I used Home Financial Services to obtain a new construction loan. They placed my loan with Chase and created a mortgage commitment letter that required me to pay a $2, 000 commitment fee. The letter looked like the fee was paid to Chase. I paid to get the construction going. In the meantime, Chase stopped dealing with brokers. HFS placed my loan with a different lender, CitiMortgage for a different amount. When the construction approached completion, I asked HFS to lock my mortgage rate. They waited a few weeks to make sure I have little room to maneuver and offered me a "competitive rate" of 5.75% without points or 5.25% with 1 point. (To give you an idea, the average rates in my area were around 5.1%-5.2%, without points.) They said I should take it or the $2, 000 commitment fee I gave to Chase would not be returned. However, if I sign the CitiMortgage commitment letter, then "HFS would negotiate with Chase so that Chase would allow my commitment fee to be applied towards CitiMortgage loan." This sounded strange to me, so I called Chase. They said they had stopped dealing with brokers and they never had my money. My contact at HFS, Derrick Allen, who happens to be the company's owner! lied to me straight-faced. I emailed to him and he didn't deny he lied to me. It is not personal, it is business. I went to First Niagara Bank the same day, applied, locked in a rate of 4.875% with 0.6 points and got a commitment letter 48 hours later. I canceled with HFS and demanded my commitment fee back on the grounds that I paid it towards a different product, for a different amount, from a different lender. As of now, HFS has refused to refund me the money, even though it is theft. Mr. Allen feels that I wrote him a blank check that he can keep, because it was "due and earned." Lousy service, lies, greed and more lies. Stay away from these folks! They deserve to be driven out of business!