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Reviews 623
Sergio alvarez
Feb 10,2018will are agent ,,what he promise up front he preformed on it ,, we have 20 years in the business so this is not are first time... thank u civic,Will
Polar
Feb 08,2018John Paul has been helping my business with transactions for over a year now. He has great communication and even better follow up. I consider him to be a great part of my team when it comes to financing a purchase.
Lee Ann
Feb 03,2018I'm an investor and I'm accustomed to paying a little more for my loans in exchange for having them processed quickly so I can buy properties before someone else does. In this case I was doing a bundled refi and paying off several other investors and private money lenders. They all started looking for deals to buy because Civic's new loan would free-up their capital. Everyone was excited about this cross-collateralized loan app with Civic. I was looking to bundle the refi three of my rental properties and Civic said they could do it. I was told the company specialized in working with investors and that they understood our needs for quick turnaround on our loan apps. I was told to expect my application to be reviewed, underwritten and funded within 8 to 10 business days, so I submitted my application in mid-November 2018. It didn't take 8 - 10 days ... it was more like 10 weeks. My loan rep seemed to care about helping me get a loan but the underwriting department tried to find every reason in the world not to fund me. Dealing with their underwriters was cumbersome and inefficient. I was often asked to resubmit the same info several times. It began to feel like a black hole you pour time and information into and got nothing back. It was embarrassing for me to have to ask all of my note holders to re-do their payoff statements three times. One of my current lenders got so upset by the delay they charged me a huge late fee and demanded that I overnight my interested check to them on a Saturday (cost me $65!) To add to the drama, Civic excluded my flagship property from the package because it had a commercial, mixed-use zoning. This was a disappointing event because it was the property with the most equity in it and the source of the cash I was hoping to get out of the re-fi. Much to my chagrin I went forward with Civic on the remaining two properties. I was responsive to their ubiquitous requests for additional information. My insurance agent was also responsive. My escrow agent, my title agent, and my BPO brokers were also responsive to, often replying the same day. Some even worked overtime to suit their west coast hours. We worked over the holidays -- Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years. Maybe Civic could do the same and schedule some additional holiday coverage so an already-late loan app isn't further delayed by a slip through the holiday cracks. Even after the holidays, their underwriting department was slow, cumbersome and inefficient. It often took 3-5 days to return a phone call asking why they weren't answering our emails. They don't have a dedicated staff to cover east coast hours so it's hard to reach them during our business hours, and they replied to our calls at the end of their work day (5 pm PST/ 8 pm EST ) thus prohibiting real-time communication. Overall, it was frustrating to deal with the "millenial" staaffers who seem to prefer to write their answers rather than speaking in person and allowing follow up questions to be handled in real time. The "millenial" customer service attitude was apparent and also frustrating, verging on rude. One gal even hung up on me! Here are some examples: "It's with underwriting and they need more information (repeat for wk 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9.) "It is on rush status." (really? lol!) "This is the way it is so if you don't like it maybe you should get your loan somewhere else;" "I don't know anything about that... it's not my job. You have to talk to another department " but then they don't give you a contact name, or number, or transfer you to someone who could help, or do anything to solve the problem or service the client -- it's baffling that someone could be paid to show up to work and provide this low-level of care to the client's customers. Maybe these are the growing pains of a young company, but to me it was just a pain. I almost pulled the plug on Civic about four times during this experience. By comparison, I used another lender to refi the commercial mixed use property that Civic excluded from my bundle. That lender started four weeks after Civic and funded a week sooner -- and at the same interest rate with a longer term. Paul Blanchard, the Regional Manager at Civic, managed to keep me in the game, so kudos to him. He was able to ensure I got the terms and rates I'd been promised, but he was unable to improve the underwriting process in any meaningful wall. If Civic can get their act together, and improve the customer experience then I sincerely hope they do. Investors need lenders in this niche, but if they're going to chase the investor-market they need to realize what we need. We move quickly and we support lenders who can keep up. If we want to be mired in red tape we would apply for fully amortized, low rate, 20 year loans from a conventional lender. When your product is a 3-year, interest-only instrument with significant upfront points and fees, then your customer's TIME is of the essence. We don't care that your underwriters have to validate everything to the Nth degree so our loans can be repackaged and resold as a certain class of paper... that's your back-end. We are your front end. We are the SOURCE of your revenue. We are PAYING you upfront. WE are your customer...so treat us that way. If you don't service the demand we won't buy the product. From a customer's perspective I want what I was sold -- affordable rates, multi-year terms, cross-collateralization, and fast funding. Give me what you've promised in the time frame you've told me to expect it. That's simple supply and demand. Investors understand this simple concept. I hope Civic does, too.
