Dominion Financial Services/ Private Money
Mount Juliet, TN · Member since 2015 · 2 posts · 2 votes
Does anyone know of or had dealings with Dominion Financial Services. I received a letter from them wanting to finance my next flip but I can't really find out much about them online. They are in Baltimore, MD. I may want to have a back up plan if needed on a deal but won't work with just anyone.
Thans,
Andy
Thanks for that. Seems most of the positive reviews in this thread were from people that have never posted here before? Granted so was yours... but I am warier of an account leaving a positive review as their first post or two and never posting again... makes me think someone at the company is trying to pump them up. Maybe that is just me being paranoid. Can't seem to find many people that can say they have used them successfully or even gotten a callback?
Let me preface this review by saying that I have been doing everything possible to rectify this issue directly with Dominion for almost an entire year. At this point, I am at the end of my rope and the best I can do is warn against doing business with Dominion Financial Services.
From the beginning of my dealings with this company, it has been one mistake after another. First, I established a monthly payment greater than the amount of my loan, intending for the difference to go to principal. For three months, only the amount for the loan was deducted. In the third month, this payment was deducted twice. Not only was the incorrect amount being deducted (no money was being added to my principal), but I was also unable to determine what was being deducted, when and why. I was able to get a hold of one of the agents, henceforth referred to as Agent A, who, after some back and forth, succeeded in correcting the mistake, retroactively crediting my principal with what it would have been had Dominion taken my payments as instructed to begin with.
After this, and without my consent, Dominion suddenly transferred my loan to another lender. While this in itself was an inconvenience (given that I had already gone through so much trouble to correct Dominion's mistake), it only got worse. Dominion's initial disbursement to the new lender did not show the changes that Agent A had made to rectify their initial mistake. Over several months, I tried contacting Dominion dozens of times via email and phone call, but there was no accountability on their behalf. I was given the run around at every juncture. My requests to speak to upper management were consistently deferred.
Months later, when someone (Agent B) finally got back to me, things did not improve. Without my knowledge, Dominion had sent a refund (to an old bank account) for the extra money I had authorized Agent A to deduct to make up for the difference in principal due to their incorrect deductions months prior. To summarize, Dominion had: neglected to take the correct amount for principal, adjusted the error, taken additional money to correct mistakes in withdrawing, then returned that extra money to an account no longer in use and without notification. This meant that the new lender had not received the adjustments to my principal, resulting in a loss of approximately $2,000 on my most valuable asset, as evidenced by the amortization table Dominion provided. Agent B directly acknowledged the fault of Dominion but did not take accountability for the mismanagement or correct the issue. The only action Agent B took was to offer me a Venmo payment for what he decided was my financial loss: $21 of lost interest.
Again, I requested to speak to upper management. The director of Dominion FInancial Services replied, offering to Venmo me $30 and misrepresenting some facts about my account, especially with regards to the financial loss I incurred due to Dominion’s myriad mistakes. Given the tone of the email, I had my lawyer take over all communications with Dominion. Since then, I have had trouble with my current lender due to errors in Dominion's initial disbursement of my escrow account and insurance payments they had withheld.
I have been managing properties for years now and I have never encountered such difficulty communicating with a lender, not to mention their utter lack of accountability and the low value they place on customer satisfaction. Needless to say, if you're considering doing business with Dominion Financial Services: stay away. They make mistakes, the customer pays.
Hey Anajanette - I'm sorry for your frustration. I spoke with my team to get up to speed. We definitely made a mistake by drafting your payment twice in the same month. You requested that we apply that payment to principal, and instead it was refunded to the original account. Mistakes were made, but its my understanding that you've been made whole. If that's not the case, please let me know. The forum won't let me post personal contact info, so direct message me and I'll give you my email and cell. -Jack BeVier, Partner
Thanks for reaching out. My understanding is that I have not been made whole. I sent you my number via private message. Would love to talk. And if I am in the wrong, I will happily retract my review and post an apology. That you have reached out, is more than I have received in earlier months of this, so I thank you, regardless, and hope we can talk and clear this up.
Anja
DO NOT DO IT!!! I had 2 cash out refi's on the table with them. We closed 1 and the second they messed up time and time again. Was promised a 30 day close and after 90 days I pulled out of the process with them and returned my business to Civic.
Dominion promised one interest rate and delivered another by the time we got to closing on the second loan. I called them out on this only to be informed that they dont lock rates. Bait and switch! When they finally sent over the closing docs to title the loan amount had changed from $233K to $171K. I told title we werent going to be closing with those docs. Called to my loan originator Delshawn and he would not return my call. 3 days later he contacted me and asked what the problem was and he told me that I asked for the decreased amount??!! Since all of our conversations were documented via email, it was easy for me to denounce this. He told me that he would have to send the loan back through underwriting causing yet another delay.
Loan processing on the 1st loan that we closed is nonexistent. They do NOT have any web portals to be able to monitor or service your loan. Hoping they sell this on the secondary market soon to get away from them.
I do want to say… my experience with Dominion has been turned around. Sometimes it just takes one person. After I posted a complaint here some weeks ago, @Jack BeVier got in touch with me and I’ve been working with the people directed to make me whole in every way and they have. I’m not discounting the experiences other people may have had, but in my case, I gave them a chance to make it right and they did. And truth is they gave me best rate and lowest closing costs out there. My only issue had been servicing and that has been addressed. Hope this helps someone out there when it comes to Dominion. Thank you.
I did two portfolios with them this winter - took many months to complete. Sad to say, no better than any other mortgage experience. Underwriter drug things out and missed a number of things that caused expensive delays for me. DSCR loans are the only way I can get refi'd out of my BRRRRs, so at least they came through. Like any other mortgage company, you have to harass them daily to keep your loan moving and to get ahead of issues; otherwise progress stops.
I was told the same about not locking in rates, which is infuriating as you get the feeling the underwriters are getting bonus points for taking longer, especially recently with accelerating rate increases. For as high as their fees are you'd think they could at least lock in rates and move things along timely. They also know I do 8-10 refi's per year and not even a call back since the last closing to see about the next properties.
My first loan with them was just sold but it hasn't been fully transferred yet; when I called about my payments they told me to wait until it's fully transferred. To date I'm holding two payments and not heard boo about this coming month, just seems very odd. I am investigating other alternatives for upcoming refi's.