BMO Harris Brokers Are Liars

Bill Lamusga and BMO Harris presented themselves as experienced mortgage professionals, but flailed around like drunken monkeys. When Lamusga said he had experience doing loans to self-employed business owners like me HE LIED.

Bill Lamusga Lied.

Here's the story of how BMO Harris wasted my time and lied to me. . .

In February 2022, I asked at the local BMO Harris branch about a home loan. Unlike banks with real mortgage businesses, BMO Harris has no mortgage people in their branches. As far as I know, they don't even have anyone in Arizona.

The branch manager had Bill Lamusga in Naperville, Illinois contact me.

I told Bill I had borrowed money from my step-mother when I bought my home and it was causing friction in our relationship.

When Lamusga quoted me interest rates, I said I'd loose money if I took the whole ten years to pay the loan off because of the origination fees and longer term. But, I'd do the loan anyway.

Hopefully, I could pay it off quicker and save some money.

Lamusga called me later to tell me the underwriters were waiving the appraisal because I have so much equity in the house.

Great news. This would save me hundreds of dollars.

So I went ahead with the loan process. I paid a $495 refundable deposit on March 4th to lock in the interest rate.

The First Warning -- What’s A Schedule C?

Over the next week, I provided everything BMO Harris requested, and also taught Bill Lamusga what a Schedule C is. For those of you who don't know, a Schedule C is the IRS form sole-proprietors use to report business income on the 1040.

Bill didn't know. For three weeks after getting my Schedule C, Lamusga kept asking for the business tax forms.

Now, Bill Lamusga presented himself and BMO Harris as a company who could do a simple home loan for a self-employed person like me.

Remember, the first time I talked to him on the phone I told him I was self-employed, and filed the Schedule C. Now I find this “Mortgage Broker” didn't know what a Schedule C was?

I should have walked right then.

Does BMO Harris Have Managers For Their Mortgage Brokers?

During this process, I learned Bill Lamusga has poor business skills. Evidently BMO Harris does so few mortgages they don't have managers to help new employees like Bill.

This was demonstrated when Lamusga called me on March 14th. He was very agitated. “There's a lien on the house,” Bill exclaimed.

“Would that be my step-mother's promissory note and deed of trust?”

Now, at this point he already had copies of the note, the trust deed and a third letter from my step-mother saying I owed her $80K.

But this GENIUS never thought to compare the documents he'd received from me with the lien information.

Just my opinion here, but, from the way these assholes flailed around, they must look at a stack of documents with the idea of finding a reason to spit them back. They just look until they find any reason, however flimsy, to reject the stack.

That's Just DISRESPECTFUL.

Think about it. . . Bill Lamusga called me on the phone when he had all the information already. All he had to do is look at it.

Then again, I'm good at seeing how things fit together so I tend to forget how hard this can be for slower people.

Remember, Half The People Are Below Average.

People like Bill remind of us of this.

Speaking of disrespect. . .

Every time there was a phone conversation with Bill, he made me wait while he recited a litany:

“This is Bill Lamusga Mortgage Banker BMO Harris NMLS: 939857 Direct dial phone number 630-505-5939. This call is being recorded for quality control purposes blah blah blah.”

It seemed longer than that. Maybe I've missed some of it. I tended to just tune it out.

Before we start. . .

“This is Bill Lamusga Mortgage Banker BMO Harris NMLS: 939857 Direct dial phone number 630-505-5939 This call is being recorded for quality control purposes blah blah blah.”

Sometimes I'd get impatient with him and interrupt. So he'd start again at the beginning:

“This is Bill Lamusga Mortgage Banker BMO Harris NMLS: 939857 Direct dial phone number 630-505-5939. This call is being recorded for quality control purposes blah blah blah.”

When he said that over and over again, I heard:

“Your time is worthless. Let me show you how worthless your time is by making you listen to this bullshit. This call is being recorded for quality control purposes blah blah blah.”

It's a personal quirk. I cannot stand people who act like my time is worthless. But this is their business model.

Abuse The Client.

They'll put up with it because they are desperate for a loan.

Moving on. . . after I explained to the “Mortgage Broker” that the lien on the house was what I was trying to pay off, he asked for a second letter from my step-mother.

Remember, back when I had first talked with Lamusga, I told him I was trying to pay a loan my step-mother had made to help me buy the house.

So he knew the about the loan from my step-mother. This is important later in the story so I need to make sure you readers understand this. I think you - the reader - are smart enough to understand that, but the idiots at BMO Harris hadn't at this point.

