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I'm about to apply for a mortgage and I have been reading reviews on the web and posts on this forum, and it appears that no one has had a good experience in getting a mortgage.
I'm not as concerned about the rate as I am about customer service and having a smooth experience all the way to closing. I can't find a lender that doesn't have a lot of negative reviews from dissatisfied customers.
I am aware that dissatisfied customers are much more likely to report their bad experiences than the happy customers are. So I'm asking the question here: Have you had a good experience with a mortgage lender in, say, the last year?
I'm about to apply for a mortgage and I have been reading reviews on the web and posts on this forum, and it appears that no one has had a good experience in getting a mortgage.
I'm not as concerned about the rate as I am about customer service and having a smooth experience all the way to closing. I can't find a lender that doesn't have a lot of negative reviews from dissatisfied customers.
I am aware that dissatisfied customers are much more likely to report their bad experiences than the happy customers are. So I'm asking the question here: Have you had a good experience with a mortgage lender in, say, the last year?
I love my mortgage lender Wells Fargo. I bought my current home at the end of May. They were very friendly and professional. My lender showed up at my closing to make sure the money was wired to the title company.
I'm about to apply for a mortgage and I have been reading reviews on the web and posts on this forum, and it appears that no one has had a good experience in getting a mortgage.
I'm not as concerned about the rate as I am about customer service and having a smooth experience all the way to closing. I can't find a lender that doesn't have a lot of negative reviews from dissatisfied customers.
I am aware that dissatisfied customers are much more likely to report their bad experiences than the happy customers are. So I'm asking the question here: Have you had a good experience with a mortgage lender in, say, the last year?
My lender was fairly quick, was professional, and on a personal level tried to help me with my purchase by waiving his professional fees. I closed in November and locked a rate at 3.25% for 30 years.
I do not waive my fees, and you might find a lower rate out there somewhere. But I have a long list of very happy clients, two of which sent me referrals just this morning. Yes, the process has bumps and can be confounding, but choosing a lender with a sufficient infrastructure and support staff, and a lending officer with experience, who takes his/her job very seriously, is key.
This might sound arrogant, but it doesn't make much sense to expect Mercedes-Benz quality and service when you've chosen to buy a Kia, now does it?
Reading your statement "Has Anyone Had A GOOD Experience Getting A Mortgage?" Right away thought is this a joke? I do not know anyone that is "over joyed" when it comes to getting a loan and paying it back..Realize you are a first time home buyer.
The question to you is - do you want to more more or less for your loan? Over the term of the loan, will pay double if not more than the original amount borrowed.
My advise is not to rush into getting a mortgage, suggest staying put and saving more money to apply for your down payment. Putting 20% or more down, you can qualify for better loan terms and ultimately pass less over the term. Getting a loan with less than 20% down, you will pay ten's of $1000's more over the loan term.
A suggestion is to have a notebook to start your endeavor. It is a no brainier understanding the lower your LTV/DTI ratios, and the higher your credit score, the better loan terms you can qualify for. Study the five categories that make up your FICA and ways to manipulate your score higher.
For first-time buyers, deciding what loan to choose can make all the difference in securing a mortgage. Three types: a mortgage through a credit union, conventional mortgages, or using a mortgage broker.
A credit union is like a bank, except instead of being a for-profit business, it only exists to service its members. As a result credit unions often have lower closing costs and have better interest rates than conventional lenders. If you have high credit, large down payment, no work and income issues. This would be my first choice. However if something comes up during the application process, your app is dead. Credit unions sell about 25% of their loans.
Next on the list is applying for a mortgage through a conventional direct lender, Wells Fargo is the top of my list. Your closing costs and interest rates can be low. Using direct lenders - they have a streamed line process, where the costs associated with the loan are pretty much uniform. They also have different programs to assign if minor issues come up.
The benefit is Using a mortgage broker, they can be affiliated with different conventional and private lenders. They can shop around which bank has the best terms for your situation. The negative thing with brokers is they get paid through the closing costs, mainly the origination and junk fees. A home owner can be easily tricked on a good faith estimate, initially offered a low rate, getting to closing seeing a higher rate. Each state limits of how much can be charged for a closing.
It is in the best interest of the broker to maximize how much they can get for each loan. The broker gets a kickback (Yield Spread) for up-selling you on a higher rate, a term called "getting banged on the back end" when you qualified for a lower rate. Many times you have the option to buy the rate down (added your closing costs). Asking to do this helps keeps the broker honest.
An FHA loan is the easiest type of mortgage to qualify for because it requires a low down payment as small as 3.5% and you can have less-than-perfect credit. Negative things about FHA loans is first the mortgage insurance. Previous after five years or 22% equity it could be removed. Now FHA borrowers have to pay mortgage insurance for the life time of the loan. Meaning sometime in the future you would need to refinance (paying additional closing costs eating away at the equity).
