Mortgage Investors Corp.

An agent showed up at my house to get me to refinance my VA loan. I was asked to put money up as good faith money. As I have lost both legs in Afghanistan, I felt I would not be taken advantage of. I wrote him a check for $2,500. Yes, I am stupid I have not heard anything from MIC since I called Mr. ** and was told by him they would not refund any money to me and I should have known better! Yes, I should have, but I have PTSD and don't think well at times. I live on SS and VA disability, so that was the last of my savings. I was told the owner of MIC is a retired marine so I did not believe he would do this to a fellow marine. My faith in my country that I gave my legs to is destroyed forever!

Recently my wife received a solicitation from Mortgage Investors Corp. concerning its offer to refinance our VA loan under the IRRRL (Streamlined Veterans Loan Refinancing) program. She was told that no upfront money would be required. Yesterday, a representative from MIC's sister corporation, AMC, gave us a two-hour presentation which sounded just great, including a statement that no upfront money would be required. We completed all of the paperwork, and the representative suddenly came up with a request for $650.00 upfront money. He said that we would receive a rebate of this money, which would be mailed to us in about two weeks. My wife wrote him a check and the representative departed. Later, after discussing the upfront money issue, my wife and I decided that we probably had been lied to. We immediately stopped payment on the check and notified MIC, which then informed us that it had canceled our application.

Subsequently, I discovered the VA website which recommended that veterans interested in an IRRRL contact several lenders. I am now doing this. So far, my search has revealed this Consumer Affairs site and one competitor that warns against what it says is MIC's tactic of obtaining upfront money.

Mortgage Investors Corporation keeps on calling me and trying to get me to refinance my home loan with them. When I am telling them that I am not interested, they still proceed in trying to get me to refinance. It is impossible to get them off the phone and they are very pushy in their tactics. Their tactics are geared towards veterans. If they are truly on the veteran's side, they need to stop these tactics. We fought to protect this nation and we should not have to fight predatory sales pitches. When one says to leave them alone and do not call again, they should accept this instead of trying to get them to buy into something that they are not interested in.

Mortgage Investors Corporation lived up to everything negative said about it over the internet. They quoted a $700 or more savings over the phone with a fixed rate 30-year mortgage and set up an appointment for the next day. The representative came out to my home on time and proceeded to offer me a more than $700 reduction in payments, but it was a hybrid VA loan (their term), which in actuality is a short term fixed and then increased cost, which in anyone's book is an ARM except in the book they have rewritten. They want to close in 7 days and never show you the paperwork until you sign. It is not really a scam as far as being able to give a loan, but truly a bait and switch using terms like "fixed" on the phone and "hybrid" when they come through the door.

They admitted finally to selling off 25% of their loans during each year so there is no prospectus of having a long term relationship if someone was so foolish to want one. I asked about the negative reports on the internet and Billy **, the rep, said that the company was great but that the telemarketing group was causing all the problems. Then he proceeded to live up to everything said about MIC on the internet including calling his boss to get questions answered, never mentioning the ARM until backed into a corner and wanting to see all my previous loan information to just get a quote when nothing in the information would have been required to get a quote based on the balance due and current payments made. Pretty tough to get him to leave also.

Finally, I called in my dog Ollie, a doberman, and asked him in no uncertain terms to leave the property. I really only went through the process to see if they lived up to the negative hype on the internet. They passed with flying colors and were as negative in every respect as represented by others on the internet. My friends, you can believe in the Blogosphere, it is the consumers only protection against financial predators like this! Buyer beware!

This company has been calling my personal cell phone and asking for my husband. When I told them that this is not a number to reach him and to stop calling me about their services, it has not worked. I have been transferred to supervisors two times in the last month and was advised that I was taken off their call list. They continued to call and this morning I advised the caller that I was going to report them to my state attorney's office. I will be filing that complaint in the next few days. How can I make them stop?

I am an ex-employee. First the company shut down in 2005 for illegal activity and are back to it again. MIC has verifiers and supervisors quoting these veterans a 3% rate and they are not licensed. Most do not even have a high school education. MIC does not random drug test because their floor supervisors smoke and drink on the job with the telemarketers.

The owner needs to get off his ** and clean up his call center from the podium. All acting like they are DJs not management to the telemarketers that hang out with the floor managers. This program is supposed to be for Veterans, yet if you look at ** Consumer Report, one of MIC's employees called a veteran a retard! Really?! This company is all about MIC, and not for the Veteran. If it sounds too good to be true, run!

I have been receiving calls from Mortgage Investors for the last year. I have told them repeatedly not to call me but I received another call this evening. I again told them to not call me. And again, the person on the other end of the phone stated I will put you on the do-not-call list--again.

