Hey Personal Finance,
This is actually my first time posting on a subreddit, so I hope I'm in the right place. I've had a situation involving a mortgage lender on my mind as I'm uncertain if I did something wrong. I feel like I did, but at the same time I'm not sure I should. Having cruised reddit for some time I figure y'alls a good group to ask.
Back in March when rates were dropping to unprecedented lows (start of COVID shutdown) I started shopping for refis. I connected with a lender through a colleague, a former boss, who I'm on very good terms with. We're not "hangout outside work" friends but good enough to get lunch and catch up now and then. The lender is a former colleague of his from a past job. We'll call this lender Lender A.
I reached out to get quotes. Pretty much every lender immediately directed me to upload docs and financial info to "start the application process" and get true rates. So I did with multiple. While getting rates/fees back the market kept changing - rapidly - and some lenders flat out told me to wait because they'd go lower. I nearly locked with Lender A at 3.35% / 30year fixed but before I responded, the very next day, he emailed saying market sold off, it's "back to 3.625%, everything moves so fast." So I said we'll wait but if it comes back to 3.25 we think we'll take it.
He emails in April saying it's back to 3.25%. Market volatility continued and by then, and having spoken to 8+ lenders, we decided to wait more. Admittedly I forgot to respond. I was talking to so many lenders by then and COVID was ravaging aspects of my/the world's lives, it slipped my mind. My bad.
He emails in June and I'd honestly stopped searching by then. Too many other life priorities taking precedent like not making money (I'm in sales). We start going back and forth on options and things look worth researching so I start looking around again. Other rates/lenders were competitive but signs still pointed to "hold," if I can use the stock rating analogy. Lender A had quoted me 15 year, 20 year and 30 years by then and we'd exchanged just over a dozen emails, no phone calls. I sat on the quote for a couple weeks watching the market and he followed-up with me; the tone / curt-ness of his emails started indicating frustration so I started to feel bad. I wrote him an apology email explaining with COVID's market volatility we were still in a wait-and-see stage. He never responded.
On September 11th knowing the adverse market fee was coming I pinged him and 1 other lender I liked from previous research - Lender B - to check rates. I'm glad I waited. Lender A quoted 2.99% and a reasonable closing cost albeit $800 more than in June. Lender B quoted 2.875% and over $600 less closing costs than Lender A. Plus, Lender B actually wanted to talk to me - twice - and setup 2 phone calls and felt very personable. So I decided on Lender B, and not wanting to ghost Lender A I emailed him last night. I said we really appreciated him and his assistant's time, had decided to go with another lender, but that they'd been better to communicate with than many other lenders we talked to (true) and we wouldn't hesitate to recommend to family/friends. He responded 30 minute later at 11:15PM:
"What a monumental waste of time."
I was floored. I know we went back and forth a bunch, but we never even spoke on the phone. Have I done something shitty?
I don't know what lenders really do; have I caused him a lot of work? A "monumental" amount?
I'm torn between taking it as absolute confirmation I made the right choice, and feeling like I jerked a guy around / did a lender dirty. What's the truth?
TL/DR: Went back and forth with a lender, roughly 3-dozen emails (many short/one-two liners) over 6 months, never got to underwriting. Decided on different lender with better rates/fees/personal service. First lender pissed off. Am I in the wrong?
Thanks in advance gals and guys. And have a great day!
Submitted September 13, 2020 at 08:16PM by giantgreyhounds https://ift.tt/32qJCzU
