I was a first time home buyer. I chose this bank over other locals, or larger banks because the vice president who handles the home loans talk to me extensively about Northampton Cooperative being all about personalized service and that I would be hand held through this crazy home buying process. Needless to say, this was not the case.
After the initial meeting, I filled out the appropriate paperwork and called the VP to ask her what was next. She said nothing else was needed until I closed. Turns out, this would have been a great time to re-visit the issue of locking in a low interest rate. When I later asked her about this (at almost .5% increase in interest rate), she said that there was no way to keep details in all the open applications straight! I reminded her of our initial conversation about personalized service and hand hold and she just repeating that it was my responsibility and she could not remember all the details on all the applications.
I spoke with her supervisor who was utterly unhelpful. She had very little empathy and just kept repeating that all aspects of the application were my responsibility not the VP. Even when I mentioned the personal service etc., she said that she felt the VP had provided me with personalized service! ?
At the close of the loan, I was surprised to find that the bank put a hold on the loan until I had home owner insurance in place at least 7 days before closing (never mentioned to me) and then they put another hold on because I needed to pay a full year of insurance in advance. No word to me about either of these things. No word to my real estate attorney, just refusal to move forward.
I would never use them again. Although Bank of American may be more corporate, at least I would have been assured of their having a check list to make sure that things moved forward in a timely manner. read more
