Case 1:03-cv-02485-MSK-PAC
Document 339-24
Filed 01/31/2006
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IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DI STRICT OF COLORADO
CAMILLE MELONAKI S-KURZ, )
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employees, )
Plaintiffs, )
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individually and on behalf)
of other similarly situated)
v s . ) No. 03 - MK - 2485
HEARTLAND HOME FINANCE, )
INC. , )
Defendant.; t ~rpi t
VIDEOTAPED DEPOSITION OF PHILLIP JOHNSON,
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12 produced, sworn, and examined on Tuesday, the 6th
day of December, 2005, between the hours of 11: 03
14 10104 West 105th Street, in the City of Overland
13 in the forenoon and 1: 41 in the afternoon of that day at the offices of Jay E. Suddreth & Associates,
Park, County of Johnson, State of Kansas, before:
17 of100 18 Suite
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16 ELLEN L. STOCK, RMR
Certified Shorthand Reporter
JAY E. SUDDRETH & ASSOCIATES, INC.
19 Overland Park, KS 66212-5746
a Certified Shorthand Reporter in and for the State
10104 West 105th Street
21 of Kansas.
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22 Taken on behalf of Plaintiffs pursuant to Notice to
Take Deposi tion.
Case 1:03-cv-02485-MSK-PAC
Document 339-24
Filed 01/31/2006
Page 2 of 6
Philip Johnson 12/6/2005
Camile Melonakis-Kurz,et aL. v. Heartland HomeFinance, Inc.
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then? 45?
A.
Q.
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Forty-five's fine. 11:06:04
If we were more than 10, 15
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What was your typical weekly schedule? 11:06:11
Well, we were required to be at work by nine 11:06:15
A.
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o'clock.
11:06:19
11:06:27
minutes late, we were reprimanded. We could 11:06:22
have an hour to hour, 15 minutes for lunch.
And we we r e t 0 be on the phone s pro c e s sin g , 11 : 0 6 : 32
doing the things tha t are typical for a loan 11: 06: 35
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officer. 11:06:36
But we could not leave the office until 11:06:38
7: 00, 7: 30 at night. Of course, if we were
on the phone with a client, sometimes it
could go until 8:00, 8:30.
Q.
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Okay. And who required to you maintain
those hours?
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A.
Q.
Mike Kelly. 11: 06: 51
Did he instruct you that those are the hours 11: 06: 53
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you were supposed to work?
A.
Q.
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Yes.
Okay. That schedule, was that a
Monday-through-Thursday schedule or a
Monday-through- Friday?
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A.
That's Monday-through-Thursday. On
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("-'-.
Fridays -- he did allow us to take off a bi t
Paradigm Reporting & Captioning Inc. 612-339-0545
Case 1:03-cv-02485-MSK-PAC
Document 339-24
Filed 01/31/2006
Page 3 of 6
Phillip Johnson 12/6/2005 Camile Melonakis-Kurz, et aL. v. Heartland Home Finance, Inc.
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He didn't always stay, but he would unlock 12:22:08
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the door and come back to lock the door. 12:22:32
Q.
When you were talking about the job duties
of a loan officer, and you talked about how
to best fi t the people into a program, can
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12:22:36 12:22:40 12:22:44
12:22:47 12:22:50 12:22:54 12:23:01 12:23:04 12:23:14
12:23:24 12:23:28 12:23:33 12:23:38 12:23:45 12:23:48 12:23:51 12:23:52 12:23:58 12:24:01
you tell me a li t tle bi t about what you mean 12: 22: 46
by that?
A.
Different companies have different loan
products.
Some which are driven by credi t
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score and model.
Some have other criteria:
loan size requirements, loan-to-value
requirements. Many times you have to fi t a
and his loan-to-va1ue into a certain loan
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customer's credit score, his debt to income, 12:23:19
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package.
Some companies would have higher
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rates than others for a similar product.
So the basic job was to find the best
fit at the best cost that you could.
Q.
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Now, would customers talk to you about what
their goals or needs were in terms of what
they wanted to accomplish?
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A.
Typically, in the conversation you're asking 12: 23: 55
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them, you know, are they just trying to pay
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off debt? Are they trying to lower their rate?
