The reason for my poor review is two-fold: (1) a lack of organization/streamlining/communication with customers that seems to exist across all parts of the loan approval process, and (2) the way an issue was handled by my loan officer during the process of buying my home.I'll start with the communicaiton issue. With any business transaction/process, the client should have one go-to person that they reach out to with questions or that emails them new information at any given time. Originally, I thought that person would be my loan officer, Zach. However, as we continued into underwriting after getting our offer accepted, I started receiving emails/requests from Zach, Kyle, Lani, Rich, AND Jeanne. I understand they all have separate jobs and functions within the company, but the information should have been streamlined and communicated to me more effectively. For example, they could have sent it to Zach to send to me so that I'm not getting emails from 5 different people. It got very confusing and frustrating to get emails/phone calls from all those different people instead of just working with one person (Zach) who already knew most of the information they were calling/emailing me about anyway. Again, I understand that most of the folks I've been working with are just doing their jobs. I am suggesting that the workflow or system by which Veterans United contacts/requests info from customers is reevaluated. This will improve customer satisfaction and bridge the communication gap between customers and VU.Regarding the second issue, I received a call from my realtor about 2 days before we were supposed to close on the house notifiying me that our Veterans United loan team had missed a step in their process in not ensuring the condo association was VA-approved. He didn't point any fingers or call anyone out specifically; he just let me know that he was going to do everything he could to help the process along. He said that although the appraisal was completed and the home itself was VA-approved, apparently nobody from the loan team verified that the condo association was also VA-approved. It makes sense that verifying this would be the responsibility of the loan team because it's the LOAN that's VA-backed, not anything having to do with the realtor...the realtor team should have zero interaction with anyone from the VA. The appraisal never should have happened without the condo association first being approved by the VA. This missed step ended up pushing our closing date back by almost two weeks and could have caused the contract to fall through altogether, resulting my husband and I losing our $5K good-faith deposit. When I called our loan officer, Zach (note: he didn't call me ...I had to find out about the issue from someone else and then call him to address it), to get some clarification on what happened, he immediately became defensive and began blaming our realtor for the issue. He claimed that Dylan, our realtor, didn't "remind" him to check that this condo association was approved by the VA...he said that Dylan had reminded him to check on the properties of previous offers we had made, but not this one; and that he didn't know we were making an offer on a condo. (1) It is not the responsibility of the realtor to check that. If it was, Dylan would have just done the verifying himself instead of "reminding" Zach to do it and (2) Zach should have known to check the home type when we notified him that we put in an offer, since almost all of our previous offers were condos. It was very unprofessional the way he threw Dylan under the bus and blamed him for something that simply was not his job (something that was very obviously the loan team's job). Zach assured me that the appraisal cost would be covered by VU if the contract were to fall through because of this issue, which almost made me angrier as that would have been the least of my concerns. If the contract had fallen through, not only would I have lost my $5K deposit (which I wouldn't have lost regardless if the issue was caught when it should have been), I wouldn't have had a place to live (which is a much bigger issue).Overall, I'm pretty unimpressed with this entire process. Most of the time I had no idea what the timeline looked like, how many more checklist items I'd have to complete (new items were added almost every day), or who I was supposed to direct my questions to. I would've appreciated a little more guidance, especially since this was our first home-buying experience.Lastly, I want to clarify that I've written this review to present opportunities for improvement, not to hurt anyone's career or get anyone fired. Thank you.
Response from Veterans United
Hi Morgan, we appreciate the chance to hear from you and we understand that the communication may not have exceeded expectations. We are committed to finding out what step in the process can be updated or eradicated depending on what caused you to feel this way; which ensures a better experience for future customers. Team work is essential to our ability to deliver exceptional service and we hope to have established means to prevent experiences like yours in the future.
We understand how the home buying process can get stressful, especially when certain aspects are not resolved quickly and accurately the first time. Delivering exceptional customer service is important to all of us at Veterans United. While we cannot change the experience you had we want to ensure that no other Veterans have this same experience in the future. Discussing your experience and learning how we might look to improve is part of our commitment to provide outstanding customer service and ensure that we are learning whenever possible the best ways to ensure excellent customer service. Our team will be researching your comments to improve our service in similar situations down the road. Please reach out to us if you would like to discuss your experience further.
Veterans United Home Loans was nothing short of amazing. They stayed on their A-game every step of the way to get me to the finish line of owning my home. I will definitely recommend their home loan services to my fellow vets. Everything ran smooth and they were quick to help with the unexpected minor issues. I am a homeowner and I love my new home!!!
Fantastic. Made me feel like their only client
Great place to do business with they streamlined the entire process which made it painless. No complaints.
If you are shopping for a loan, you are in the right place. Trish Cole and Veterans United are as good as you will find. Great rates, service, technology, experience and integrity. I highly recommend.
You can’t go wrong with Veterans United. They are about getting it done just for you.
Nothing but positive vibes here. The entire process was smooth...the closing company representative was also phenomenal and on time.
We have done our mortgage business here twice in the last three years and both times were seamless. Thanks to all of you guys at Veterans United for taking good care of my family.
Veteran United Home Loans has a great customer service and always help you through the loan process . We are very happy with our home refinance experience.
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Thanks again. Veterans United 6 years ago helped us build our credit for free, helped us close on 2 homes and now a refinance. If you are a veteran, try them and I can ensure you will never close on a home thru anyone else!
You can't go wrong with John and his time. You will leave feeling like he is family.
Veterans looking into a VA home loan, look no more. Veterans United has been the best experience when it comes to dealing with a VA home lender. This is my third VA home loan, and hopefully my last. But, if I ever need a VA home loan again, I know where to go.
The people are friendly and really care about your needs and make things understandable. This was our first home purchase and Veterans United made it simple. I completely recommend Veterans United and will use them for any homes I purchase down the road.
