@Dion DePaoli @Michael Smith Hey guys, I meant to update! The whole thing turned out to be a nightmare. I can't thank you guys enough because I may have been HAD if it wasn't for your insight. To be honest, I'm still not certain what this guy's plan was...
To try to keep a long story short - I sent the Mortgage specialist an email stating all my concerns and questioning the credibility of the email he forwarded me from a random person who didn't even seem to be affiliated with the bank. Like I said, the email was from someone named Diane, no email address attached, and ALL that it said was "The loan subscriber needs to pay a $600 consulting fee." I can't stress enough how diplomatic and non accusatory I was in this email. I simply explained that I wanted proper documentation showing that this is a standard procedure, and I was nervous about where my money was going.
Somewhere in that email I said "You'd sure as hell want to know where your money is going too." This is apparently what stirred the pot. I found out why later on, but he got mad because since the word "hell" was in it the email was flagged and was seen by HR, revealing what he was doing to me.
My real estate agent is a buddy of mine, and the mortgage guy didn't know this apparently, because he called my agent and BASHED me to no end. Apparently I'm a no good, A--hole kid who doesn't know what the f--k I'm talking about and I should never have even questioned where my money was going. I could elaborate on that for a while, but we'll stop there :)
After all this happened, I called the sellers agent and explained the situation and asked him what the heck I should do. He put me in contact with Flagstar, who he said he usually deals with. I got hooked up with a loan officer that confirmed that the previous guy was shady at best. Even being 2 weeks from settlement he was confident he could get everything pushed through and still settle on time. (settlement is this Thursday 7/10)
He got me over my GFE and everything looked great. Their origination charge was HALF of the previous, and everything was explained clearly and adequately. I couldn't have been more pleased. 3 days out and we're not certain that it'll be on time, but thats OK. I'm glad to be with a reputable lender.
When I called to explain to the previous lender why I switched, I was professional and didn't get deep into it with him. I said I found a new company with a lower interest rate and origination charge. I DID tell him that the consulting was not standard and that is why I looked elsewhere.
All I could figure is he was trying to push through the loan as a 203k instead of Homepath Renovation, and was being dishonest with me. I don't know how he would have pulled that off, but it's water under the bridge at this point.
He called my agent directly after, and bashed me again. Oh well.
Lesson of the story? Don't ever ask questions because it makes you an A-Hole....apparently.
Thanks so much guys, you likely saved me from being schemed out of a couple hundred bucks at minimum. Maybe even PMI if I had gone along without asking questions...
-Drew
