Dominion Lending Centres Inc.: Francis Gallant

Oct 2023

I had the unfortunate experience of working with Amanda Khounviseth as my mortgage broker, and I feel compelled to share my experience to help others avoid the same issues. Amanda's lack of professionalism and transparency throughout the entire process left me baffled and frustrated. Her communication was inconsistent, and she failed to provide clear updates. We were under the impression that everything was on track, but then, after we'd committed, she informed us that our mortgage wasn't approved for reasons that had never been mentioned before. It's apparent that Amanda's actions were not in our best interest but possibly influenced by her commission concerns. This experience has been incredibly stressful, and I would caution anyone considering her services to think twice. In my opinion, Amanda's unprofessionalism and lack of integrity are concerning, and I believe it's important for others to be aware of these issues before working with her.

Feb 2015

I've always been a big believer of mortgage brokers, they work for you, not the banks. I used Dominion as a bargaining chip several years ago, which reluctantly, my bank matched. I may have had my appraisal fees waved by them, lol... So here's the trick, ask for the best rate from your regular bank, don't tell them you're shopping around, then call these independents to secure an almost-certainty of a better rate, take it to the bank and see if they will match. They'll try to save face by asking their superiors, whatever, you're here to save potentially thousand per year :) Since Dominion secured Don Cherry as an endorsement, a lot more cred :-) This particular office is more into marketing too, judging from their radio program.

Apr 2013

I would absolutely NOT recommend Jeff Mayer or his company The Mayer Group, a representative of Dominion Lending Centres if you are considering a mortgage broker. We trusted Jeff when he suggested we consider a lender, Serm Investments as an option to consolidate some debt and take out some home equity to put our daughter through her first year of university. We decided after having signed off on some preliminary documents that we were not at all comfortable with Sam Schaffran, President of Serm Investments after some offensive comments he made during our meeting in addition to seeing some negative information online. We made Jeff aware of this decision immediately after having met Mr. Schaffran and Jeff assured us he would find an alternate lender and we moved on. Some days later we received notice that Serm Investments had filed a lawsuit against me and my wife in small claims court looking to collect fees totaling $5500. We were shocked as we had notified our broker, Jeff Mayer well within the time allotted to do so under the mortgage broker's act and since Jeff did not present us with disclosure under the mortgage brokers act there was not a legitimate mortgage in place. The court action wasted days of our time as we had to go through two settlement hearings and an entire day in court to defend ourselves. On the date of the hearing, Jeff Mayer was called as witness on behalf of the plaintiff, Serm Investments and proceeded to side on behalf of Sam Schaffran who was acting as his own counsel for Serm Investments. One could clearly see the two had conspired to tell a story that was fabricated in an effort to win the case and ultimately be awarded $5500 in damages. In the end the Judge saw through this elaborate effort calling both Jeff Mayer and Sam Schaffran evasive and less than truthful in their testimony. The judge sided with us and stated that Serm Investments had lost the case based on a litany of inconsistencies and improper understanding of the laws by which they are governed and the act that regulates their industry. We were awarded costs in the amount of $400 to cover our expenses which as you can imagine doesn't begin to compensate us for the time, effort and resources that went into having to defend ourselves in this lawsuit. We will in all likelihood need to file suit against Serm Investments to collect this money as it is considered costs and not a judgment against them. This action took place on Friday April 12, 2013 and in an effort to keep the public informed as to the nature of these individuals I have ordered a court transcript of the proceeding that I will be posting in its entirety on this and other online review sites when I receive it within the next 30 days. I have also been encouraged by my counsel and will be presenting the transcript to the Financial Services Commission of Ontario (FSCO) where a full investigation of this action will take place. Don't make the same mistake we did.