Yes - Lend American is the East Coasts Largest FHA Direct-to-consumer Mortgage Lender. But they service loans and can work with people in all of the lower 48 states (Alaska now, too, I think) - and I would encourage you to call them.
I am NOT affiliated with them, I am just a happy customer of theirs. I can tell you that I thought they were too good to be true as well. My FICO was in the low 500's and I thought that the days of getting a mortgage were off in the distance for me.
My Loan Officer was Gary Branis (ext. 2184, if you want to talk to him, which I recommend) - he was very patient with me, looked over my credit reports and used a tool they have on hand to run my credit through various scenarios to determine what I needed to do to get my score up. He worked with me into the evening hours on a number of occasions, even returning a phone call at 11:00pm one night!! He was even willing to coach me on how to go about doing certain things and told me where to expect my score to end up!
For Example: one of the items on my report was a single 30 day late on a well established credit card that was otherwise in good standing. I called the company and asked for the one late to be removed and was told HECK NO "this is impossible", by the indian customer service guy. Gary then told me to call the customer service number and ask to speak to someone in North America. I did and asked again - POOF "Sure sir, we can do that for you" said the nice, intelligable, canadian lady I got. Just like that, the late was gone.
After a few rounds like this, Gary Re-scored my credit - and I scored EXACTLY where his scenario software said it would. I went from a 500 to a 675! He then secured a 3% down, FHA Backed 30 year fixed mortgage at 6.5% with an option to streamline in a few years (dropping the rate further without additional closing costs)
I can tell you that I am now a proud (and first time) home owner who had been spun off by 6 other lenders who didn't want to help. Gary and Lend America took the time and invensted their own money in the process to get me into my home. I am sitting in MY OWN home-office typing this right now!!
Give them a try, call Gary and tell him "Victor in Oklahoma" sent you - you won't be sorry. If LEND AMERICA can't get you a mortgage, NO ONE can!
Call HIM at 1-800-707-5626 x 2184 or E-mail him at
I'm sorry but the previous answer must have been answered by someone affiliated with that company. Who else could have written it in such good detail. I am a realtor who warned my client of internet lenders. They choose to stay with LendAmerica until they received their pre-dated good faith estimate a month after we had requested one and all the terms, price, interest rate, fees were extremely inflated. They were told they met the deadline for a no-money-down assistance program and days later told them they could not get it, there interest rate went up, fees were astronomical, the loan officer was rude and vague. The lender knew these buyers only had so much money to work with and the amount they had to bring in to close doubled. They even had the purchase price and loan amount inflated. For a $65K house where seller was giving back $3K for costs, they had loan amount of $69K and buyer's bringing in $4K to close. Technically seller was getting $63 for house but total expenses totaled $74K. Not a good thing! They changed to a local lender who said that Lend America would have been making about 5 times the amount that she would be making on the loan. Buyer beware!
It saddens me to see a real-estate "professional" trash a lending company, especially given the real-estate climate in our country right now. This person asks "who else could have written in such detail?" - well - I COULD!!! I'm a CLIENT, NOT A LENDER, NOT A REAL-ESTATE PRO, NOT IN THE BUSINESS. You shouldn't lose faith in your fellow mankind so easily... folks, what I have written is the truth - and nothing BUT the truth.
First, off - I am NOT employed or affiliated with Lend Amercian in any way beyond simply being a customer. I can honeslty say that I don't know every Loan Officer at the company - I only know Gary, which is why I mention him by name. I am sure that at a company this size there are going to be some real idiots that are only after a quick buck. This is one of the reasons I DIDN'T simply say "Call Lend America" - I mentioned MY officer by name.
Now, with that being said, I know there are going to people out there that now have that seed of doubt planted by "housemouse" - so I offer you this. In this post are photos of my home - the one I could NOT have purchased WITHOUT Lend America. Take a look at the dates on the pictures - they are accurate. you will see some of them before my closing date of 6/19/2008 and a couple AFTER that date.
