SoFi Mortgage Review 2025

It’s been a terrible experience. Our loan originator, Lauren, ghosted us as soon as she found out we didn’t want to max out on the loan. It took many phone calls and us threatening to go with another bank within a week of our closing date to get her to do the bare minimum. She never apologized for her inconsiderateness, just constantly blamed it on others at SoFi. She finally managed to get her end of the paperwork completed on closing day at the very end of the day, then surprised us by demanding that the sellers sign on the same day. No advanced notice of the policy. Sellers were not close enough to their bank to get there before 5pm. So now I’ve just wasted a personnel leave day and we’re in the processing of finding a mobile notary to come up to my work so I can sign during my lunch break. Total nightmare. Do NOT go with SoFi for your home loan!

After initial online application was submitted, it was over 1 week before being contacted by a loan officer, which I thought was strange. Appraisal fee was double what was quoted, (due to property size is what I was told), but I reluctantly proceeded. The appraisal came back much lower than expected with some shocking values. This is a new construction. Just a few examples in the appraisal: No value was given for 1100 square feet wrap around concrete porch. $6,000 value was given having an attached 3 car garage, and it was stated that a 50x60 insulated horse barn with 4 stalls added $5,000 value (easily $80,000 barn) . The options I was given was to reduce my loan amount request, submit a reconsideration of value ( SoFi representative admitted this rarely changes the value as it is mostly opinion based given lack of comps in my area and the value of my property) or withdraw the loan. I chose to withdraw the loan and go with a local lender. The new appraisal with a different lender returned at $127,000 higher than the SoFi appraisal. I would not recommend them for any rural property as the appraisal firm they use clearly are not familiar with formulating fair values for rural/large acreage properties. I know the appraisal is not directly reflective of SoFi, however they did choose the appraisal firm used.

I have refinanced my mortgage several times and I've never had the horrible experience I've had with Chase. Their title company has been insisting they need my parents' death certificates (my father has been dead since 1980 and my mother since 1994) among other paperwork. It's been six weeks since I started applied for my mortgage and now they are saying it will be another 6-8 weeks to get paperwork they want from the New York courts. I've owned this house since 2005. Time to look for a new lender. I do not recommend Chase for any mortgage or refi.

I used Chase for my first loan back in 2019 and things went fairly well. I decided to use Chase this time around for a new loan and it was a complete nightmare. Granted I probably should have gone to the branch and spoken to someone versus applying online and having my application handled by an amateur loan officer in Ohio. Two big issues/red-flags for anyone considering Chase Home Lending: 1. Their loan officers have no idea how to provide proper guidance. I negotiated a substantial $16,500 seller credit as there were a few issues the inspection report pointed out. Seller was willing to offer a large credit for me to handle after closing. My realtor warned me that there is generally a cap on how much seller credit can be applied at closing and to check the with the lender. I emailed my loan officer at Chase explicitly asking if there was cap on how much seller credit could be applied at closing as I negotiated a large seller credit. His reply was "6% of the purchase price" and nothing more. 6% of my purchase price was much significantly more than the seller credit so I proceeded with the expectation that the entire seller credit would apply at closing to reduce my cash to close. 2 weeks later, I get an email from the loan officer saying the seller credit exceeds my closing costs and cannot be applied. I can either forgo the credit or use it elsewhere in the loan process. Reluctantly, I used it to buy down the rate and escrow insurance but that was not the intent of the seller credit. I got stuck paying out of pocket for all the repairs after closing. The loan officer should have offered proper guidance when I asked him so it was clear I could not apply seller credit that exceeded the closing costs and I would have made a different negotiation decision with the seller. 2. I had some paper work filed as an amendment that the seller would initially need to have a licensed electrician come out to fix some wiring in the electric panel box. That amendment was never signed but was on file for anyone to view. 2 days before closing, somehow the Chase team (somewhere in Asia as Chase appears to outsource home loans to low cost countries now) saw it and demanded that I get a licensed electrician out to fix wiring before closing. They had weeks to review the documents but didn't, then all of sudden put me in a bind 2 days before closing. I had to scramble to get an electrician out at the last minute which cost me $300 for him to literally spend 10 mins clearing some wires. All in all, complete incompetence and negligence when it comes to ensuring as a borrower you are provided the right guidance and taken care off during the loan process. I'd recommend staying away from Chase for mortgages and use a different lender.