Mortgage Shopping: Advice

M

Mary_From_Georgia

Dryer sheet aficionado
Joined
Feb 13, 2005
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I've been pre-approved by my credit union. Can anyone recommend a site or other competitive , reputable lenders I should use/apply with? e.g.

*Countrywide
*E-Loan
*Wells Fargo
*MetLife Bank

Who's good...who's bad...and why would be very helpful.

Thanks,
MFG

:D
 
I had a mortgage from Chase bank, from 2002-2006. I don't know how competitive their rates are (you can check on their website - - when I got my mortgage they were 6.375% and Countrywide was 6.25%), but I thought their service was pretty good. I used to skim off my bank accounts several times a year and send the excess in as a lump sum payment, and it wasn't always a nice round number of dollars. But every month I checked, and they very carefully applied each lump sum payment to the principal without much delay and I was very pleased that they were as careful about that as I was. Also, I had no bad surprises at any time. So personally, I would go with Chase instead of the other banks you mentioned, even if the interest rate was a little higher, just because I know for a fact that their "aggravation factor" is low.

They do have one of those endless voicemail (and recorded information to listen to) set-ups, where it says, "If you want xyz, press 1, If you want abc, press 2" and so on forever and ever. I thought that was aggravating until my insurance agent told me how to get a real person at Chase through that system when I needed one. I wrote it down at the time, and used it but have forgotten by now. There's a way. Maybe you punch the "*" or something.
 
Last edited:
My advice is to look at the bottom line- all fees, PMI, insurance, interest and calculate what each loan will acutally cost you- then take the cheapest one. My experience has been that you loan get sold in a couple of years anyway, so the loan originator has a relatively minor impact on the mortgage. Don't let them include the insurance in the loan. You don't want to pay the bank interest on your home insurance.

I've been exploring PenFed and am impressed with how easy it seems to work with them. Their home mortgage rates are very very good. I joined the NMFA easily with a $20 payment and am eligible for all their good loan rates.
 
Give lending tree a try

LendingTree Home Loans | Refinance | Home Equity | Mortgage Refinance

Our first mortgage was through them. They submit your application to at least four places and give you all the responses.
We ended up with than Norwest (now Wells Fargo Home Mortgage).
We got .25 percent better deal than directly from Norwest.
They will also give you some money back on closing with them (details vary) - check their current promos - IIRC we got $500 back in '99.
They also have lowest rate guaranty and our neighbors successfully used it in the past (in lieu of cash Lending Tree worked with WaMu to lower their APR .125% one day before closing).

No ties with lending tree only a satisfied customer.
 
I've had five different mortgage loans over the years, all have been handled professionally and correctly, but my search criteria is "the cheapest loan I can find from someone who's name I recognize". The last three were two with USAA and one with PenFed. I think one of the earlier ones was with my local credit union.

Just shop around a lot and ask a lot of questions and you'll do fine. I'd second the recommendation to look at BankRate.

2Cor521
 
I used Chase. It helped that their office is accross the street from my MegaCorp but I got a competitive rate. And they did all the paperwork when we paid it off. :)
 
bssc said:
You are going to have a big party when you get your house and invite us, right?
Click to expand...

With a new house that big, my guess is that she'll be having lots of big parties and enjoying entertaining. :)

Mary, my best wishes as you embark on the exciting task of selecting and buying your new home!
 
Absolutely you all are invited when it happens. I'll even have some nice wine for the occassion (Kendall Jackson...lol).

;)
 
I have found better rates going through a broker I trust (be careful, there are plenty out there to not trust) or by responding to ads from institutions I know that were doing something special.
 
Watch the closing costs, including points, prepayment penalties and other not so transparent costs. These can add up quickly.
 
My current mortgage began in 1996 with Norwest, who is now Wells Fargo. No problems or complaints with them thus far. They were very cooperative when I was eligible to drop my PMI (I initially only had a 10% down payment) and are very good at keeping me notified about my loan status regarding escrows etc. No complaints, but of course you should shop around.
 
Mary,

I currently have loans Chase, GMAC and Provident Financial or something like that. Chase has been easy to deal with, but I get a lot of unsolicited advertisement for LOC and insurance from both Chase & GMAC with the monthly bills, email and on the telephone. The reality for me in the past has been that loans get sold, and suddenly you're working with someone else anyway.

The last loan I got was with that Provident outfit which I secured through a local independent broker in Athens. The cost of the loan was zilch, except for paying the closing attorney. If you want to give him a try, send me a PM and I'll look up his number for you. He's very dependable, and I found his numbers better than USAA or my local bank, both who worked hard to get my business on that loan.
 
I'll second the lending tree comment. They found me a few people which quoted me almost the same thing. NASB was the bank in KC which actually did the refinance.

I would also add GMAC to the list. They had our mortgage, then when we refinanced thru NASB, NASB sold it right back to GMAC. The advantage of GMAC is they have low closing costs on refinances if you have 20% down. Meaning if you have a GMAC laon, and refinance thru GMAC, closing might cost you $80.

Be aware of mortgage brokers vs banks. This was the toughest thing to decipher off Lending tree. A mortgage broker charges you 1% as a fee. They then use this fee to lower the rate to whoever they sell the loan to, but the 1% does not get you anything. If you go to a bank, use this 1% to buy a point and lower the rate. In this case the cost of the point is tax deductable (if you itemize). Many times this implies the bank which you refinanced thru would "hold" the loan. We knew NASB would sell it (there is a line on the good faith estimate where it will disclose what % of loans that comapny sold off in last 1-2-3 year period I believe). The number disclosed is 0-25%, 25-50%, 50-75%, 75-100% I believe (they don't disclose exact figure, but should give you an idea if this loan is going to be sold before you make first payment.

One other note on GMAC- GMAC has a credit card whose reward is that 1% of all purchases goes to paying down the mortgage principal. For exvery $2500 I spend, my mortgage is reduced $25.
 
Don't use First Horizon. I got a LOW rate, but their customer service is terrible.........

I'm going to refi in 6 months or so just to get rid of them.........:(
 
jIMOh said:
Be aware of mortgage brokers vs banks. This was the toughest thing to decipher off Lending tree. A mortgage broker charges you 1% as a fee. They then use this fee to lower the rate to whoever they sell the loan to, but the 1% does not get you anything.
Click to expand...

This depends totally on the independent broker you use and how greedy he is.
 
Be sure you're pre-approved (instead of pre-qualified).

As far as who, I can't come up with any better. You have some great ones listed for you already.
 
sailor said:
LendingTree Home Loans | Refinance | Home Equity | Mortgage Refinance

Our first mortgage was through them. They submit your application to at least four places and give you all the responses.
We ended up with than Norwest (now Wells Fargo Home Mortgage).
We got .25 percent better deal than directly from Norwest.
They will also give you some money back on closing with them (details vary) - check their current promos - IIRC we got $500 back in '99.
They also have lowest rate guaranty and our neighbors successfully used it in the past (in lieu of cash Lending Tree worked with WaMu to lower their APR .125% one day before closing).

No ties with lending tree only a satisfied customer.
Click to expand...

Hmm...the only 4 lenders who competed for my loan on LendTree are four lenders I have never heard of. I had to do a search to find one company's CEO's profile in Charlotte Business Journal.

The rates are definitely better than I what I got from my credit union which was a 0.35% higher than what I got from LendingTree.
 
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