I seriously can't believe this company is still in business. They rip off their customers, make employees work like slaves, and kick all of the fraudulent activity under the rug. Dan, Jay, Bill, and every other executive for this company have cheated thousands of people and employees. Why aren't they in jail? If this ever gets the attention it deserves, and all of the fraudulent activity is uncovered, they will go to prison for a long time. It's truly amazing that they have dodged a bullet for this long. It wouldn't surprise me to hear someday that Dan paid off someone so he wouldn't go to jail... Probably the same way he didn't go to jail for operating a gambling ring in college. I wonder how he managed to buy the Cavaliers with his criminal gambling background???

I always read reviews before buying, but this time I got bit. I was in an ARM and it was coming due. In order to get the best deal, I wanted to go with 2 lenders and take the best one. I knew that appraisals could vary, but I was in for a shock! Lender #1: A local bank had a higher interest rate, but the appraisal was $330. The appraisal amount came in at $244k. The previous appraisal was $248k, three years ago. Not bad.

Lender #2: Quicken Loans charged $550 for their appraisal. The appraisal came in at $206k! Almost $40k less then Lender #1. The agent wanted me to accept a second appraisal. If it came in less then $240k, then I would pay for it, otherwise; he would credit the amount at closing. Uhmmm... I guess I must have sounded really stupid if he thought I was going to accept that!

Bottom line: Always review before you buy. If it doesn't feel right, don't do it!

Had I followed my own rule, I wouldn't have lost $550. I just hope I can keep others from doing the same.

My wife had filled out on line that we were looking to Refinance and Consolidate, which Quicken Loans responded to. In her conversation with Gregg Scott on 9/11/08 he had talked her into a loan, that did not fit our needs, and had her put an ADAVCE FEE down of $350.00 to secure the loan interest rate at that time. Now here in lies the problem. A: My wife used my credit card to do so, without my knowledge. B: At no time did Scott Gregg say this was NON_REFUNDABLE, something my wife would have come to me at that time for my input. C: Papers were filled out by Quicken loans on my behalf, without my consent D: After I became involved I talked To Scott Gregg and told him that I didn't feel the loan was in our best interest and notified by e-mail and voice mail. E: Scott Gregg left me to believe that I could get my monies back and referred me to NICK in customer service, at which time Nick told me I wasn't going to get my money back.
Now I am asking you, to do what you can to prevent this from happing to other people in the future, and am wondering if I have any other recourse.
Thanks for your time

I am a current employee at Quicken Loans. Just to give you a quick background, I was born and raised in Arizona and have spent most of my life in sales, mostly automotive. I have been at Quicken Loans for just over a year and can honestly say its the worst job I have ever had. I can honestly say that this is a company that is owned, ran, and managed by crooks. Before I get to our illegal daily practices and crooked ownership, I want to start with some of the common practices of the 2 managers that run the call center that I work at in Arizona. Their names are TIM BIRKMEIER and MATT STOFFER. Just to start, these are 2 of the most fowl mouthed managers that I have ever worked for in my entire life. Whether its comments derogatory towards woman or racists jokes aimed towards his panics and african-american clients, there actions and speech are appalling.

I can't speak for all of the Quicken Loan call centers, but I do know what goes on in this Arizona sweat shop. TIM and MATT work their 150+ loan officers at our site about 60-75 hours per week, and the company does NOT pay overtime, but that labor is mandatory to keep your job. I have copies of schedules that show 10-12 days, 6 days a week. Although they do have the Fair Labor Act poster hung in 3 different spots at the site, I think someone has forgotten to read them thoroughly. But its not as if they hide it, MATT and TIM are quite open about the fact that they want you at work from 8-8 and to work through your lunch hour.