So now he wants a payment history from her.

“We've done loans like your before. We're professionals. Let's get you started on the loan approval process.”

Any bullshit to get the prospect into the sales funnel.

It seems BMO Harris, or at least their broker Bill Lamusga, has NO EXPERIENCE doing a refinance when the existing loan was not done by a financial institution.

Then Lamusga sent me this email on 3/17/2022:

Terry,

Please forward the following as soon as possible:
     1. Payment history from your mother-in-law.
     2. The actual copy of your 2019 and 2020 income tax returns. If you have not filed let me know.
     3. Current bank statement showing balance to pay closing costs.

Thank you,
Bill Lamusga
Mortgage Banker
NMLS: 939857

BMO Harris Bank N.A.
1200 E Warrenville Rd
Naperville, Il 60563

Again He's Asking For My Taxes.
What Is His Problem?

Let me back up here. . .

This wasn't my first exposure to mortgage bankers and their BS.

When I bought the house, I tried to get a loan from Chase, and their broker asked for my taxes once. Chase wanted to see every dollar of income tracked back to the original invoice.

When Chase rejected the loan, my step-mother loaned me money. My real estate agent said I could get a bank statement loan, but would need to wait six months because I was doing a cash out refinance.

A bank statement loan is approved by looking at the money flowing through a business to see if the cash flow will cover the loan payment.

Five months after buying the house, I had a bank statement loan ready. We were just waiting out the six month clock.

Then The COVID Pandemic Hit

The loan company pulled the loan, and said they would reconsider in June.

The private lending company came back in June, but now they wanted at least half the value of the house. I don't remember the interest rate, but it wasn't much higher.

I didn't want to borrow extra money. Especially not when they are charging almost ten percent of the loan in origination fees.

Instead, I set up another bank statement loan. The new lender wanted the papers signed, notarized, and mailed to California. My step-mother refused.

Afraid they would keep the note, and she'd get nothing, my step-mother offered to treat the note as a loan. So I was paying her monthly.

It wasn't long before my step-mother started saying, “You should try my bank. They won't treat you like that.”

I must have heard it a hundred times. Add the little comments every time I bought something like $1200 of backyard bushes or had steak for dinner.

Actually, she's really the BMO Harris customer. BMO bought the bank she had been at since the 1960s.

I had an HSA with BMO bank because Chase bank didn't do HSAs back when I opened it, and I never moved it. I moved it into a no fee Fidelity account after the mortgage hassle.

So after a few months of listening to her, I asked at the BMO branch near me about a loan.

Now we're back to Bill's March 17th email where he is asking me for my tax returns again. And including the comment, “If you have not filed let me know.”

DISRESPECTFUL

He wanted my bank statement because he feared I would go through his abuse, but not have the money needed at the signing.

What an Asshole!

The first time I talked with Lamusga, I told him I wanted to borrow money to pay off a loan from my step-mother, and I would pay the origination fees. Now, three and a half weeks into the process, the asshole wants to make sure I'm not wasting his time?

He could have asked for that at any time. But, to ask for it at all is just fucking disrespectful.

But I think underlying the whole crap with this fucker is the idea that I should be a SUPPLICANT. I should be willing to put up with any abuse he might hand out.

I'd had enough. I sent him the three items he wanted attached to this email:

YOU HAVE COMPLETE COPIES OF MY TAXES. DO NOT ASK AGAIN.

Just so we're on the same page:

I want to borrow money to pay my step-mother back on a loan that is attached to the house with a deed of trust. I am self-employed and get no paychecks. I want a $80K loan with a term of ten years. I will pay loan costs out of pocket at the closing.

My house is worth about $650K and I have no debt but for the loan from my step-mother.

I have explained this repeatedly, but you continue to act as if you aren't listening.

I STARTED THIS ON 2-23. . .  WE ARE NOW THREE WEEKS INTO THIS AND YOU'RE ASKING FOR INFORMATION YOU SHOULD HAVE REQUESTED AT THE START.

Provide me with a list of EVERYTHING you want from me by close of day Friday 3-18-2022.

I will get it for you over the weekend and then I am done.

Terry Gibbs

Hi Terry,
Please login and review your Important Disclosure(s).
Notice of Action Taken.
To review as soon as possible, please login to your account using the link below.

