I was up front about all of this with Mr.Mirza and that I had the 10-page appraisal at ready complete with pictures and everything and that I need the loan in order to make those repairs in addition to some others around the house (NONE of these repairs are a critical problem and my home was estimated at 162K, as is - my loan reqested was for 125K.) I asked him if this would be a problem then I wouldn't apply and he said he couldn't possibly see how it could be and strongly encouraged me to go ahead and apply. Meanwhile I was told I had to get a ridiculous amount of documentation provided. I had to go downtown to get a copy of my divorce decree(from over 25 years ago), call a lawyer to get paperwork drawn up and filed because I inherited my home from my mom who passed away. All of this I provided promptly.

Meanwhile my credit took a 16 point hit even though I was told it wouldnt. After waiting almost 8 weeks and hearing nothing I finally called Mr.Mirza to check on the status of my loan and was told that I had been turned down because my debt to income status was off by a little over 1% from their requirement. I was also told I should have been sent a letter which I never received. Then he added that I could get a loan for just what was owed on my mortgage but that so much time had passed I had to completely start the process over again which included *ANOTHER* credit check and hit to my credit (16 points each time).

When I told him that the 1st credit check was a hard hit, he insisted that it was a problem with Experian as he had double-checked with his superior and that I needed to take the matter up w/ Experian as it had to be their error. After calling Experian, they explained that all 3rd party checks were a hard hit, I called Mr.Mirza to tell him to hold off - was told he had left for the day, with no way to leave a voicemail. And yep, Compass had already hit my credit with yet another blow.

The next day I receive via email a 33 page do-it-yourself loan document that I am supposed to print out myself and process the whole thing myself without any help or explaination of all the items on the document. The last straw for me was on the document was asking me to agree to pay 426.00 for another appraisal when they had one in their hands from a certified appraisal company already for which I had paid $350.00 (don't know why Compass charges more than my current bank for this). When I asked Mr.Mirza about why I had to pay for another when he had been given a perfectly good one, he said it was "outdated"!!! Ludicrous!!! Had I been contacted in the first place in a timely matter, perhaps my application would have fallen within their required time frame. Mind you, the appraisal was done on 8/26 and I applied for this loan at Compass on about 10/14- not even 2 months!!

So, I have ruined my credit and wasted weeks of time and energy when I should have been told of these loopholes up front. I am of the belief that banks don't want to lend to single females but rather, put you through the process so they can make their "cut" on the appraisal charge which they require up front and won't roll into the loan.

I do NOT recommend using this bank or at least certainly not this branch.