Not only does TIM and MATT screw their employees, but we are also trained to screw our customers. BEWARE, if you are a customer or soon to be a customer of Quicken Loans, please double think your decision. I will be the first to admit that I don't have alot of mortgage experience, but what we are trained to do, I know is wrong. Besides our base salary that we are paid, we are also paid on premium of the loans we sell, (which is how high we can jack up the customers rate, how much extra money in points we can charge them as well, and if we can convince them to take an adjustable mortgage instead of a fixed). So the higher the rate and fees we give the customer, the more we get paid. How are we trained to do that you ask? TIM and MATT put it by saying 'find the low-level clients that you can make your money off of'. They have never said it in whole site meetings, but in smaller team meetings I have heard both MATT and TIM say things like, 'If your dealing with a redneck from the country or a '*bleep*' from the city, you need to make sure their rates and fees are much higher, thats where you make your money. But if its an educated, rich '*bleep*' from the suburbs, we may not be able to make as much money off the loan. (The two bleeps were racial slurs often used at the office at Quicken Loans). Isn't that why the mortgage industry is so screwed up? How can 100 different people with the same loan, same assets, and same credit score, be given 100 different rates and fee structures. Also, on the loans that we do give the borrowers much higher fees and rates and adjustable, MATT and TIM make sure that we don't fill in the race/ethnicity section at the end of the application, so it doesn't look like we are over charging or screwing one race or class of people vs another. Which in fact is exactly what we are trained to do.

Also, Quicken Loans makes money off of what we call our 'Good Faith Deposit'. It is a non-refundable $500 charge to your credit card that is used to make sure the client is serious about doing business. This is a complete scam. We are trained, even if their is no loan that we can do, the customer doesn't own a house, or they call us up for a loan we don't provide, we take $500, period. Thats where most of the money and profit of the company comes from. I stopped taking deposits shortly after I knew what I was doing, but then was quickly reprimanded by TIM and MATT, and my job shortly threatened thereafter if I didn't continue the deposit process. We are trained to lie and promise customers anything to earn there business. We are told to tell the customers that we will do a free loan for them next time they use us, even thought we may be charging them $10, 000 to do the loan now. Plus another $10, 000 to do the loan the second time, because we can't do free loans. It's all a flat out lie, and a flat out scam!

But despite all this, Quicken Loans was voted the number 2 place to work by Fortune Magazine, in all of the USA... how? I have to call CNN, which I believe owns Fortune Magazina and find out. Maybe its because its owned by Dan Gilbert, and his Michagen State cronies. This is a man that was arrested for illegal gambling and stealing peoples money, but yet he owns the 15th biggest mortgage company in the USA... Go Figure. Maybe its because the entire upper management of the company consists of Michigen State alumni, and old college buddies. Maybe its because they will only hire employees that this would be their first job, and have had no previous employment. It's easier to run a sweat shop when your just out of high school and or college and don't know any better. For all these people know, 75 hours is normal to them.

And last but not least, you probably guessed it. How many jobs do you think TIM and MATT had before joining Quicken Loans? You guessed it, a combined total of NONE. Oh well, next time I hear one of them get of the phone, I always picture them saying 'Would you like fries with that mortgage'?

I had begun the mortgage process with Quicken Loans in May of 2008. After I had begun the application process my credit card was charged $500 without my consent. When I called Quicken Loans about this they mentioned that it was simply a deposit and that it would be applied to the closing costs of the home. This sounded legitimate so I allowed them to continue with the process. Everything was going fine until 2 days prior to inspection my loan officer mentioned that the appraiser classified the townhome I was purchasing as a condominium. This would result in a downpayment of 10% rather than the original 5% agreement. I inquired with numerous individuals including my realtor, home inspector and other loan officers and none had ever heard of such a practice. My loan officer said the company made an "acception" in their favor because we must pay association dues every month to cover the cost of the pools, tennis courts and other facilities. He insisted that if I were to go with another mortgage company I would run into the same problem. After this problem had been passed to his superior without change, we decided to go with a mortgage company recommended by our realtor. Within one day our mortgage application was processed, we were given a rate that was .25% lower than Quicken's and without any points, and our estimated closing costs were $6, 000 less when compared with Quicken's costs. (I wont mention the name of the company but it rhymes with Untree Wide) I later received a phone call from another superior at Quicken Loans. He inquired to the situation and I mentioned how we were now with another company. I mentioned of the better rates and lower closing costs and why theirs were so high. He asked me if they provided me with better offers that would beat my new company and took away their "acception" of a 10% down payment, would I stay with them. At this point I asked for my $500 deposit back since Quicken was no longer going to be processing the loan / mortgage. He disagreed to the refund and did not give a reason. My suggestion would be to find another lender.