Samiam Posted March 31, 2015 Share Posted March 31, 2015 Did you shop around for a mortgage? Today DH and I took a step, which was hard to do, of going into a bank to see the mortgage guy. After intro chit-chat, he told us interest rates, told us what a payment would look like for a certain dollar amount (we had told him what we had in mind). So then I said "you haven't pulled credit yet, don't you need to do that to see if we can get that?" (I know, cuz he hadn't asked for SsN or any other identifiers). He said he would do that now, he did, and he says we shouldn't have any problem getting $X amount approved. Several minutes of chit chat and he's still acting like it's all good. Um, okay, but don't you need to look at our credit report, and see if there are any issues on it, that would cause strife for getting approved? (Like at that point he looked at credit score and income only). He did, does some math, and then says we could probably only get X amount of money due to debt to income (student loans which are currently deferred still count). ,which was MUCH smaller than the original amount, and not going to work for us at all. The thing is, we had a pretty accurate idea of the credit score, knew what issues our report has on it, been working at cleaning it up, knew what our best options for loans are...so we weren't walking in clueless. We kind felt like if we hadn't led him into probing deeper, we may have walked out of there feeling like we had gotten pre-approval for exactly what we wanted....when in fact, it was just the opposite. We know we are borderline...it's going to take a bit of creativeness/leniency....had some past credit,issues 5-6 years ago during a time of unemployment...fixed a lot,of it but there's a bit still left....credit score makes it, barely but it does, income is fine...but overall we look mediocre on our credit report. So we knew it wouldn't be as easy as this guy acted like it was at first. We also learned they use Quicken Loans for their FHA loans.....DH jokes on the way home that according to Quickens commercial we could have applied and done all that at home, in our underwear, lol. So question is, should we shop around and try a different place,for a mortgage? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcadia Posted March 31, 2015 Share Posted March 31, 2015 When we went to buy our home here, I went to Citibank, Wells Fargo and BOA for a loan because I could walk from the apartment we were staying in. Based on hubby's W2 and a single loan, the bank did fax a preapproval to the developer. Our bank loan officer was at the title office when we went to sign the documents to help explain if necessary. When we refinance, we ask a few mortgage brokers and also ask a few banks. For the same bank, different branches may have more experienced staff. A BOA staff spend more than an hour explaining to us and saying that it is not worth refinancing with BOA based on our mortgage. Some are too eager to earn the commission and doesn't advise professionally. If you have the 20% down payment, the bank is more willing to give a good rate even with other debt compared to if you need a HELOC or home equity loan to cover the downpayment. The lower the loan to value the lower the loan interest rate offered to us. The last time we ask was less than a month ago since we are still on a lookout for a bigger home to buy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carol in Cal. Posted March 31, 2015 Share Posted March 31, 2015 We went to our (normally outstanding) credit union to set up a line of credit, and got the same BS line from a guy who would basically say anything to get business. He told us that we were all set and that the loan would be funded the following week. Ha. Two months later we were still fooling with it, and at the last minute they required us to give up other credit that we wanted to keep, something he should have known about. We complained about this to his manager, big time--it was ridiculous. Normally I go to my excellent mortgage broker, but she told me that for a HELOC we would get a better deal from the credit union. (She's really honest, too...) Bottom line--go to a good mortgage broker that others have recommended locally. They are worth their weight in gold. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SparklyUnicorn Posted March 31, 2015 Share Posted March 31, 2015 We shopped around. The biggest variation we saw was with fees. There are always various fees, but some banks invent more than others. In the end it barely matters because most banks, especially smaller banks, sell the loans to other bigger banks. Our loan was sold two times within 2 months after buying the house. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DawnM Posted March 31, 2015 Share Posted March 31, 2015 We shopped around a lot! We are limited in who we can use though as DH can't use any bank or lending company that his company audits (he isn't an auditor but works in a large firm and there is a conflict of interest.) But we were very careful shop around for the best deal. We ended up getting $0, no points, and 2.6% on a 15 year. We did have to pay $400 for an appraisal though. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greta Posted March 31, 2015 Share Posted March 31, 2015 Did you shop around for a mortgage?Absolutely. It's essentially the biggest purchase most people ever make, so it's definitely worth shopping around for. Our first offer was for an adjustable-rate mortgage. We said no thanks and walked out. I realize a lot of people are okay with that, and that's their choice. It's just not something I would be comfortable with. We do fixed-rate only. We refinanced a few years after we bought our house, and I'd learned a little bit more about managing personal finances at that time, so I wanted a 15-year. My husband didn't, for reasons I never understood, so we got a 20-year. He told me just yesterday that he wished we'd gotten a 15-year from the beginning. No kidding. We would own our house by now if we had! But we've been living here for 16 years and the bank still owns it. He wants to retire soon and we still have many years left on our mortgage. This is not a good feeling. What I wish we had done from day one, and what I will advise my daughter to do, is: put 20% down (we did do that part) on a 15-year fixed mortgage (we didn't do that part) where the monthly payments will be no more than 25% of take-home pay (we did do that part). The bank was willing to give us a loan that would have amounted to more than 25% of our take-home pay, but my husband very wisely rejected that amount. I thought he was being overly cautious at the time, but now I am so glad that he did that. It has allowed us the flexibility to deal with minor emergencies as they've arisen without worrying about whether or not we could make our house payment that month. Yes, we live in a modest home. But I'm okay with that. So basically my advice is to be relentless in demanding the terms for the loan that will benefit you (not the bank!) in the long run, and be conservative in the total amount that you borrow. You won't regret it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ottakee Posted March 31, 2015 Share Posted March 31, 2015 Check out local credit unions. Usually less fees and easy to work with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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