American Advisors Group

Dear Sir/Madam,
AAG has responded in writing to Ms. [redacted]'s concerns. We are sorry for the misdirected mailer and are continuously striving to minimize errors of this nature. We have placed all of her information on a Do Not Contact list. A response letter, a copy of which was uploaded to...

your site today was mailed to Ms. [redacted] today for her review.Sincerely,
[redacted]
AAG CARES Manager
[redacted] Ext. [redacted]
Dear Ms. [redacted],
American Advisors Group, (hereinafter AAG), is in receipt of concerns filed with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on June 3, 2016. We appreciate the opportunity to respond to your request.
In your correspondence, you stated the following:
“I continued to receive information from this company following unsubscribing from an unsolicited email returning previous letters and calling them yet they continue to send me a letter thanking me for my interest in the reverse mortgage program in this letter they also indicate that I requested free reverse mortgage information pack I can guarantee that this has never happened I do not believe in reverse mortgage I feel that businesses the back reverse mortgage is her often irresponsible and would never subscribe to any of their services including requesting any information pack it appears to me that they only contact senior citizens and by providing incorrect information "Thank you for your interest in a reverse mortgage" "you are receiving this letter because you requested are free reverse mortgage information back". I feel that this approach may put some seniors at risk for contacting them." [End].
You went on to say that you would like AAG to include only accurate information in their letter to possible consumers that does not indicate that the consumer has expressed an interest in their services when they have not done so.
AAG would like to apologize unreservedly for any inconvenience caused by receipt of the marketing piece. I reached out to you by phone on June 1, 2016 and you expressed your concerns about receiving a marketing mailer worded in the manner this one is.
With several campaigns in progress at the same time, errors do sometimes occur. While this is no excuse, we are working diligently to ensure that such mistakes do not happen. Per your request, AAG has placed your information on the Do Not Contact list. We are grateful that you took the time to make us aware of your concerns as it assists AAG in assessing its campaigns, and increasing our level of accuracy both through our in house marketing departments and through our affiliates and partners.We hope this letter has addressed all of your concerns. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.
Sincerely,
[redacted]
American Advisors Group
CARES Manager
[redacted] Ext. [redacted]

It's was difficult getting upfront estimate of cost.
Our home required a couple of fairly minor repairs which the held funds from our loan to ensure correction was completed. We have been harassed by phone calls and letters regarding completion of our repairs ever since 2/2016. Our loan closed 1/26/2016. Repairs aren't required to be completed until 10/26/2016. Repairs required much more repair than what was requested by the lender so it is taking time to complete, we have been upfront with their repair department every time they call. The letters have been threatening and the phone calls have been persistent. At this time were considering refinancing again to get out of our contract with American Advisors.

Good Morning,
Please find a detailed response to the Consumer's rebuttal of our initial response letter. 
AAG is satisfied that it followed all origination and processing guidelines on this loan which was cancelled at the borrower's request. AAG considers this matter closed.
Please feel free to call or email me with any questions.
Sincerely,
[redacted]
American Advisors Group
Complaints Resolution Manager
[redacted] Ext. [redacted]
[redacted]
Dear Ms. [redacted],
American Advisors Group (herein AAG) is in receipt of your rebuttal to our response. We appreciate the opportunity to address your concerns.
In your communication to the Revdex.com, you stated that you were assured that any amounts you paid for services associated with the loan would come out of your loan proceeds.
Once again, AAG would like to apologize for the breakdown in communication regarding your responsibilities as a borrower. The loan originator explained that any third party services incurred during the processing of your loan would be paid from your loan proceeds if the loan funded. We also explained that the borrower is solely responsible for any services, inspections or repairs provided by third party contractors, whether or not the loan funds. 
Please refer to the the enclosed copy of the Release, Indemnification and Hold Harmless Agreement you signed on March 24, 2015 which explains the borrower's responsibilities regarding third party services and expenses incurred during the loan process.
During the loan process, a critical issue in your foundation was identified. Evidence of movement within the foundation was identified in the cellar area. The concrete wall is leaning and, mortar is falling our of the block work, and the pillars are leaning. the interior floor is sloping in some areas and the interior crawlspace piers are dry-stacked and resting on gravel, with no footings present. There appears to be a significant amount of subsurface water coming in from the hill in front of your home, which is getting trapped near the foundation.this water appears to have caused subsidence in the soil, which, combined with improper footings on piers, has caused many piers to lean and provide inadequate bearing for the flooring system (Page 1-3 of enclosed Engineering Report).
Because all of AAG's loans are FHA insured, we must originate all loans in strict compliance with HUD/FHS guidelines. As it stands, your property does not minimum HUD eligibility guidelines and would need the repairs recommended in the enclosed engineering report to satisfy those minimum standards. 
At the time your loan was cancelled, it was in an Approved subject to condition status. You chose to withdraw your application instead, and regrettably, the loan could not fund. We are sorry we could not work with you to fund your loan. Please feel free to reach out to your loan originator if you feel you would like to re-apply for a reverse mortgage after the recommended engineering repairs are completed, or if you would those costs to be paid to the contractor at closing. There is no guarantee that the appraisal amounts will be as high as your previous one due to possible changes in the real estate market and other factors.
Please do not hesitate to call or email me if you have any questions.
Sincerely,
[redacted]
American Advisors Group
Complaints Resolution Manager
[redacted] Ext. [redacted]
[redacted]