If you need more proof, call Gary. He has been cleared to give you all my information and talk about the specifics of my Loan and what it took to get it.
I can also tell you that since my initial post on July 14th, Gary has received a number of calls in direct resposne to my post. He has been able to help a number of clients get into homes when they thought all hope was lost. He can't help everyone and he'll be the first to admit that, but if there is a way, he'll find it.
Don't let the post of a single Real-Estate "pro" who is being beaten down in their own market keep you from at least TRYING to get a home...in a sea of people shaking their heads no, Lend America said yes and now I own this: (make sure and read my captions!!)
This is our new house, right after the put the sod in. They are still working on a retaining wall in the front.
My wife was SOOO excited to see this in the front yard when we pulled up!!! The dream was becominga reality. (Yes, thats OUR last name!!!)
CLOSING DAY!!! Our first picture in front of OUR NEW HOME!!!
After a few months and some landscaping, our yard looked like this. We LOVE IT!
And our kitchen usually looks like this. LOL - we have 4 kids, so go figure..
Still don't belive me? you can E-mail me at - I'd be happy to give you any details i can about my experience with Lend America.
Don't let housemouse get you down... A LITTLE D-CON can clear that up!!
I am an Attorney in Melville Ny were they are based in and let me tell you to stay completely away from them. The son owns company from Father who is in Jail for Mortgage fraud and the Banking Dept is closing them down in about a month due to the same practices. Continental Mortgage has already been taking there leads from there ads on TV and they are currently on there Ginnie Mae License as they are taking them over with the help of bank regulators.
As far as the Shortt family beware you get what you pay for. I am sure your payments will increase with excuses of telling you your taxes went up, etc...
Well, I’ve tried and tried to find any information on a lawsuit about someone going to jail over mortgage fraud linked to Lend America or it’s Parent Company and haven’t been able to find anything. I would be very interested in ready about their shutting down too, considering all the new programs they are putting out like the HOPE for family program, not to mention the new building that they just built or the new employees they just brought onboard…. Hmm…. Doesn’t sound like they’re about the be shut down, does it? here, read about all that on Reuters.com (Forward-Thinking Positions Lend America As The Best Prepared FHA Approved Lender... | Reuters)
Here’s what Mortgagemag.com has to say about them. This was in an article about direct lenders that are continuing to offer mortgage options during the housing crunch. (Lend America Continues to Offer Consumers Relevant Mortgage Solutions During Current Mortgage Market Disruption)
Lend America, a National Mortgage Banking Organization and one of New York`s largest privately owned direct lenders, has proudly served the residential mortgage marketplace for over 20 years. The company is one of the most successful direct lenders in the United States and is the region`s largest and most well known FHA direct lenders. Lend America offers a wide range of home purchase and refinance programs to meet their clients` individual requirements. Lend America`s new 40,000 square foot headquarters employs approximately 300 employees and is located at 201 Old Country Road, Melville, New York, 11747. For more information on Lend America, please visit Nationwide, direct lender, Lend America offers mortgages, loans, with little to no money down, quick loan process.
And here’s one about how they are helping a major financial institution re-finance $1 billion of its’ non-performance real-estate portfolio. In lay-mans’ terms, this means they are helping refinance all types of loans into their new HOPE program for home-owners. Lend America facilitating HOPE refinancings | Real Estate and Technology News for Agents, Brokers and Investors | Inman News
And to the comment about “you get what you pay for” and my payments increasing – this so-called attorney is inferring that a yearly increase in payments is somehow a “scam” – anyone that has a fixed payment mortgage will see a slight increase in their payment yearly because of property taxes… DUH! In all reality, Lend America doesn’t service many of their own loans (in fact, at the time I got mine, they were not servicing ANY of them) – my loan was picked up by GMAC – I think we all know who they are… I never sent a single payment to Lend America, and GMAC wouldn’t approve me outright. Funny how the system works.
If you're going to trash the company, Mr. attorney, be prepared to back it up. can you provide a link to this so-called Mortgage Fraud case?
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