Mortgage Capital Associates - Is it good to deal with?

Well now I am very scared after starting to do business with them on a refinance. I didn't see this web site until it was too late.

I needed a loan to close in 15 days. I was quoted a rate of 5.125% for 30 years with 0 points and the loan closed in 13 days with a rate of 4.875% and 0 points. I can only say my experience with this company (Mortgage Capital) was very satisfying indeed.

hello jennifer,

your comments were very interesting as they paralled my thoughts about this company when considering refinancing my home loan. the mortgage offerings are vast and varied. who to use is always a difficult question especially when it comes to comparing rates and costs.

large banks have rates that are typically higher and their costs are about the same. mortgage companies that i shopped have lower rates and similar fees. so it comes down to making calls and getting a good feel for the loan officer you will work with. once you have made this selection you should check out the company as you did jennifer.

i try to read between the complaints and then i checked them out with the better business bureau and found that they have been very responsive to customer complaints and have actually resovled all of these issues. that told me a lot about this company, that they care about their reputation and they will do whatever it takes to correct an customer problem. they carry an a rating with the better business bureau. suprisingly of the mortgage companies i checked out, none of them came close to their record.

i worked with them on my refinance and i am happy to report that not only did my loan close on time and the rate was as promised but my fees were within a couple of hundred dollars of their original estimate.

sincerely,

peter

I am trying to refi with these guys and had to deal with an extremely arrogant and impatient sales rep. My questions for refi sounded like "wasting their time" to this rep.
Dunno how good or bad this company is. But I did not like the way they handled my application. Too bad!!!

I've been following this thread for the past month as I've also found them via BankRate.com and there appears to be a mix of good and bad experiences. However, given the low 30 year fixed rate of 5.125% with 0pts, I decided to give them a try.

I wanted to complete my refinance before posting a review, but I've actually hit a problem closing. So here's the 1st part of the review.

David Young was my rep. He was busy and hard to get ahold of, but if you sent him an email, he'll generally reply within a day and if you get ahold of him, he's actually quite courteous.

The refinance process at the beginning went through pretty smoothly, though there were some hiccups. The first thing I didn't particularly like was the process felt very rushed. For example, I was given my escrow papers to notarize on Friday evening and had to mail them out on Saturday.

Everything was in order and I was told that the refinance should close on 2/13 at the latest.

2/13 comes and passes and I don't hear anything from them. I contacted David and he told me the closing was rescheduled to 2/19. Do note I was only given this fact after I emailed them and not the other way around.

So I thought everything was in order, but on 2/25 when I checked my existing mortgage, nothing had changed and my next mortgage payment was due at the beginning of the next month. I contacted David once again and he says there is some funding issues where the funder is taking their time. I was initially told that this refinance would cover for March's payment, yet I was told told pay it for now and my mortgage company should refund me when the loan is funded.

I mean I can understand they're busy given their low rates, but at minimum I would've expected to be notified of any changes or delays.

So I'm not sure how this is all going to end, but I'm hoping for the best.

I have similar problem with Mortgage Capital Associate. It seems like they are dragging thier feet and making no progress at all.

On January 29, I applied with them for 15year refinancing. My mortgage officer is Gino Acosta. My credit score is above 760, Loan/asset ratio less then 50%, payments will be <28% if my gross, so I did not expect problems at all and expected everything to be done within 20-30days.

After application, I e-mailed, faxed and mailed by regular mail all required documentation. After that I could not reach anybody to answer me the question about status of my loan application. Even their web service for status check did not work in my case. It took 24 day for Gino to get back to me with wonderful news that I am approved and go over my HUD.

At that point I tought that 3-4 days is reasonable time for them to prepare the documents and send to the closing agent. It's been already more then one week and today I learn that the documants are still not sent although they are ready. Meanwhile Gino answers my e-mail every morning for the and with the promise that everything will be resolved "today".

I just do not know what to think. If you can not deliver on your promise, then just say it, refund my $500 rate lock deposit and I will be on my way looking for other opportunities. Why playing all that "hide and seek" game?

Hi,

To mortgagefit,

Thanks for sharing your experience with the community. It is strange why they are taking such a long time to refinance the mortgage. Moreover, they should have been courteous enough to send you a mail stating that they will be late in refinancing it.

To Victor,

I would suggest you to speak to your lender personally and ask him to speed up the process. Request them to specify a particular date on which everything will be "really" resolved.

Thanks

Mortgagefit,

Did you finally close or they are still delaying it? I am still hanging in the air for no reason (as it seems to me) although I was approved 2 weeks ago.

