Working with GR started out very well. I submitted a loan form (including me and my wife) and contacted two loan officers at GR. I ended up speaking to Andrew first and he became our loan officer. After a review of our application, I was informed that due to my higher credit score, I would get a better rate if only I was the loan applicant. If my wife and I jointly took the loan, it would have increased the loan rate by 0.25%. We went with just me as the loan applicant (why leave money on the table?).
A lot of paperwork followed including bank statements, 401K/RSP, rental history, employment history. All this involved signing many docusign papers. And we got our initial approval.
Two weeks later, I got a surprise that since my work location was in California, and I was working from home in Boston/Massachusetts, I cannot get the loan on my name. I could only get a loan if I provided evidence from my immediate manager that I can work indefinitely from Massachusetts. This was raised as an issue by the loan underwriter based in Chicago after a call to my HR. This led to an unpleasant call between us and Andrew. To his credit, he apologized the very next day.
We had two concerns: Why not give me a heads up (as was done for all checks including contacting my prior rental places for rent verification)? Why not raise this topic earlier in the process?
We had alternate options: My wife and I would have been joint applicants; or just my wife would be the loan applicant.
Since two weeks had passed, we now had more concerns. Will we close the loan on time? Will the seller wait any longer? Will our rates go up?
This forced me to have a difficult conversation with my manager.
We all came to a solution by the end of that week. And we closed on the loan at the end of the following week. The next week, I heard from my manager that he was contacted again by the underwriter on the closing day.
Some takeaways:
Did we get a loan with a good rate? Yes
Was the process smooth or stress-free? No
Other than a single unpleasant conversation (unfortunately this was the only time my wife interacted with Andrew), I did not have an issue working with Andrew.
I didn't have a good experience working with the underwriter (repeat requests for same information, long turn-around-time to any questions/updates).
I recommend GR to look into their processes and revise best practices (our scenario should not be new). A home loan for most people is a big deal. And since most of them don't come from a finance/accounting background, coaching them (customer service) is a way to set yourself apart in a very competitive space.