Citibank or Sovereign - Mortgage Poll

Citi takes forever - I did both a refi and a new purchase with them but it took substantially longer than they promised. Am not familiar with Sovereign.

citi gave me pretty good quote. i just got started with them, so no idea if the closing will be smooth.

banks are generally pretty competitive on rates... including Citi. Citi just takes way longer to close which can be annoying.

Citi, Chase, BoA, Wells... more or less the same animal. Make sure you get a solid referral for a good banker to assist you with the process. Two people working at the same bank can give you very different answers. The right mortgage banker will make the entire process seamless.

If you email me off board I will be happy to provide you with 3 excellent people.

Keith Burkhardt
The Burkhardt Group

I can't speak to Citi, but Sovereign have been very good to me so far. I never expected to have good customer service from and pleasant dealings with my mortgage bank!

Uptown - would appreciate a referral to someone at Sovereign. Thanks.

Hi, 1sttime--

I got to Sovereign via a mortgage broker, so I didn't really talk directly to any specific person there. But once the mortgage was all set, I have found them to be professional, effective and pleasant in all routine dealings. I had an issue about whether or not a payment was received on time during the Sandy storm, and the folks who answered the phone were great--they actually called me back at 7:00 pm on a Friday evening to confirm that everything was OK. My mortgage brokers were Manhattan Mortgage, and I worked with a capable fellow there named Dog Rose, but I believe he has since left the firm. Maybe you should take Keith Burkhardt (see above) up on his offer to recommend mortgage brokers?

Good luck!

citibank seems slow. i submitted my application 1 month ago. it took more than 1 week to get conditional approval, and another 10 days for appraisal. still waiting for commitment letter now...

There's a reason why Citibank is called "Shittybank".

Citibank is called Citibank. It used to be called First National City Bank, but not anymore.