Guardian Savings Bank, Cincinnati, OH

Have been a customer of Guardian Savings Bank on several mortgages. First one was 19 years, this one was almost 6 years. Have always referred people to Guardian because they don’t sell their mortgages. I’ve had my current mortgage with them for almost 6 years, have never missed a payment, have never been late on a payment even through almost 18 months of unemployment. I was sitting on a ton of equity in my home and was looking at a cash out refi to get us back on track now that I’ve been working again for over a year. When I applied, I was given a resounding “we can’t help you”…via email. Not even a phone call, and my loan officer was who I considered to be a friend. Didn’t even call. Just “no”. So I applied at McKinley Mortgage. As soon as I applied I got a phone call from Guardian saying “hey we can help”. I explained what had happened and that my credit score was on the lower side. The answer was “well, we can’t help you. Call us back in 6 months when your credit comes up”. Paul and Dirk at McKinley were great. There was never a question of whether I would qualify. They got it done. They communicated almost daily through the entire process. My damaged credit was never an issue, and because of them I closed on my refi last night. Guardian Savings Bank will never see another penny from me.

What began as a slow process ended wonderfully after Kyle Norsworthy, Vice President - Lending Manager at Guardian Savings Bank took over the process. From that point, the transaction became seamless and quick. I will definitely use this bank again for my future needs.

This is an account of an attempt to get a home loan through Mr. Van Bailey in Spring 2019, and an associated credit fraud alert. - He talked about himself the entire first meeting - three hours - and talked over us when we wanted to contribute. - In that three hour meeting, he told us closing costs would probably be 20 grand, then 21...then 22 when we signed the papers, then 24 or 25 grand when we got the loan estimate. - Told us that it is not true that you can mortgage shop in a 30-45 day time period and it wouldn't hurt our credit. - Talked down to us when we said that we would rather do a 15 year fixed rate than a 7 year with changing rates. - Would not give us a copy of the paperwork we signed. - When we needed to bring more paperwork the Monday after our first meeting, he said he was often there before 9. He did not answer phone calls and I had to sit in the parking lot until 9 am (an hour and a half) when the bank opened. - When we asked for the paperwork we signed, he ignored our requests on Monday, then Tuesday when I asked for them again on the phone, he put them in the MAIL instead of letting me come by to get them. When I emailed him at 9:07 am to ask him if it was possible to come by and pick them up instead of waiting two days for it to reach me, he said, "Sorry young lady. The mail has already run. LOL." That was a lie - I called someone else at the bank (Tracy) and she was able to retrieve the envelope from the outbox because the mail had NOT run yet. Why was he trying to keep us from getting the paperwork? - When we got the paperwork, it was not a complete account of everything we signed, it was a printed copy of the application only. - He requested a check the Saturday we met with him. I brought it Monday the 26th, and it was deposited on Monday the 26th. He then asked a week later for another check. - He asked for me to bring him the Intent to Proceed document, so I told him I could bring it the next morning. He said that he would be in from 7 am to 9 am and then would have to leave for an appointment. I arrived at the bank at 7:30 (having taken my lunch break from work five hours early) and called him, and he was not at work. Again. Then, he told me I could EMAIL it to him. Why would he not say I could email it to begin with? - Guardian's lack of a secure file sharing system is pathetic. I wasted more trips to the bank when it was closed and Mr. Bailey stood me up than necessary. - If he would have told us that we were signing a paper saying that we agreed to forfeit our chance to see the appraisal of the property before closing, we never would have signed it. He has already lied to us 3 times before, why would we believe him - Verified $25,698.45 in our account for closing, then told us we needed to liquidate another $11,805.45. Why? When I asked him to explain this last week, he glazed over everything. - When we asked him what the $4,000 Loan Origination Fee was for, he said three times - "That's for President Obama. That's a law that went into effect last year. That goes straight to President Obama." Would not elaborate. - When I called to cancel our application, he was very rude and still, after all the lies and being jerked around, he had the audacity to act like he was mad at us. He said that he told us that the house appraised for the purchase price, and that should be good enough to move forward. "But if you don't want to do it, I'l call and cancel the application right now." - The next day, he called my husband and asked for the seller's home number so he could sell the house to someone else. - Yesterday, February 15, my husband and I received two separate fraud alerts EACH from Prominent Title, Guardian's title company, telling us that our data had been exposed to an unauthorized individual between April 22, 219 and May 23, 2019. Mr. Bailey said that he could tell within 5 minutes if someone had good character or not.  I wish I had that skill, because I never would have moved forward with Guardian had I known what kind of person he was from the beginning.

I’ve had my mortgage with this bank for over 20 years. Every person I speak to in their loan department is extremely rude. The past two years I’ve had to call and ask for my tax information. They speak to me like there’s no way I didn’t receive it and seem irritated when they have to email it to me.

Applied for a loan. Told me things were good and charged me over $800 in fees. Later denied loan although circumstances did not change. Very contradictory every time I spoke to loan officer. Strongly recommend staying away from this bank.

We worked with Bill on our mortgage as first time home buyers. From the start Bill was fantastic, a straight shooter when I met him in person at the branch. Above expectations when it comes to communication- fast response time, actually explains things when asked to rather than just giving an answer, etc. Guardian wanted our business but Bill didn't ever pressure me to choose them aa a lender. This combined with extremely competitive rates and fees is what caused us to go with Guardian. 31 days from purchase contract to closing, and they would've been ready probably a week or more before that had we asked to close sooner. Prominent Title Company is not so great, but Guardian and Bill were both fantastic. Highly recommend

Have been a customer of Guardian Savings Bank on several mortgages. First one was 19 years, this one was almost 6 years. Have always referred people to Guardian because they don’t sell their mortgages. I’ve had my current mortgage with them for almost 6 years, have never missed a payment, have never been late on a payment even through almost 18 months of unemployment. I was sitting on a ton of equity in my home and was looking at a cash out refi to get us back on track now that I’ve been working again for over a year. When I applied, I was given a resounding “we can’t help you”…via email. Not even a phone call, and my loan officer was who I considered to be a friend. Didn’t even call. Just “no”. So I applied at McKinley Mortgage. As soon as I applied I got a phone call from Guardian saying “hey we can help”. I explained what had happened and that my credit score was on the lower side. The answer was “well, we can’t help you. Call us back in 6 months when your credit comes up”. Paul and Dirk at McKinley were great. There was never a question of whether I would qualify. They got it done. They communicated almost daily through the entire process. My damaged credit was never an issue, and because of them I closed on my refi last night. Guardian Savings Bank will never see another penny from me.

What began as a slow process ended wonderfully after Kyle Norsworthy, Vice President - Lending Manager at Guardian Savings Bank took over the process. From that point, the transaction became seamless and quick. I will definitely use this bank again for my future needs.