New Hampshire Real Estate & Consumer Resources

I’m getting better at trusting my instincts these days, and most of the time it serves me well. That certainly was the case during my dealings with Quicken Loans very recently.

As you may have noticed, mortgage interest rates have dipped again lately and are looking quite reasonable. Having missed out on the last round of refinance madness a year or three ago, I decided that the time was right and started looking into the possibility of refinancing our mortgage.

With my recent success finding a much better auto insurance rate by responding to an advertisement on the internet, I decided to go the same route this time while shopping for my new mortgage.

I went to both Lending Tree and another similar site which I now cannot remember the name of (honestly!) and filled in the required information and expected to be contacted with various offers the next day. That was on Sunday, December 17.

Around 5:00 p.m. on that same day I got a call from a fellow named Robert at Lending Tree. I had not expected to hear from someone on Sunday, but I didn’t mind since I wanted to get the ball rolling with this.

Robert took a lot of information and spent at least 30 minutes on the phone with me and did a very thorough job of digging through the various offers to find me a good one. I liked the way he handled himself and he was not at all pushy or too heavy on the salesmanship, which I like.

Since I did want a chance to talk to some other lenders and compare offers, I held Robert off when he started talking about locking in the rate and sending forms for me to sign, etc. I was very honest with him and told him I wanted a chance to hear some other offers. He was quite confident that nobody would be able to beat Lending Tree. He indicated he would call me back the next day and we arranged for him to call me at 4:00 p.m., figuring that would give me plenty of time to talk to other lenders.

The next day around Noon I got a call from a fellow named Lamont from Quicken Loans. Lamont seemed like a nice enough guy and he went through the usual sales pitch and made sure I knew that his company owned some sports stadium out around Ohio somewhere and that they also owned the Cleveland Cavaliers, an NBA basketball team. I don’t know if that was true since I did not bother to verify it, but I was not terribly impressed.

He then made sure I knew that the company was the “best” or the “biggest” or whatever he claimed and that they did so many billions of dollars in mortgage business, etc. Yawn. They all say that crap. Talk to me about what kind of deal you can give me.

I guess he didn’t know what most good marketers know: Potential customers want to hear what you can do for them! They don’t care how big your company is or how much money it makes, and that was certainly the case for me. Spare me the bragging and cut to the chase!

Again, Lamont was friendly and courteous enough, but still, something was just not sitting right with me when talking to him. His style was way too “sales pitchy” for me. I hate when I think someone is trying too hard to sell me and I got that impression from Lamont.

I was actually open to whatever offer that Quicken Loans would come up with until Lamont made one very important statement.

This is not an exact quote, since I did not record the conversation, but this is essentially what he said:

One thing I am going to do as part of this process is to ask you for the names and phone numbers of some of your friends and family so that I can contact them and tell them about our wonderful programs.

At that moment, I hit the brakes hard and stopped Lamont in his tracks! I let him know that I would give him no such thing. What kind of friend would I be if I were passing out people’s phone numbers so that some guy could call them with a mortgage sales pitch? I hate telemarketing as much as anyone and would not subject my friends and family to it.

At first Lamont seemed a bit taken aback and half-jokingly asked me if I even had any friends and family. When I explained my reasons he backed off and we continued talking about mortgages.

He then told me he would work up some possibilities for me and give me a call back within the next day or two. I told him that I was going to be talking to other lenders that day and that I would make my decision very soon. Although I did not tell Lamont, I was planning to go with Lending Tree unless a significantly better offer came along.

I decided to call up the lender that holds our current mortgage and see what they could do for me. Although the offer was not bad – just a little better than Lending Tree – the fellow I talked to did not seem too anxious to go out of the way to present me with options. He just sounded like his heart wasn’t in it and since the offer was not a whole lot better, Lending Tree remained in the lead.

I heard from one other lender that day whose offer was also just slightly better than Lending Tree and although the woman was very pleasant to talk to, she did not seem as familiar with the various options that were available to me as was Robert from Lending Tree.

