We had a terrible experience with Provident Funding. Brooks Grassel was very difficult to work with. He was unresponsive, wasn't always forthright, and did a poor job of answering questions and explaining the process. Provident made the entire closing process an unpleasant experience. The ONLY reason I stayed with Provident is because we had locked in a great interest rate.
Here are some (but not all) examples of our experience with Provident:
--When locking in the rate Brooks convinced me to only put 5% down on paper and he assured me we could change it before closing. When closing time came, it became a huge headache to change our downpayment to a higher percentage (even though we had been planning that all along).
--After closing Provident wouldn't accept one of the signed papers because the date wasn't written in dark enough. They threatened to make us do the entire closing over again. We had to resign and Fedex overnight the one paper to them.
--I spoke with Brooks multiple times on the phone and on many occasions I would ask a question and then there would be silence for several seconds. I would ask if he was still there and he would say, "oh, can you repeat the question?" It was clear he was multitasking and wasn't listening at all.
--sending/receiving documents to Provident was tedious. They say they have a great, secure portal to send/receive documents but I found it cumbersome and difficult to use. This is not ideal with a lender since so much paperwork goes back and forth.
Overall, I do not recommend Provident funding; their customer service is horrible.