Paradigm Reporting & Captioning Inc. 612-339-0545
Case 1:03-cv-02485-MSK-PAC
Document 339-24
Filed 01/31/2006
Page 4 of 6
Phillip Johnson 12/6/2005 Camile Melonakis-Kurz, et aL. v. Heartland Home Finance, Inc.
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Q.
A.
12:28:14 Wha t do you mean when you say tha t every 12:28:16 loan iS unique? 12:28:18 Well, not every customer has the same credit 12: 28: 22
score. Not every customer has the same
teacher.
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needs. You may have fi ve people in a row
that tell you they want to reduce their
ra te, but not everyone's going to qual i fy
for the same product. And so you have to
take a different tact or package it
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differently to be able to get an
underwriting decision that's affirmative,
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Q.
so. . .
Now, in terms of establishing what the fees
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would be for these products, how did tha t
work?
A.
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There were general guidelines as far as the
12:28:24 12:28:28 12:28:30 12:28:33 12:28:35 12:28:36 12:28:43 12:28:46 12:28:48 12:28:51 12:28:56 12:29:02 12:29:04
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fees.
I think it really boiled down to what 12:29:14
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the loan officer felt that he could sell to
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his customer. And some loan officers in the 12:29:24
office had higher fees than others.
If they got to be too low, Mike Kelly
would bump them up for you.
charge more.
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Tell you to
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But there was -- I don't think 12:29:43
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there was a set requirement other than, you
Paradigm Reporting & Captioning Inc.
612-339-0545
Case 1:03-cv-02485-MSK-PAC
Document 339-24
Filed 01/31/2006
Page 5 of 6
Philip Johnson 12/6/2005
Camille Melonakis-Kurz, et aL. v. Heartland Home Finance, Inc.
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A.
Well, the -- when you say fees, you're
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talking origination fees.
Q.
Right.
That is what the -- that's what a loan
officer typically charges.
Points iS
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12:31:20 12:31:23 12:31:23 12:31:24 12:31:26
something different. Points ls when you buy 12:31:28
down a rate typically. And that's 12:31:31
12:31:37 rate structure. 12:31:41 Did you ever buy down a rate while you were 12:31:43 working at Heartland? 12:31:45 Never. 12:31:47 In terms of selecting appraisers, how did 12:31:52 you go about doing that? 12:31:54 There was a list of approved appraisers. 12:32:02 Typically, when you had a customer that was 12: 32: 12
established by the company itself in their
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out of area, you'd go to appraisers dot.com 12:32:12
or some other type web site to search for an 12:32:14
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appraiser.
Or you would use Nations Title
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who has a network of appraisers. And they
would help you find one if it was out of
state or out of area.
Q.
So. . .
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What about title companies? How did you
decide which ti tIe companies to use?
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A.
Title companies were pretty well dictated by
Paradigm Reporting & Captioning Inc. 612-339-0545
Case 1:03-cv-02485-MSK-PAC
Document 339-24
Filed 01/31/2006
Page 6 of 6
Philip Johnson 12/6/2005
Camille Melonakis-Kurz, et aL. v. Heartland Home Finance, Inc.
53
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the office.
They would come by, you know.
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Mike would entertain them, you know.
They'd -- and we were instructed, you know,
to use this title company or that title
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company.
Out of area, again, was a little more
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difficult. We just had to find one local to 12:33:03
the customer, so...
Q.
When you say that you were told to use this
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title company or that title company, I mean, 12: 33: 09
did you have your choice between two or
three, or would he say, On thi s loan you've
got to use this ti tIe company?
A.
We were never required to use one over
another. At least I never got tha t
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indication.
Title companies were -- it's
whoever we wanted to use.
I used Nations.
Capi tal.
There were times
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There were times I used
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There were times I used Chicago.
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So I never felt like there was a specific 12: 33: 34
ti tIe company that I absolutely was required 12: 33: 38
to use. 12:33:40
Q.
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Were there -- I know you said that, like,
12:33:42
the title company representatives might come 12:33:44
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into the office. Would representatives from
Paradigm Reporting & Captioning Inc.
612-339-0545