Scott D.
Borrowers BEWARE
I never give reviews as business is tough, but I must share this experience so other borrowers do not fall into this trap. My firm does a LOT of hard and traditional debt. Borrowers BEWARE. If you need a loan for rehab, do NOT use Civic Financial Services. Besides being late for docs in closing by a few days in a closing time that was VERY easy to hit (thankfully our seller was patient), Civic does NOT disclose nearly at all from Day 1 the borrower is to pay 100% of the purchase debt + renovation debt! The borrower is paying for money he does not have. Additionally, Civic does not give full draw request amounts but % (Civic does not release renovation draws in full until they meet the maximum amount of renovation loan committed). ALL OTHER LENDERS we deal with charge you for the debt you USE. Not 100% of the renovation debt you have yet to request. There are a TON of other non-traditional hard money lenders out there. Civic came to me due to our deal flow amount and I told the rep Brian that I would give Civic a small loan as a test that was a "LAYUP"in basketball terms; Civic missed the shot.....airball.
Response from CIVIC Financial ServicesJan 30, 2018
Dear Scott, As you know we are very disappointed to read of your experience. When we first became aware of your concerns via email, our Senior Management was prompt to respond to you via email and phone. Email conversations led to our Sales Director calling you again via phone, albeit after hours. During these discussions and our efforts to both understand and ease your concerns, you became combative and threatened us with a negative review across multiple platforms. Our Sales Director was eager to come to a solution, and confirmed he would escalate on his end and give you a call back. You agreed; however, within 30 minutes, before our internal escalation conversations were even concluded, you indeed came through with this threat. In regards to the closing time, there were two specific reasons the transaction closed three (3) days later than anticipated. First, you provided two different invalid credit cards for the $295 valuation fee, which set us back by two (2) business days. Then, we were set back one (1) additional business day, as you know, when you changed your mind regarding the co-borrower being on the loan application. For this we are very relieved to hear that your seller was patient, as we otherwise would have funded exactly on schedule. Our Rehab Financing is an excellent program and one we are very excited to offer, especially to experienced borrowers such as yourself. Like MANY other reputable lenders in our space, monthly interest payments are based on the total loan amount, including the undrawn rehab funds. Also, rehab funds are disbursed over draws in the appropriate and pre-determined percentage upon verification of completed work. As we’re sure you can appreciate from a risk management perspective, we must do this to confirm that the funds being drawn are being used for the project as intended, and that the last draw is issued when the project is fully completed. Loan details and your monthly payment amount were fully outlined in the documents you signed at closing, and had most certainly been disclosed, in basketball terms, “well before the shot clock dwindled to zero”. This includes being discussed in initial pricing conversations as well as repeatedly during further conversations between yourself and your Account Executive. While an apology will regrettably not alter the outcome of your experience on this occasion, we do extend it with all sincerity. Your review is a gross misrepresentation of the service that CIVIC works so hard to stand for, as well as our first-rate Rehab Financing Program that has come to serve so many avid borrowers and brokers alike.