I received a mail indicating I could refinance my VA Loan for 3% fixed rate. A salesman came and when we did the numbers the cost was very high due to the fact that you have to 'buy the rate down' which I could have done with any lender. In addition, the payback if I elected to complete this transaction was 45 months. The Salesman tried to justify the ARM by telling me that if the rate went up, my savings rate would also go up and the increase would even out. My savings account does not equal my mortgage. As the evening went on, I became aware that this was a 'one call' close. I have been in Sales & Marketing most of my career and do not believe in this tactic. This type of sales technique does not work well when you are applying for $400,000 plus mortgage.

After explaining I was not interested, he had to call his boss in St. Petersburg, FL. I finally got it across to the salesman that I was not interested until I checked on his company. I have been in the banking industry a number of years and I've never heard of this company. After doing some research and speaking with my friends in the mortgage business, their advice was to stay as far away from this company as possible. I might add that his business card does not have a telephone where he can be reached.

I will not do business with this company and I would advise anyone considering MIC's products to be very careful.

I can't rate this ** company. They are deceptive, and just want to take your money. I have answered a phone call from the company, and scheduled a home appointment. I was listening to their sales pitch. I told them that I had gone through a divorce from a ** ex-husband. I had been able to keep my home, but my credit is less than perfect. I am still trying to get the ex-husband off my credit report. I wrote a statement explaining what happened. I was scheduled for a closing. I was told by two different people that it would not be an issue. I had never been late on my mortgage, and that is what that counts. I even wrote a statement saying I was building my credit back.

I got a phone call today stating that I got denied because of derogatory information on my credit. When was going through a divorce, and cleaning up a ** husband does not have derogatory information? They didn't even allow me to prove I was current on my bills, and the paper work showing I am trying to get the ex-husband's information off my credit report. They don't want to help you. You are just a number. At the end they, will screw you over. Don't do business! I am a single mother, who is just trying to do the right thing. They don't care. They are a business with the goal of taking your money and respect.

This company called us, and said they would talk to us about VA loan. They said that they are affiliated, and could reduce our mortgage rate. This was only supposed to take about 20 to 30 minutes of our time. This pushy sales person stayed for over three hours and gave a sales pitch for us to sign a document. We said, "no" and that we are not interested. He called his supervisor to talk to my husband, and still we said, no.

Since then, this company continue to call us three times in a day; our caller ID is showing it to be them. Feeling sick of the calls, I told them how I felt about their tactics, and to stop calling all our numbers. They have our home phone number and my husband's work number. It stopped for two weeks, and now it started again. I feel very harassed and angry over this. I have blocked the numbers, and they still find a way to call!

Please allow me to address everyone's comments and share a few: Q1: Who is MIC and what do they offer? A1: MIC (Mortgage Investors Corporation, aka Amerigroup Mortgage Corporation) is a mortgage lender who only provides VA loan financing to Veterans with present VA loans who want to refinance. If you are buying a new home, or have a loan other than a VA loan, they can't help you. And they only offer a 3/1 ARM loan. Some Veterans may benefit from this type of loan and some will not. (A company who recommends a one-size-fits-all concept to everyone is selling a program; they are not trying to match the best financing program available to meet their customers' needs. )

Q2: What does MIC charge to get a loan? A2: MIC charges 3 points total (3% of the total new loan amount being refinanced), VA charges a funding fee equal to 1/2 point, and there are new title company charges for title insurance, closing fee, and other miscellaneous fees. MIC will finance all the charges, so your present mortgage balance will increase by 3.5% plus other closing costs. You may have to pay other fees depending on which state you live in plus deposit funds into a new escrow account to pay for property taxes and homeowners insurance.

Q3: What does it take to qualify for an MIC loan and can I get this type of loan anywhere? A3: If you cannot qualify for other financing, the streamline program MIC offers does not require an appraisal, credit score, income verification, and only requires that you are current on your present VA mortgage (with no other liens against the property). However, other VA lenders offer streamline refinancing too, and they offer fixed rates too!

Q4: Are there better loan options for me? A4: It is my recommendation that if you are considering refinancing your VA loan, see if you can qualify for other types of mortgage financing like FHA or Conventional financing. You can refinance with very little or no closing costs with some lenders.

