My wife and I started our home buying process with Rob Roberson of Academy Mortgage at the direction of our realtor Ally Gibson. Both of them were incompetent and provided a terrible experience, but this is about Rob and Academy Mortgage. At the time we were considering new construction and the builder would only work with Ally and Academy, so we didn't really shop around. We ultimately changed our minds about new construction and made an offer on an existing house in North Chico. As the process started we had to repeatedly send the same documents (taxes, bank statements, etc.) to Rob over and over, and he would mess up every document created (loan application, etc.) over and over. Not once or twice, at least 4 times to get things like our names and social security numbers correct. Once we were finally able to get correct docs and a Good Faith Estimate (GFE) I started shopping other lending sources with an assurance from Rob that he would match any deal I could find. After talking to probably a dozen lenders, I ended up getting a GFE with a rate 0.5% lower from BOFA. I sent the GFE to Rob expecting him to say, "ok." Instead, I received an angry and insulting phone call. He claimed there was no way he could match that rate because he "wasn't making any money on the deal already". He said I was naive and there was no way BOFA could close the deal in two weeks. Luckily he is as good at predicting the future as he is at honoring his word, preparing docs, and being courteous. We closed with BOFA a day early, so there was a happy ending. Avoid Academy Mortgage at all costs and mortgage brokers in general. As I learned when I was shopping, brokers can't match direct lenders and banks because they don't actually have any money, they just sell other people's. If you go to a bank or other direct lender you don't have to pay a middle-man. Remember, you are in a real estate transaction, not making friends. read more