Victor T

At the same time I posted a review, I shot both my mortgage agent and my escrow agent an email about how things didn't feel right and how upset I was with the whole situation of delays w/o notification. I even added I would be seeking legal consult if this continues.

Immediately the next day, my escrow agent calls me and tells me he's relay my disappointment to the funders and apparently got the ball rolling and got the funders to fund my refinance that day. Later, I got an email from my mortgage agent which pretty much said the same thing.

The refinance closed on 3/5 and I'm waiting for my closing documentation now.

There is still one unresolved issue which I'm not exactly sure. Somehow the escrow company overpaid my current bank because of something to do with February having 28 days and they collect for the full 30 days. They asked me to mail them a check for the difference. They told me that I should be receiving a refund check from my current bank.

I was reluctant and asked them to send me the bill/calculations of how much I owe them. I haven't heard back yet.

Hi mortgagefit!

Welcome back to forums!

You should immediately contact them and ask for the refund. When you call them, you can politely ask them to send you the deduction which will help you in knowing the exact amount you owe them.

Feel free to ask if you have further queries.

Sussane

I'm considering a refi with MCA, but I'm balking at the $500 lock-in fee. I haven't heard of this before. Plus, as far as I can tell, if 30 days passes, even if it is their fault, I lose the lock. Given all of the discussion on how slow they are, I'm wondering if I should do it.

Does anyone know if a lock-in fee is typical?

Lot of lenders charge the lock-in fee but in most cases it is refundable and refunded to you at the time of closing.

"I'm considering a refi with MCA, but I'm balking at the $500 lock-in fee. I haven't heard of this before. Plus, as far as I can tell, if 30 days passes, even if it is their fault, I lose the lock. Given all of the discussion on how slow they are, I'm wondering if I should do it.

Does anyone know if a lock-in fee is typical?"

The lock-in fee is typical of mortgage companies. The usually range from about $300 to $500 and depending on why the refi wasn't completed, can be refunded.

There should be a lock-in documentation you should read over.

The main reason of the lock-in fee is to help prevent customers from changing their mind on a whim after the mortgage company had done all the work.

On March 21 my refinancing was finally closed. It took ONLY 53 DAYS !!! from application to closing. I am impressed!!!

I should mention that my rate did not change although the lock expired after 25 days. I do not know whether it was because mortgage rates were not going up or because MCA are such a "nice people". My impression is that they are dragging their feet hoping the rate will go down and then they re-lock to you to the the rate you negotiated, thus getting bigger payment from the lender.

Luckily for me everything worked out fine although took much longer then I expected and cost ne some nerves. However, I do not think I will do it again with MCA.

I came across this site too late. I am in process of trying to close a loan with MCA and it has been an extremely frustrating process, to say the least. To be clear, this is not my first rodeo; I've closed on 10 prior mortgages, either purchases or refi's, have excellent credit, know the drill and had everything ready to go right off. But I have never been treated this poorly by a lender. Here are the things you need to know. First, they will hit you up right off the bat for appraisal and lock fees -- non-refundable, of course. That way, they will have you trapped into staying with them longer than any reasonable person should. Then, you'll get passed around, with no one clearly in charge. I went from Mr. Young, to someone who may (or may not) be a document specialist, to someone else to yet another person, none of whom have any clear position or title. Yet, despite having four supposed contacts, none of them keep you apprised of the progress of your application or respond to your email or voice messages. Finally, out of the blue, I received an email from the off-brand title company they use asking for more documents (the title company had emailed MCA two weeks earlier asking that MCA ask me for these docs, but MCA didn't bother to send that request to me). But beware; the off-brand title company is no great shakes. Their costs not only far exceed whatever may have been in your GFE but this title company was unique in my experience in that they did not have a roster of residential surveyors in the major metro area they served. Rather, they simply googled for surveyors and starting calling around. I couldn't believe this when the title company rep told me. Needless to say, this resulted in a list of commercial surveyors who only do residential surveys for roughly twice the average cost of such surveys in the market. Thankfully, I was alerted to this in time to do my own legwork and line up reasonably price surveyor who did residential surveys. Okay, so let's say you get through the title company's process and want to close. Well, then the title company tells you that there was some unspecified error in the documents (prepared by MCA) and the papers are back with MCA and you should talk to them. Well, multiple telephone messages and emails later and, not surprisingly, no responses whatsoever. Not from David Young, not from his colleague Mr. Chon, not from any of the other people whose names show up on email. Anyway, maybe someday we'll close. Who knows. What I do know is that, in my experience, you do not save money on closing costs with these guys, their rates aren't that special and the frustration you experience isn't worth it. If I could do it over, I would just go with a reputable local firm.