Silver State Schools Credit Union

MAFIA RUN CALL CENTER/CUSTOMER SERVICE. Mike Randall, Isabel Sanchez, Cheryl, and Leticia should have an honorable mention in Las Vegas' mafia museum. Las Vegas has a museum celebrating its gangster history, and Silver State CU should have its own section. These people are the shadiest and most corrupt people I have ever dealt with, and that is saying a lot, considering I have served in the military, graduated from college, and been in the business world for nearly a decade. I have traveled to many places and dealt with a wide range of people, but the customer service by Mike, Isabel, Cheryl, Leticia, and nearly everybody at the call center of this so-called "credit union" (they aren't even backed by the feds) has impressed even me with how criminal they are. I now have to go through the process of taking legal action, because they have conducted an illegal recording of one of my phone conversations. When I tried to inquire about it and escalate my concerns to the appropriate management/authority, I was given the run around and brushed off as though I was the one who caused a disturbance for complaining about it. Coincidentally, I was charged for a "statement fee" and a "checking fee," neither of which I had ever been charged before I expressed my grievance. I went into a branch to avoid the call center. However, even there I ran into problems. When I inquired about the "statement fee," I was told my spouse authorized it and requested it. When I ask my spouse about it, the incident never happened, much less was it authorized. It was a small amount, but they felt it was okay to take that money without authorization, and then lie to my face about its authorization. STAY FAR, FAR, FAR AWAY FROM THIS PLACE!!!!!

My husband and I approached SSSFCU about obtaining a first time home loan. We knew our credit was poor and went in to the meeting with loan officer Ryan Lopez; we were very honest about the situations that had led us to have poor credit. My husband’s mother wanted to gift us some money for a down payment on a home and we just wanted to see if we could qualify and if we couldn’t what steps we would have to be take to repair our credit and begin rebuilding good credit so we could procure a home loan from the Credit Union at a later date. I have been a member of SSSFCU for more than 20 years, it was my first choice on my banking needs and I am hurt and betrayed by the way we were treated. During the initial meeting Mr. Lopez pulled credit reports on both me and my husband. It was decided that it would be best to run the loan through my husband only. Mr. Lopez stated that while our credit was poor he saw no reason why we would not be able to obtain a FHA loan. We left that meeting excited after being pre approved for $100k. At that meeting no mentions of anything we might need to do to provide documentation of or any issues that might come up during the underwriting process were brought to our attention. We met a realtor, we looked at houses and we found one. We made an offer it was accepted and we went back to Mr. Lopez to begin the process of obtaining the home loan. We have already paid $2000.00 in earnest money to begin escrow; we further have paid $450.00 for a home appraisal, $200.00 for a home inspection and $200.00 in various document fees, all in addition to the time that has been invested by us as a family, our realtor, the sellers realtor, the sellers. Mr. Lopez exhibited poor customer service on more than one occasion early in the process. He would not return my husbands phone calls, he would not return the phone calls from our realtor and the only way we could get any communication from him was in the form of text messages. As the closing date drew closer it became imperative that we speak with someone to know the status of loan. We had a scheduled closing date of 11/5/2011 on 10/31/2011 I called Maria Mandalfo, Mr. Lopez’s supervisor. I spoke with her about the situation and the severity of where we stood and she shared with me that during a meeting the previous Wednesday concerns about our credit history and the credit unions ability to finance us were raised by the underwriter. I let her know that Mr. Lopez had not shared any of this information with us, nor had he stayed in contact to let us know the bank was closed in observance of Nevada Day or that he does not come in to the office until 1:00 p.m. on Mondays. This morning my husband just got off the phone with Mrs. Mandalfo, SSSFCU will not be able to provide us with financing for this home. The concerns about our credit history and credit worthiness should have been brought to our attention during the initial meeting with Mr. Lopez. We now stand to lose our $2000.00 in earnest money along with a further $850.00 that we have paid during the process of trying to obtain the loan. Not to say anything of the emotional toll it has taken on us as family and on the family of the sellers. All of this when Mr. Lopez should have told us that procuring financing would be difficult if not impossible because of our financial picture at this time and he could have lead us to steps to repair and improve our financial picture with the help of his bank. At anytime during this process Mr. Lopez could have picked up the phone or written an email to communicate fully with us but we never received it. We were betrayed by my bank and now after we take the steps to improve our financial picture, I can assure you that I will not give SSSFCU my business again. This should not have been allowed to happen. Mr. Lopez lied to us in that first meeting, we were not going to be approved to buy a house and if he didn’t know then he shouldn’t be in his position as a loan officer