American Advisors Group (AAG)

Tiegs has been our contact. The very first thing she did was explain the benefits. We had already done it once before, so we knew what we needed it for and the benefits of using it. So she didn't need to sell it to me, but she did. She gave me a good list to go by, which was great, because since it was in the email, I could share it with other people in my family that could help me. Then she explained very well a couple of things I had questions about.

Any time I've called her, she called me back or if I emailed her, she emailed me back, but the time difference has been a little bit of a challenge. I'm in Florida and she is somewhere on the West Coast. There's a three-hour time difference. When I am at my computer where I can find the things that she needs or look at her list or any of the information, she's not even out of bed yet. Like yesterday, she called me in what would be her normal business hours, I was home eating dinner and didn't have any of my paperwork with me because I was keeping it in the office where my computer is.

We're in our third week of trying to gather the documents. I submitted them and AAG ordered the appraisal immediately. Then the application had to be signed again. She sent it to me yesterday after I was already gone from the office. So, I'll be doing that this morning. But it came up with a signature that wasn't in the sequence that they needed it to be, so I'll have to re-sign everything. But the time that the process has taken isn't AAG's problem, it has been on our end. Overall, it's been a thorough and good experience.

Suzy is extremely upbeat and very available. I called her after reading whatever and then I’d call her for more clarification. She's extremely knowledgeable and has a good attitude. For my situation, she said it was a perfect one, which I already knew because I'd already thought about it. She also explained other alternatives and ways to do it. Suzy was able to put things out there and her comments didn't lean one way or another. I'm still good with the decision that I made initially.

You get a false sense from the communication in the commercials about how the exact process works. I came into it with AAG with a certain set of expectations. My expectation was that I was gonna get 80% of the value of my house but that's not the reality. Even though I was disappointed, I understood what was going on, how they came to that percentage, how they came up with the interest rates, and how the whole process works. If you pay back in and it goes to this and then you get additional funds through this process, you can claim more and you don't get it all at once. I asked why and they said it was because of this and this.

Suzy went into quite a bit of depth about the average person and maybe somebody that wasn't a businesswoman like I was years ago, and that somebody could be scammed. We went through a whole scenario of things. She made it very clear why things are the way they are. I was very satisfied with what she said, even though at the time I was expecting more. I was accepting of the answer that she gave me and I understood it.

Jamila was great. The HUD representative was fine. That was a phone interview. And there was a supervisor that was above Jamila that I talked to just a few times. The only thing that I would say American Advisors Group could do better, which the contractor said that they've told AAG a thousand times, is that if there's a set aside on a repair, then by all truth, they should tell the people the process of what has to happen.

Because I've done three email sessions for the people in the repair section of the department to prove that I had the repairs done. They said they have 30 days, which they do by law, to have the documents sent to the loaner or the mortgage holder. But by then, I didn't know I had to wait for a form. I didn't know that I had to previously get the person that was a contractor pre-approved. So, after waiting two months to get my house painted, I got it painted, then I got the documents and found out that I should have done all this and that. And I had to call the painter who doesn't know me from Adam, a couple of times to get him to try to come back and fill out a form, which is a legal form about a lien. And he didn't even want to answer my calls after the third time because it's like stalking. I had already paid him, he didn't know why I kept calling him to come out.

How that part of the process works should be in the initial packet of description. AAG is very descriptive. There are 71 pages that came out initially and I took the time to read them, but that's not in there. So, they should add it there about set-asides that's not in there so nothing is a surprise to the person. Because I could have done the work myself. There's a form for that. But that's not how the process works regardless because I still had to get the forms, whoever filled it in, whether it was the contractor that I hired or myself, and send that to AAG in those different formats, and wait for them to send the appraiser to come back out and look the work over.

AAG is very good at all the paperwork that they send out and I got two copies of a lot of things, the 71-page booklet and something else. So, they aren't shy on printing things. So, add all the other things that they didn't add. And when the repair department called me to follow up with me, that wasn't as pleasant as an experience because the form should go out. As soon as you close alone, they should send out those booklets and forms so you know what you're dealing with. It could have been a repair person that came from out of state and there was no way in heaven they would sign a form that is a legal form. Until the third time I spoke to department of repair, I didn't know that the form was designed so the person in contract said they wouldn't sue and put a lien on my home. I thought it was just for me to prove that I did the repair. So, AAG should be more upfront with that.

I don't understand the problem with the appraisers or why the appraiser didn’t call. Also, I'm not happy with the interest rates that AAG is charging. Interest rates have gone up but AAG is about two points higher than what the rates are. That's a little frustrating because I have a 3.2% interest rate on my loan right now and it looks like AAG is going to charge me 8%. That's crazy to me. That's eating up my equity three times faster than paying the 3.2%. But with my situation, there's not a lot else I can do. I can't really work and I need to finish remodelling my house. Nobody else will give me a loan because it’s right in the middle of remodelling.

I wish AAG would have gotten the appraisers here sooner because this has gone on about two weeks that they said the appraiser was gonna call. It sounds like you need two and only one has called me so far. The only good thing with the delay is the house right in front of me just sold for $25 million two weeks ago. Now that's on the books, that should raise my property value quite a bit.

But even with all the papers that I received, Carol, the counselor, gave me numbers for this and that. I had a moment over the holiday weekend to be quiet and go over everything. And I decided that the interest rate on the monies that I would get at the beginning of the 12-month period for so much money and the closing cost that I could pay at the end whenever I decided to close out the loan or sell my house, the benefits for me didn't outweigh me to just stay where I am.

At this moment, nobody receives what my condo association is talking about very well. So I don't know what's going to come of that, and I'll just have to play it ear by ear to see, but to pay interest on monies I'm borrowing and monies that are owed for a closing costs, and the loan itself at the end of whatever, or I could just not do anything and pay at the release of my home if I decided to sell it, or to be able to say, “Okay. I've got this to take care so I'm not going to pay anything on the AAG loan this month,” the interest is still piling up. And that bothered me because at the end of the day, they could have quite a bit of equity in my house.

I even spoke to somebody that does a bit of work with HUD. And she said, “It's a good program, but I don't know if this is for you. You need to stop and really look at that.” But AAG kept telling me, “Take your time and go over everything. And it's your decision to make.” They did explain it to me. I got a great education. I understand it completely now. I told Tyler that I'm holding on to all of the papers. And if there comes a point where I need this more than I don't, I will call him back again.