Dear Sir/Madam,
A response was mailed to the Consumer today, a copy of which is uploaded on this portal.
Please do not hesitate to call or email me with any questions.
Sincerely,
[redacted]
American Advisors  Group
[redacted] Ext. [redacted]
Dear Ms. [redacted],
American Advisors Group (herein AAG) is in receipt of your complaint filed with the Revdex.com on August 19, 2015. We appreciate the opportunity to address its concerns, and apologize for the delay in responding in writing.
In your complaint you stated the following:
“Called to obtain their advertised brochure. The Agent pressured me to give all my personal information, repeatedly asking me if I was ready to purchase a reverse mortgage, unable to answer my questions which I didn't even want to discuss at this phone call, kept having to put me on hold for what I don't know, returned to conversation, more manipulations and pressure to sign up, would not connect me with a manager, on hold again and again, I finally hung up. Called back to see if I could get connected with someone else and receptionist quizzed me and would not connect me to a manager. Hung up. 2 weeks later I received their brochure in the mail. This institution is merely a phone center for reverse mortgages and very impersonal, rude, manipulative. For seniors inquiring about a very, very important financial option such as a Reverse Mortgage, I would not give this #1 rated institution the time of day. This call was made in April. I filed this complaint later in time because I wanted to be sure my research with other institutions left me with a valid picture of how horrible this company's tactics really are. Subsequently I have gone with another Lending Institution, whereby I can deal directly with the Lender and not a mortgage broker.”
AAG would like to apologize for the inconvenience. When a prospective borrower calls for information, it is AAG's policy for the loan originator, an experienced and licensed professional, to evaluate each person's motivation for obtaining the loan. The best way to do this is to ask questions. Some homeowners are comfortable with this, while others are not. The more information we are able to obtain from the prospective borrower, the more we can learn about what positive financial changes they would like to achieve as a result of a reverse mortgage; and the better prepared to suggest the right reverse mortgage program suited to that person's unique set of needs.
AAG is are the largest reverse mortgage Lender in the country, and has reached this position by caring for our customers, and treating them with the dignity and respect they deserve, by being driven to provide superior customer service, and being ethical in how we conduct ourselves and our work, every day. I would also like to remind you that AAG is not a broker, but an FHA approved Lender.
Your feedback is sincerely appreciated, as it assists us as a company to improve our overall business culture of care, empathy and sensitivity for our valuable borrower base- Seniors over the age of 62- who have worked with us to build this company into a great partnership for sound retirement financial options.
We are sorry we could not work with you to obtain a reverse mortgage. We wish you all the best for the future.
We hope this written response has provided the needed answers. Please do not hesitate to call or email me with any questions. -
Sincerely,
[redacted]
American Advisors Group
[redacted] Ext. [redacted]

To Whom It May Concern: American Advisors Group strives to provide consumers, as well as our borrowers with the highest level of service, and we apologize for any inconvenience that you may have experienced. Please be advised that as of 3/30/2017 you have been added to our Do Not Contact List...

and per your request, you will no longer be contacted by our company. If at any time in the future you would like to discuss any of the services we may offer, please feel free to contact AAG and we would be happy to assist you with your questions.    Sincerely,   [redacted] 
[redacted] 
[redacted]  
[redacted]  
[redacted]

I was very pleased with my experience although I have not yet requested any draws with the exception of the first disbursement of funds. Hopefully, when and if I do, it will be as smooth as the first experience.

