force us into bankrupcy, and they refuse to discuss what the problem is with us.
Terrible experience.

I have to completely agree with the complaints about the USAA mortgage division. I have always had all of my banking and insurance accounts with USAA including checking, savings, money market, life insurance, auto insurance, etc. I come from a military family and recently married an injured veteran and I would have previously praised USAA for the way that they treat their veterans. Their mortgage division is a complete exception to this. The entire process of my original mortgage and refinance have been so bad that I would consider the dealings fraudulent. My original mortgage account was immediately transferred to US Bank after closing, which was very disappointing but I was aware that the servicing of my mortgage could potentially be transferred. I assumed that USAA would only transfer my mortgage to a reputable company. I was wrong! US Bank's servicing of my mortgage has been terrible. I have had all the same problems with my escrow account as mentioned above and customer service has been no help. To add insult to injury, USAA won't even answer questions about my mortgage now that they have transferred the servicing.

On to my mortgage refinance. As I said, I recently married an injured veteran and we wanted to refinance the house from a conventional mortgage under my name to a VA mortgage under both names. The home was originally appraised by USAA at $240, 000. We would have loved for the appraisal to come out lower to be able to negotiate the purchase price but we trusted USAA to use a reputable appraiser. Only one year later, our refinance appraisal came in at $150, 000 with significant upgrades to the home. The refinance appraisal states that the original appraisal was inaccurate and that the market had only dropped 1/2% per month, which would not account for the new low value. USAA has told me that they stand by the second appraisal (so that they do not have to refinance my home) but that they cannot be liable for the first appraisal since they only chose the appraiser but did not actually conduct the appraisal. We had no choices in this entire process and trusted USAA. Now we cannot refinance and we obviously cannot renegotiate the purchase price of our home a year later.

If USAA refuses to rectify this situation, I will be pulling all of my accounts from them.

20 year member with USAA. I will NEVER use them again for a Mortgage. Had wrong information about the title of my house, claimed it was a foreclosure- it wasnt, told me 1 day before closing the house it couldnt sell, lost foaxed documents at least a hundred times, pried into your personal life like you wouldn't believe.
They may be good with insurance, but they SUCK with their mortgate dept.