I just can't recommend. While the process of getting a loan moved quickly (and we were relatively qualified with the ability to make a 20%+ down payment so one would think it would go smoothly) everything after the closing went completely south. So Dovenmuehle started servicing the loan and that's common practice but then their phone wait times for a simple question are atrocious and they failed to twice to use our escrow to pay our taxes and do you really want that kind of headache? The super responsive loan agent you might ask who our attorney advised to reached out to? MIA. Ignores emails pretends you don't exist. In sales, you'd think that the long term care of you clients matter but apparently this company thinks you will be locked in for 30 years and they took your money and sold you a loan product and you are done to them. Not everyone is going to be locked in 30 years. In a few years when this loan is paid off and we go do this another round buying our next house or as we refer our friends who are also first time buyers, we definitely can't recommend this company. read more

I applied for a refi 90 days ago for a $80 k loan and it's still pending clear to close from the underwriter but they done know what the under writers need to close the deal. I've bought multiple homes in multiple states and done multiple multiple mortgages and refi's. I've never experienced anything like this. I even emailed the VP of Midwest sales and no response. read more

Do not use Dominic White. 1st experience (moving) was horrible. Delayed everything on us. Really annoyed the realtor and all involved. We gave him a second chance to refinance our mortgage. Guess what?! We are sill waiting. It's been over a month and we get the same email response: "I'll look into it". So we called. No answer. SO VERY UNPROFESSIONAL. read more

What started off as what seemed like an easy mortgage transaction quickly turned sour. I was referred to Guaranteed Rate because we needed a quick close, and my previous mortgage company couldn't make any promises. In addition, Peter Martino offered a bigger credit at closing. He actually offered two options - a smaller credit with a lower interest rate and a bigger credit with a higher interest rate. I did the math, and the larger credit/higher interest rate was actually the better deal based on how long I anticipated living in my new home. Everything seemed to be moving along nicely and I had no complaints until the last week or so when some minor annoyances popped up. Frustrating, but since it didn't delay closing I didn't make a fuss. I didn't get the final HUD until an hour and a half before closing, so I didn't get a chance to review it since I was already in the car. To be fair, I didn't catch the mistake when I signed everything at closing (and if you've ever looked at a HUD, you know how confusing they are), but when I got home I reviewed it and saw some things didn't add up and basically I was given less than half of the credit I was promised. I immediately emailed Peter about it, and suddenly I was getting no responses (when I would get super quick responses before). I spent the next week getting the run-around, and I finally got a follow up ONLY after I filled out some survey they sent me. So, only when their reputation is challenged do they actually communicate with customers. Nice. When I finally did talk to Peter, after assuring me he had been working on it for the last week and just not telling me, he admitted that a mistake was made and he missed it. Despite this, upper management at Guaranteed Rate ultimately said there's nothing they can do due to federal regulations. Thus, I am screwed out of almost $1500. Am I partly to blame for not knowing how to read a HUD and not letting my attorney know I was getting a credit? Yes. But as a mortgage professional who does this all day long, I also expect them to get it right on their end. Shame on me for being too trusting, I guess. Sure, Peter was remorseful and from I could tell genuinely felt bad about the situation, but guess what? I'm still out almost $1500. Sure, Peter offered me a deal to try to make it right (refinance at a lower interest rate at their expense in 180 days), but that's assuming interest rates will be lower. If they're not, guess what? I'm still out almost $1500. So, my advice to you, dear reader, is to learn from my rookie mistake and triple check your HUD at closing no matter who your lender is. Closing cost credit aside, their insurance department also dropped the ball. After initiating the loan process, Jennifer Ward contacted me to see if I wanted to talk about insurance rates. Sure. The homeowners insurance she quoted me was a good deal, but the car insurance rate was about $20-ish a month higher than what I pay now. She said she would research some more rates and get back to me... and that was the last I ever heard from her. That's cool, I'll take my business elsewhere. Edit (5/22/15): Within an hour of me posting this review, their "customer care" team called me, they posted the owner's comment below, and Jennifer reached out to me. The rundown: - Rachel from customer care left me a voicemail and I called her back. She wanted to see if there was something they could do and I told her that Peter's upper management already said legally there's nothing they can do. She said something to the effect of there are ways around it, and she could look into getting me a gift card. (But wouldn't a gift card still require cash? Why not just give me the cash I was promised? Creative bookkeeping, anyone?) Regardless, that call, according to my phone history, took place at 4:18pm on May 14th. It's now May 22nd and I haven't heard a thing from anyone. Looks like we're back to radio silence and really poor follow up. I specifically asked her to email me and not call with an update because I was sick and losing my voice, and yes, Rachel, I have checked my spam folders. I have zero communication from you. Great follow up! Man, their "customer care" team knows how to show you they care! - Jennifer left me a voicemail apologizing, but claims she left me a voicemail on X date saying she couldn't get me a better car insurance rate. Jennifer, honey, no you didn't. The conversation I outlined above happened on the day you claim you called me again (phone records are amazing, right?), and you did not leave me a voicemail. The ONLY reason I chose Guaranteed Rate over my previous mortgage broker is because of the credit I was lured in with and promptly screwed out of. That, plus their horrible "customer care" job they've done trying to fix this, has only sealed the deal that I regret ever giving this company my business. And if they think for one second I will trust them to refinance my home in 180 days, they are sorely mistaken. read more