I would like to amend my complaint with a Desired Resolution as follows:  I request that the Agent who manipulated me into giving my personal information and would not agree to send me a brochure without that be disciplined or fired and my personal information at AAG be purged from their...

system.

They did a great job keeping me informed in every step of the process, answered all my questions plus some I didn't think to ask..The time line they projected was spot on.

I had a very positive experience working with American Advisor Group and would recommend these folks. Mr. Pitts was a true gentleman and patient with the home equity sell/purchase agreement that we worked out with the bank. MIP he had no control over but everyone pays it. I am moving next week and I will be in a good place mentally now. Thank you. -**

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
Their response stated that I was informed of needing to contact a counselor for the reverse mortgage process, and that paying for an appraisal fee was industry standard practice,  but they did not address the fact that the AAG rep did not tell me that I had to pay for it those two items.   I am not an attorney and I am not in the mortgage business to know these things.  How can I know any of these "industry norm" items?  I am a senior citizen who trusted the rep at AAG.   When I originally called AAG I told the rep that I did not know if I qualified, the rep said he would run the numbers and let me know. I gave the AAG rep my best guess as to the value of my home and the loan amount.   I also gave the rep our ages.    I had told the rep during our first phone conversation that we thought our home was worth about $500k and that my loan was about $360k.   The appraisal came in at $485k and the loan was for $358k, not much off my estimates.    The numbers I gave the rep were more than adequate for him to tell us that we did not qualify.    The AAG rep used some form of loan assumption before he assured us repeatedly that we would qualify for this loan.   The counselor used the same exact value estimates and figures to calculate that we wouldn't qualify.  So the argument made by AAG that they wouldn't know if I qualify until after the appraisal was done is completely false.    In fact, we called a loan broker shortly after this incident and he told us within minutes that there was no way we would qualify, unless we paid down the mortgage by over $120k (we did not have the money to pay down the loan and the AAG rep knew this very well).    Our appraisal came in only $15k less than what we thought.     Even if our home appraised for $500k and not $485k, that still means we needed to pay over $100k to get approved.        Please forgive me for typing in capitals, but I want to make sure AAG understands this point clearly... "THE ONLY REASON WE WENT AHEAD WITH THE APPRAISAL AND THE COUNSELING WAS BECAUSE THE AAG REP KEPT TELLING US THAT WE WOULD QUALIFY FOR THIS LOAN, HE VERBALLY GUARANTEED THAT WE WOULD QUALIFY ON MULTIPLE OCCASIONS...EVEN AFTER WE WERE TOLD WE WOULDN'T QUALIFY BY THE COUNSELOR, THE AAG REP SAID THAT THE COUNSELOR DIDNT KNOW WHAT HE WAS SAYING AND THAT WE WOULD QUALIFY"
 
The AAG rep should have told us during our first call that we would not qualify based on the equity we had in our home.  I was told by many industry experts since this terrible experience that AAG reps need to use a loan assumption to figure out if a client could qualify or not.  The counseling session was there to protect us from people like this AAG rep, but when the AAG rep kept telling us that the counselor knew nothing, we believed him.   The AAG rep did not tell us that we might qualify, he did not tell us that we may need to put money down, he told us that we would be 100% qualified.  He told us that we would definitely qualify, and not only just qualify, we would get cash back.   He knew that we did not understand anything about mortgages or reading fine print in their legal documents.  We are senior citizens who are ignorant to these things.  That is why we called AAG, because they have a great Revdex.com rating and had a well known actor on TV who was endorsing them.    It is now clear to us that the AAG rep simply wanted to take our application, so he used any tactic he could to get us to complete an application -    telling us that we qualify for this loan and not mentioning anything about any fees we need to pay.  Also, every time we found out about any fees, he told us not to worry that we would get this loan soon and that those fees will be worth it.
 
I do not understand how AAG has such a high rating with Revdex.com when this seems to be a normal practice for them.   I make this assumption because of their response to this complaint.  They took no responsibility in their rep lying and misleading us.  They got our hopes up for a few weeks, had us pay for these fees (fees that we could not afford) and then treated us terribly by ignoring us in the end.   I would like to kindly ask again for your help in receiving a refund back for all the expenses that we incurred by following the guidance of AAG.  Even though the fees were not paid to AAG, the only reason we paid them is because AAG told us to do so.  We would also want to know that AAG will no longer practice this type of sales tactics with senior citizens like ourselves.
 
