I found a house on St. Simons Island, GA that is in foreclosure and owned by SunTrust bank. My real estate agent took me to it and we decided to make an offer on the house. We contacted the selling agent, informed her that we were planning to bid on the house for a price significantly lower than the selling price. She informed us that we could not make any offer on the house until I became pre-qualified by a SunTrust Mortgage banker. I informed the agent that I was already pre-qualified by a local mortgage banker and could prove in writing that I was qualified for the price that I was willing to pay for the home. Since I had already endured the pre-qualification process, I did not feel like it was necessary for me to go through another approval process with a different agent. I also thought it was incredibly unethical and inappropriate for me to have to get approved by a SunTrust Mortgage Banker when SunTrust owns the property that I am interested in pursuing. It was clear to me from the beginning that it would give SunTrust an unfair advantage in the bidding process since they would know the full amount of money that I qualify for.

Regardless of my initial distaste with the entire process, I applied online with a SunTrust Mortgage banker who made it clear to me that getting pre-qualified would not affect how much I paid for the house (which I did not believe) and it was clear that this tactic was a way for him, and SunTrust, to get new homebuyers to use their services. In fact, he went through an entire sales pitch with me even though I let him know that I was planning to use a local bank and was only going through the process with him because I was being forced into it if I wanted to make an offer on the house. I had to go through the entire application process, have a full credit check, speak to the mortgage banker numerous times and spend approximately four hours of my life scanning documents before getting pre-approved. Going through this process took about a week. Once I put in my offer, it only took a few hours for SunTrust to return my offer with the original listing price. Of course, it did not surprise me that SunTrust would not lower their asking price by even $100.00 since they already knew how much money I pre-qualified for and how much I might be able to spend. This process left me at such an extreme disadvantage and is so incredibly unfair. How can the buyer possibly negotiate the selling price of a house, which is known common practice in the real estate industry, when the seller already knows how much the buyer can potentially spend? This practice by SunTrust is deplorable and needs to come to an end. My request is to make the process fair, legitimate and unbiased for the buyer. The spirit of a capitalist system is that there is a fair market so that all parties can participate righteously with the outcome being the price that the market allows. SunTrust's Machiavellian business practices must come to an end so that a fair and just real estate transaction can occur.

SunTrust Mortgage company continues to claim that I do not have home owners insurance. My insurance company has provided proof and SunTrust Mortgage will not remove their escrow account. I've been dealing with them over this matter for several months. I will have to retain a lawyer and fight them in court. Their customer service is poor, they are truly trying to get me to pay for insurance that I already have. I've reached out to the BBB to dispute the issue.

Don't get your mortgage from SunTrust, they are nothing but a ripoff.