My wife and I recently completed a refinance with Dominic White's team that was fraught with issues. We had worked with Dominic once before, when we purchased our home, and he worked for Wells Fargo. Dominic is a nice guy, and we had very few problems the first time around, so when he cold-called us to refinance our home, we decided that we trusted him enough to give it a shot, as the terms and numbers that he offered up seemed competitive. He told us that the refinance would be quick and easy, neither of which, in our opinion, were accurate. The first red flag that we encountered was when it was explained to us that the valuation that they were estimating on our home was based on Realtor.com, Zillow, and other realty websites. I don't know too much about this sort of thing, but I have been told time and time again, by multiple realtors, and other people in the business, that this is NOT a great way to get an accurate valuation of a home. When I voiced my concern to the team, I was told that they do this all the time, and it is perfectly accurate. Needless to say, I was not surprised when the actual appraisal of our home came in $10,000 lower than what Dominic and his team had estimated, but was not too excited when that lower valuation meant that the original interest rate and terms that had been proposed originally would need to be changed. There were other communication issues with the team throughout the process that were pretty annoying, and in our opinion totally unnecessary, but we worked through them. When it came time to close on the deal, about 2 months later, We were not given a choice of date, and were told that it had to be on a certain Thursday, one which was not convenient for us. When we explained that it was a bad day for us, due to work conflicts, we were told that we couldn't move the date due to an extension that had been filed previously, one that we knew nothing about (poor communication). We worked it out so that the closing would be very early in the morning on that Thursday, but after we made all the arrangements, we were notified that there was an issue with our insurance, and we would have to get that figured out before closing. This was at 6pm or so the day before our closing, while I was at work. When I asked how I was supposed to get a hold of my broker to get this taken care of after business hours the day before the closing, I was told that I should just call the 800 number for my insurance, and they could probably take care of it. I spent about an hour on the phone- at work- with my insurance company, and they didn't understand what Guaranteed Rate needed, so I emailed the GR team and they told me that if I tried to get in touch with my broker the next day, we might be able to move the closing to later in the day. The day of the closing, I called my insurance broker when they opened, got the problem straightened out, and took the rest of the day off (no pay) so that I could get this deal closed. I was THEN told that they couldn't do the closing that day, but could do it Monday. When I inquired about how they were able to move the closing date, when I was clearly told that we HAD to close on one specific date, and one date only, I was told that they would work it out. Not sure why they couldn't "work this out" when I had asked them to work with our schedule originally. At this point, I asked Dominic to speak with his direct supervisor, and Adam Kamarat called me to listen to my story. He apologized, and said that he would get it figured out for me. Somehow, he was not able to get make it so that we could close on the date that we were originally told, so we had to close the following Monday, 4 days later, at 7:30am (so much for only being able to close on the day they told us, I guess). Adam followed up with me the following day, via e-mail, to ask how the closing had gone, and I had to inform him that he had the wrong date of our closing, we weren't closing until the following Monday. It didn't really make us feel valued as customers that the guy that was going to "take care of the problem" didn't even know the day that we were closing on. Overall, I probably would've killed the deal if it hadn't been so close to the closing date, but we ended up going through with it. I am still not satisfied with how this whole transaction went, and how it was handled by Dominic, his team, or Adam. I will not be using Dominic to handle my business in the future, and will not use Guaranteed Rate. I would caution others against using, at the very least, this branch, but maybe even the company as a whole, as I did not have this much problem with Wells Fargo when originally buying the home, and I assume that there are plenty of other competitors that would complete the same task with little problem. Poor communication, poor customer service, bad follow through. read more

Peter Laska and Kevin Heneghan were the best team to work with for the purchase of our first house. The loan was aproved in 3 weeks without too much hassle. They responded immediately to my e-mails and phone calls. This company does a great job and they have the best people. Thanks again, read more

I just completed a re-fi with Michael Tyrikos at Guaranteed Rate...Chicago office, I think. Everyone is amazed at the great rate we got, locked in for 40 days with no fee. Everything went smoothly, start to finish. We closed in less than 30 days. The closing costs were better than we found anywhere else, and we were allowed to use a Title Company we found on our own, whose fee was lower than that quoted by Guaranteed Rate. I have absolutely no complaints. Michael was very responsive to calls and emails, restoring my faith that there still is "customer service" in this day and age. We have owned four homes and re-fied more than once...that's a lot of closings. None - and I will repeat - none have gone so well. Thanks, Michael. Judging by some of the less stellar reviews of Guaranteed Rate, perhaps they should give you the job of training the other agents! read more

Matt Roder helped us refinance and get the best rate we could for our mortgage. He was very pleasant and professional to work with. His knowledge in the mortgage industry helps making your home purchase or refinance enjoyable. We will definitey use him on our next home buying adventure or refinance. I trust this man with all of my mortgage needs for he is truly at the top of the mortgage industry. I recommend him 100% for anyone looking to buy a home or refinance. Thank you Matt Roder!! read more

I recently closed on a property in Barrington, IL using Guaranteed Rate. I worked with Lisa Vaske and her team in Schaumburg, and everyone was fantastic. Lisa and her team were very responsive and kept me well-informed every step of the way. Lisa locked me into a great rate on a 3/1 ARM and I had a smooth closing. read more

Bradley Rasof is excellent! We've used him for our last two purchases and are nothing but pleased with his level of service. We have a lot of choices when it comes to a mortgage, but we will continue to come to Bradley. We had a lot of questions on our most recent purchase and Bradley is always available and quick to respond. His communication skills are second to none. He makes the entire home buying process seem easy, and we could not be more thankful. He's great to work with, and I received compliments on him from our agents, home inspector, and attorneys. We recommend him to anyone, you will not be disappointed. read more

Our experience with working with Guaranteed Rate was amazing. They were organized, attentive and responsive. I highly recommend working with this lender. Matthew Roder definitely knows his stuff along with his helpful team. read more