At that point I decided I would move forward with Lending Tree when I heard back from Robert. As I said, the other offers were a little better with regard to the total amount that was borrowed, but the interest rates were all exactly the same and I had a much better feeling about dealing with Robert than I did the others. He really seemed to know his stuff and was quicker to offer me options and answers than the others I had spoken to.

When Robert called, I went ahead and started the wheels turning and began the nitty-gritty of finalizing the application. Again, he handled it well and was very quick with answers to my questions and concerns.

The following morning I remembered that Lamont had promised to call back, so instead of having him spend any more time on me, and to avoid having him call me again, I decided to call him and let him know I had decided to go ahead with Lending Tree.

As expected, I ended up getting his voicemail and left him a very nice message to let him know I was all set and thanked him for his help. I half expected to hear from him anyway, since he was a little bit on the pushy side, but he did not call back.

I thought that was the last time I would hear from anyone at Quicken Loans, but I was mistaken.

When the phone rang a short time ago here today, I recognized the number on the Called ID as the same one that showed up when Lamont called on Monday. I expected to hear his voice when I answered and for him to ask me why I decided not to do business with him. I was mistaken again.

This time it was another fellow from Quicken Loans who described himself as a type of “Quality Control” person who follows up with potential customers to see if they were happy with their experience dealing with Quicken Loans.

In retrospect that was a load of B.S. A more accurate description of his job would be “Second Tier Salesman.” A more pushy and obnoxious version of Lamont who was tasked with the mission of getting my business by convincing me to go with Quicken Loans.

I informed him I had decided to proceed with another lender and he asked me why. At that point I asked him if he really wanted the truth, and he replied that he did.

I then told him that the fellow I had dealt with (Lamont) was just a little too heavy on the salesmanship and that’s just something that turns me off. I then told him about Lamont’s comment regarding the names and phone numbers of friends and family members and how that was the thing that really made up my mind to avoid doing business with Quicken Loans.

At this point, as you might expect, the backpeddling began in earnest. He told me that it was just a regular thing to ask for a reference if I was happy with my experience at Quicken Loans. I then informed him how Lamont made it sound as if it was part of the actual process I had to go through to complete the deal, and that I was not about to give up names and telephone numbers of friends and family members so that some pushy salesman from Quicken Loans can telemarket them.

Mr. “Quality Control” (unfortunately I did not write down his name) assured me that they do not telemarket (sure, I believe that!)  and tried to smooth things over with the suggestion that it was just a miscommunication.

He then asked me who I decided to do business with, and when I informed him it was Lending Tree, he informed me that Lending Tree is not even a lender, but more of a middle man. I was well aware of that and would not have been put off by that statement if it were not for the condescending tone I perceived from him.

I told him I was aware of that and he then asked me what actual lender I had decided to go with. Being a bit irritated by his attitude, I did not see any reason to answer his question. All he needed to know was that I was not doing business with Quicken Loans.

I will freely admit that I was beginning to raise my voice a bit when I responded, but in no way could it be construed as yelling.

I told him that I did not see any reason to tell him anything else and informed him to put me on their “Do Not Call List,” and as far as I know, he may not have even heard that much, because he hung up on me!

Imagine, being hung up on my Mr. “Quality Control” himself! If he is so concerned about giving their customers and potential customers a “quality” experience, he should spend some time scrutinizing his own actions!

Needless to say, I would strongly advise anyone to stay away from Quicken Loans. Unless, of course, you enjoy dealing with pushy salespeople and “Quality Control” managers that are also pushy as well as condescending and rude.

Yes, the mortgage business is extraordinarily competitive and I understand that some people are a little aggressive with their sales tactics, but that does not excuse crossing the line and adopting a condescending attitude and hanging up on potential customers.

Such behavior does not reflect well on Quicken Loans and although I have heard they make good software products, I would not consider dealing with their company for a loan unless they were the last lender left on Earth.