The mortgage insurance only benefits the lender. FHA loans are the lease forgiving type of mortgage if you get into trouble. Meaning if there is a future hardship with a loss of income. A request for a loan modifications for conversation loans, currently interest rates start as low as 2%, where an FHA loan can be as low as 3.75%. The final modified payment can be changed to 31% of the gross income.
One more suggestion for your future. My wife and I paid off our mortgage in under 13 years. We are not rich, our secret is sending extra to the principle. If you send one extra payment a year starting on a 30 year loan, this reduces the term to 22.5 years. You could divide one payment into 12th or more, and religiously include that extra with your normal payment. Be sure to indicate both on the mortgage coupon and your check. You want the extra applied to your principle. If you don't, it can end up added towards your escrows.
Sorry went a over board on this post, over the last decade have worked with 1000's of borrowers across the country. There are borrowers that are irresponsible, because of their actions lose their homes to foreclosure. Compared to the greed and profit banks make, have a vendetta against mortgage lenders. Nothing happens to them when they over-charge and do nothing to help home owners.
well, i initially had a rough experience but ended out on a very positive note.
i started out applying for a mortgage through bbva compass bank. they had a great program, were able to get me pre-approved and i went into contract soon after. but about a week in they decided to reject my application giving me many generic answers (credit score not great, credit history not long enough (well im 28 lol, but have had credit since 2005 and a paid off vehicle), not enough funds, needed longer job history (never unemployed), they didnt want to add in assets like another property i have), etc. i dont even think they knew how much i needed at closing as they sort of just shot me down right away. the only thing i could agree mostly was my credit score, but with a small fixer upper condo at 70k, i didnt see why they thought i was such a huge risk.
i was very discouraged, had attempted a mortgage before with another lender before but honestly didnt think id have enough time to get approved elsewhere. i gave it one last shot with a credit union. i should have started the process with them from the start. it was a very smooth and terrific experience. from application to announcing my closing date, it took maybe 3 weeks with no issues whatsoever.
very grateful now to be purchasing my first condo. it def beats paying rent since that areas rent go an extra $200-300 more than my monthly payments.
overall though, i do think they analyze every little thing. i dont blame them though since the crash we had a few years back. but with many people my age now out of school, many will carry student loan debt which will account into the ratios. i dont see the market strengthening that much in the next decade unless some added relief or programs can help out with those with student loan debt. i think it will play a factor in the markets future.
We closed with Wells Fargo last year, and at the time I found the entire process extremely frustrating. However, after reading about other people's experiences I realize now that everything actually went pretty smoothly. Yes, there was a LOT of paperwork and the amount of documentation that we had to track down day-to-day was ridiculous, but our loan officer was very responsive, we closed on time and received a very good rate. There were some surprises along the way that I think could have been brought up earlier in the process (like the 16 month reserve requirement), but in hindsight I would rate the overall experience as positive and would probably use them again.
My experience with getting a mortgage in November/December 2012 was fairly positive. Sure, it was frustrating at times, but my mortgage broker was very professional and excellent at keeping me in the loop.
There was one woman who worked for him who drove me crazy, she was not able to open zipped attachments or figure out how to download attachments, and I did have to ask that she be barred from handling my file. Apparently, I wasn't the only one to complain about her, though.
I'm kind of anal-retentive, so I already had PDFs of all of my various bank account monthly statements, 401k statements, and other investments, as well as PDFs of my relevant tax returns, so it only took me about 3 minutes to gather most of the necessary documentation. I think if someone didn't have this, and had to dig out hard copies, it would make the experience much more frustrating and negative.
The only thing that complicated matters was the fact that my mom added me to her checking account a few years ago when she was going through some really serious health issues, so I could take care of getting her bills paid. I'd forgotten about that, and it turned up during the process. I had to get a letter formally explaining why I was listed on her checking account, and that I wasn't using the funds from her account.
Disclaimer: I've got a stable job, excellent income, 700+ credit score, and a healthy percentage downpayment. These all combined to make my mortgage underwriting fairly smooth sailing, compared with what others have had to experience.
I had a very smooth experience. I used a local bank that I already had a relationship with. The lender and her assistant kept me in the loop every step of the way. Whenever they asked for something, I sent it in a timely manner so there was never any issue. And the lender showed up at closing with a bottle wine.
I've never had a bad experience. Period. Whether it was a face to face broker, online refinance, FHA streamline refinance (many years ago on my very first home), builder's mortgage company, they've all gone smoothly and easily.
Why? Because I'm prepared ahead of time. I recognize that I am the one asking somebody else to loan me hundreds of thousands of dollars. We've worked hard to keep our credit scores over 800, we make sure we have at least 20% down, we don't ask for more money that the acceptable LTV and debt to income ratios allow. I have all the paperwork they may ask for ready to go (tax returns, bank statements, 401k statements, etc.), scanned on my computer so that it can be emailed within seconds upon request.
I expect THEM to be efficient and professional. They deserve the same from me. It's business, not personal, and they've got the gold, not me.
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