 
Regards,
[redacted]

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below. Again, I expected this kind of response.  I have no moral feelings of guilt with how we handled the situation.  If you look at some of AAGs reviews, you will see many cases which are consistent with ours.  Because I spoke my mind, now my agent involved has declined to pay for the second contractor.  If AAG were to cover half the cost, I would accept.  If not, I will continue forward and let my case be viewed by all.  [redacted] and familyPS:  from the vantage point of Mr. [redacted] and the Revdex.com, it's very difficult to see or understand the process we went through.  We could go the route of getting every contractor involved in this case but I would never do that.  It's not fair to drag them into this and ask them to take time and give their opinions to this case.  If AAG wants to do that, go ahead. 
Regards,
[redacted]

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
AAG, You still have not answered my question. When the notary came in Aug. 2015, I gave him all the required documents including income. When AAG received this documents from the notary, I should have been notify by AAG that I did not meet the income requirements at this time and the whole process should have been stop. So my question is: "Why did AAG continue with the loan process, when clearly back in Aug. 2015 AAG knew that I did not meet the income requirement?"
Regards,
[redacted]

Dear Sir/Madam,
AAG has responded to the Consumer complaint today. (Please see attachment).
While the response may not be what the Consumer was expecting, AAG has made every effort to respond in a transparent manner. Appraisal fees cannot be refunded to Borrowers. All Our...

Borrowers are aware of this fact and sign an Appraisal Request Form acknowledging their understanding that the fee is non refundable. In instances where an agreement was entered into by the Borrower and AAG, the Appraisal Request Form would be notated to reflect an agreement different from the norm. In the case of the Consumer, there was no contract containing any language in regards to a refundable appraisal fee.
Regarding the abstract, some states require the provision of a copy of the property abstract. Oklahoma is one of those states and AAG had no say in the requirement. The Consumer did not mail the abstract to AAG. Rather the abstract was delivered to a Land Title company in Oklahoma, where it is still located. AAG has provided the name of the contact person and the address. (please see response letter).
We hope the attached explanation is acceptable to the Consumer. AAG regrets that it was unable to fund the Consumer's loan due to issues beyond its control.
 
Sincerely,
Sinclair Roberts
Complaint Resolution Specialist.

I THINK ALL OF YOU ARE GREAT PEOPLE , YOU ARE UNDERSTANDING AND YOU
DO YOUR JOB WELL. I WOULD HIGHLY TELL OTHERS ABOUT YOU.

AAG is a honorable company,to do business with.The only thing you need to realize,it takes some time to get in all the paperwork they need.All the people I dealt with told it like it was,and always got back to me.My agent Andrea T ,AAA person to deal with.She is the person to contact if your serious about a reverse mortgage.We are very happy that we did this,and they are the company to go with.Nothing but 10s for all the people that I dealt with.[redacted] 

Fantastic service, I was kept in the loop through the process, and was very pleased with the outcome.

Have never searched for, registered for information or asked to be called by this business. They call ALL THE TIME. Even after requesting to be taken off their list, wherever they get this information, they called from the same number three times just today. They also call from different regions of the country, under different numbers.

I am very unhappy with this reverse mortgage company. When you get the approval letter it doesn't mean you have been approved it means there is more paperwork, more information, more changes to what they tell you. It will take several more months. When I finally signed the final papers I was told disbursement would be 3 days later. Hasn't happened. They at first said to give in a couple more days and check with the bank because they might hold it because of the amount. I called the bank and they claim it didn't matter the amount it would be posted immediately and would be available. They had not received it. So I contacted AAG and was then told it was sent Friday and if I didn't receive it in 3 more days give them a call. They also said I shouldn't been told it would be there on the date I have. Its in the paperwork. Called the bank again and they said that AAG would need to trace it. I couldn't reach my person at AAG so I sent them the message with my acct. number and routing number to see if they would trace it. I'm waiting. They also always told me congratulations and I would be getting 28,000. 1/2 the first year the other half in the next year. Then it dropped several times. Then they said they were going to hold out money for taxes and insurance for the life of the loan. I was told it would bring me down to $7,000. The day to sign the closing paperwork the amount I would receive was 5,430. All the time the only thing talked about was how much I was getting , my fault for not asking this but on the final papers I found out for the $28,000 it was costing me $44,700. With the first check I will be getting $5,000 at the cost of $44,000. Something is wrong with this.