Dominion Financial - any experience or comments?

Question

This popped up on several podcasts.  Paid placement-sponsor, but curious if anyone has worked with them for SFR or multifamily purchase?

Jason Smith · Answer

@Anjanette Delgado

Sorry to hear about your issues with Dominion.  They are quickly making a bad name for themselves.  I had issues with closing a loan with them.   I can only ask that you too file a complaint with the BBB in hopes to warn others.

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.

Anjanette Delgado · Answer

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.