Q5: What if I want to consolidate debts or get cash out for home improvements or for some other reason? A5: MIC can't help you! Q6: Is a 3/1 ARM a safe loan or should I get a fixed rate? A6: MIC representatives will tell you it is a safe loan. However, since the interest rate is subject to an annual adjustment of 1% each year (to a maximum of 5% total), after the first 3 years, it very well could increase considerably over time. Nobody can predict what interest rates will be, but we can look at history. Copy and paste the weblink below into your browser to see what the rates have been between 1972 and the present:

You will see that the rates since 1972 were over 10% for 10 of 11 years (1979-1989), over 9% for 17 years, over 8% for 21 years, over 7% for 29 years, and over 6% for 33 of the 40 years through 2011. This means rates have been traditionally much higher for the vast majority of the past 40 years. If you can get a 30-year fixed rate at 4.25% or a 15-year fixed rate at 3.75% (with 3 points) or at rates of 5% or 4.25% respectively (with no closing costs), why would you want to risk possible rate increases which are more likely to occur than not for a 3% 3-year rate?

Q7: What if the MIC representative is using high pressure sales tactics? A7: If the recommended loan is really the best option for you, they should realize that if you went to discuss it with a professional adviser like a financial planner or a CPA, then your adviser would agree; therefore, do not sign anything until you get professional advice. I am a licensed mortgage loan originator recommending to talk to other lenders, brokers, banks, or credit unions. Most of all, seek advice from appropriate and qualified professional advisers for all your financial planning concerns.

This is regarding a recent mortgage refinance my wife and I were involved in. We had to finally relent to hearing the company out, after numerous phone calls asking to allow them to come in and perform a refinance in our mortgage. When they arrived, they first took a "good faith deposit" to allow them to perform the credit check and then scheduled for the "notary" to come to our home to finalize the closing. When they took the good faith deposit, it was supposed to be returned and only a portion was.

Following this, when the gentleman arrived to our house, we informed him immediately that due to my wife's mental health condition, she was not allowed to enter into any contractual agreement because she is bipolar and due to past instances, she was not allowed to enter into such contracts. They assured us that the only paperwork she was to sign was the waiver to place claim on the property and recognizing she would not be included in the loan. When everything was completed, the gentleman then informed us that he would have to both email and mail copies of the mortgage documents back to us. This all occurred on December 17, 2010.

By the end of December, we still had not received a return copy of our documents and began immediately contacting the firm. From there, we were informed to contact the title company to obtain the information. Upon receipt of what the title company had, we only received a copy of the Deed of Trust, which was when we immediately began noticing issues. First, they had included my wife on the mortgage. Then, they also had a notary, whom we had not met, notarize our signatures who notarized in Guilford County, NC while my wife and I reside in Stokes County, NC. If this was not enough, we also discovered that this company was a firm operating out of the state of FL under OH law.

Immediately, we contacted the company again because we did not have all of our original documents nor did we have an address where we could make our first payment. Please note, a week prior to receiving this paperwork, we received a confirmation of our original mortgage payoff and then another letter from the new lender that they had transferred our mortgage to GMAC. However, we were to still make payments to Mortgage Investors Corporation. This was another red flag because at closing, we were assured the loan could not be transferred for one year and within three weeks, this had already occurred. Not to mention, now we have a new loan holder with an address to another lender for our mortgage payment.

Needless to say, now we have contacted an attorney who has advised us to seek out legal counsel because the information within our documents is not binding. Add to this, we also have discovered when the company originally financed the mortgage two years prior. They had also done some activities on the original loan that I was unaware of until requesting a copy of both my loan documents from the Register of Deeds here in Stokes County, NC. This was when I discovered that they had also marked out and signed other things without any reason or purpose. Then this after, on February 8, 2011, we finally received a partial copy of my entire signing documents and in those documents, there was nothing resembling the information at the Register of Deeds office, including that the loan had been notarized in the State of Florida which is not possible since my wife and I closed in our home in North Carolina.

If these are not enough, we have been provided 4 different addresses to send our payment to; none of which were the same. We have also received more telemarketing phone calls requesting we refinance again, even though it has only been a few weeks since this last contract was entered into. I had only gone with the company because the Department of Veteran Affairs assured me that they were credible, however, I have since discovered otherwise and I am in the process of filing the paperwork for fraud within the Department of Veteran Affairs. Not only have my wife and I seen numerous red flags on this refinance, but the Register of Deeds and the Department of Veteran Affairs have agreed as well.

Stay away from MIC. They will call you on federal property during your grace period to collect the payment. I have until the 15th to pay for the month. They just keep calling and calling. It's a low-grade company.

MIC have a nasty habit of calling you at home and work when you are within your grace period. My grace period is between the 1st and 15th of every month.

They do it every month. I plan on writing a statement here every month they do this.

Stay away from MIC... They took my mortgage, let another company service it for 1 month, then gave it to another company to service. I have like three mortgages on my credit report for 1 payment.

Stay away or they will call your work!!! Even on Federal property.