The first message at 12.48PM led to a document saying they were not going to do the loan. The relevant line is:

The principal reasons for the credit denial are:
• We do not grant credit to any applicant on the terms and conditions you have requested

When I read that, I sent Bill an email telling him to refund my rate lock in money. Then I saw the second message. The second email at 4:08PM led to a letter that said:

Commitment Cover Letter Rev. 05/15
2022032121.1.2.3998-N20210727Y Page 1 of 2
March 21, 2022
Terry Gibbs
Address information removed

Dear Applicant(s),
Congratulations! Your request for mortgage financing on the above property has been approved.

Our Conditional Loan Commitment, which outlines the terms and conditions of your loan, is enclosed.

Please review the commitment, sign where indicated, and return the original to me in the enclosed envelope. A copy is enclosed for your records.

In the Conditional Loan Commitment, under the section "Required Items or Conditions", all remaining conditions on your request are listed. The list includes items that BMO will obtain on your behalf and any remaining conditions that you must provide. In order to insure a smooth and timely closing, your processor and your mortgage banker will be following up with you to review all of the remaining required conditions

Blah blah blah. . .

Further down that document is a page that has the requirements:

Required Items or Conditions

The items listed below must be satisfied prior to the closing and or funding of this loan.
• BMO Harris to obtain verification of the existence of the client's business iwantcollectibles through a third party source no more than 10 days prior to the Note/Closing Date.

That was the only condition that had not been met. The rest of the crap was things saying BMO would check my credit score and look for liens and other crap. Everything on their list says BMO will do it, NOT ME.

I saw this when I was on the phone with my step-mother. I read the line about verification of existence of the business to her and said all they needed to do was look on Google for the name or phone number.

I sent Lamusga another email:

Your second notice says you're doing the mortgage but you want time to verify that my business exists. If that's correct I'll do the deal.

Otherwise Refund my money for the rate lock.

You're loan is approved. I'm working with processing on closing.

Thank you,

Bill Lamusga 
Mortgage Banker
NMLS: 939857

BMO Harris Bank N.A.
1200 E Warrenville Rd
Naperville, Il 60563

Good News - now we're done but for verifing my business exists.

Over the next two weeks I hear nothing from Bill Lamusga or BMO Harris. I did get an email from my insurance agent with a notice saying BMO Harris had been added as a lien holder.

But, They Weren't Done.
They Wanted MORE.

Lamusga left a message for me on Friday April 8th - two weeks after confirming there would be no more requests – saying they wanted an appraisal after all.

I figured the man is an idiot, and called him on the phone. I refused to listen to his rude chants, and told him he'd waived the appraisal back in the first week. He needs to use his notes and fix this mistake. Then I told him I was busy and hung up.

The following Thursday, April 14 I got a call from an appraiser. The incompetent asshole hadn't fixed his mistake.

The next day the Bill Lamusga called me on the phone and told me they were now requiring the appraisal.

When I said, “No, they waived it back in the first week.”

Guess what the shit weasel said. . .

SEVEN FUCKING WEEKS trying to get a loan to pay back my step-mother and NOW these idiots realize I have a relationship with my step-mother.

Trying to solve the problem:

• Fine they want it, they can do it, but I'm not paying for it. No - that won't work for them.
• BMO Harris can send an employee from their local branch to walk through my home. Nope.
• I'll pay the appraiser, but I want a letter saying that as long as the value comes in at least X, I get the loan or BMO Harris reimburses me for the appraiser. That's my final offer.

Now, I had a reason for requiring this letter. The cost of the appraisal sucks, but the relationship with my step-mother is worth it, and I'm still saving money compared to the bank statement loan.

But It's Not The Money.

If BMO Harris can say they are waiving the appraisal for SEVEN WEEKS and then decide to change their minds and jam it down my throat, there is nothing to keep them from deciding to make me jump through another hoop.

There's nothing to keep them from deciding they want me to provide them with a letter from Santa confirming I've been a good boy.

If they can change the deal after giving me assurances verbally and in writing, they can do it again. And again.

Did they expect me to say I don't mind them lying?

So here we are. – I am pissed.

When I get upset, I ask myself, will I remember this in six months? When the answer is no, I find it easier to calm down.

This I'll remember in six months. If I allowed them to change the terms of the loan, every time I paid them, I'd remember their abuse.

I originally wrote a version of the above to the BMO ombudsman during the end of the loan process. The Ombudsman sent me a form letter saying their brokers can say anything. I also talked on the phone to someone who claimed to be Bill Lamusga's boss who also said the broker's words mean nothing.

BMO Harris Will NOT Stand Behind Their Broker's Words

Terry Gibbs.