Cesar
Feb 03,2018Great Experience Matt was very attentive and ensure to be part of the entire process from beginning to end, as well as keeping the communication lines open.
Richard
Feb 03,2018Jack Lupo is the GREATEST!!! He is alway helpful and knows how to work with our customers. THANKS JACK
HH
Feb 03,2018Very prompt and efficient process!
Leanne Tran
Feb 03,2018Quick turn around from start to finish.
Jhoanna Jones
Feb 03,2018Jack you are a superstar.
Scott DeGoler
Jan 24,2018I never give reviews as business is tough, but I must share this experience so other borrowers do not fall into this trap. My firm does a LOT of hard and traditional debt. Borrowers BEWARE. If you need a loan for rehab, do NOT use Civic Financial Services. Besides being late for docs in closing by a few days in a closing time that was VERY easy to hit (thankfully our seller was patient), Civic does NOT disclose nearly at all from Day 1 the borrower is to pay 100% of the purchase debt + renovation debt! The borrower is paying for money he does not have. Additionally, Civic does not give full draw request amounts but % (Civic does not release renovation draws in full until they meet the maximum amount of renovation loan committed). ALL OTHER LENDERS we deal with charge you for the debt you USE. Not 100% of the renovation debt you have yet to request. There are a TON of other non-traditional hard money lenders out there. Civic came to me due to our deal flow amount and I told the rep Brian that I would give Civic a small loan as a test that was a "LAYUP"in basketball terms; Civic missed the shot.....airball.
Vil Joseph
Jan 15,2018Civic really helped us on securing our first deal. They were very patient with us and help us till the end. Everything went well, from the point to the interest that they charged us. I will definitely use them again in the future as we tend to expand our investment portfolio.
Lisa
Jan 11,2018I really had great experience in securing the loan and I would do it again in a heartbeat. The only issue I had was that there was a delay in paying off the previous lender at the very last moment and we had to pay 3 extra days of interest to them.
Jorge Malo
Jan 10,2018They are more expensive comparing with other similar lenders.
Ray
Jan 08,2018GREAT COMPANY AND JOHN IS THE BEST WE CLOSED FAST 7 TO 10 DAYS.
Kerri Allardyce
Jan 04,2018A really seamless transaction. They were professional prompt and just what I needed. Jim, Jack and team were awesome.
Chandeline Butler
Jan 03,2018They really do what they say. We needed to close in a short time. They said they were able to do it and they did it. It was a very seamless and stress free experience. Civic is by far the quickest to get to the closing table.
John Sickles
Jan 03,2018Great service as always!
Temi
Jan 03,2018Mathew, delivers! He goes the extra mile to find a product that caters to the borrowers specific situation. Excellent account executive. Would highly recommend!
Rene Benitez
Jan 03,2018Working with your reps George and Jo Jones makes this process to easy. Meeting them has saved me and my clients a lot of money to later invest : Thank you guys for everything you do
Ryan
Jan 03,2018As a first time home buyer, I feel fortunate to have chosen to work with Civic Financial Services. They were extremely easy to work with, prompt in relaying information and returning emails and phone calls, and were extremely friendly.
2015 Manhattan Beach Boulevard, 90278, Redondo Beach, US
http://www.civicfs.com
Tes
Feb 13,2018The process is painless and simple, questions were answered quickly.