Mortgage Companies

[jgmklmhem]

IS it a financing Faux Pas to get pre-qualified with more than one company? I am looking at a bunch of local companies as well as some of the ones lending tree sent me towards. I am obviously trying to get the best package for our home buying needs, but didn't want to do anything outside the norm.

 

[SillyMe]

Keep in mind that every company that pre-qualifies you will check your credit and that will affect your score.

 

[sweet angel]

I'm not sure what the upside is to doing that. Why wouldn't you simply go with the one with the best deal and pre-qual with them? If you couldn't qualify with them, THEN you could move on.

Perhaps I'm not understanding.

 

[golfgal]

You can pre-qualify with anyone you want but that doesn't mean they have to actually lend you the money. You need to get pre-approved and that you only want to do with one company. What you CAN and should do is call around and find out how much they charge in closing costs/fees for a house at a certain price and then find out the current interest rate, although that changes daily. This way you can compare apples to apples on say a $300,000 house or what ever price you use (use something that you realistically might spend on a house).

Keep in mind that your regular bank may be the best source especially since you may qualify for other perks with having a mortgage with them (free safe deposit boxes, interest on checking and savings accounts, no service fees, free ATM's, etc.).

 

[camreesmom]

Keep in mind that every company that pre-qualifies you will check your credit and that will affect your score.

This is not true. You can apply with 20 or however many companies but as long as it is within one 30 day period, it only counts as one inquiry. The key is that it is for a home mortgage. You couldn't do this for credit cards.

We just bought our home in June and we got the best deal thru one of the Lending Tree companies. I guess our town is just too small to have too many local companies that could compete.

 

[golfgal]

This is not true. You can apply with 20 or however many companies but as long as it is within one 30 day period, it only counts as one inquiry. The key is that it is for a home mortgage. You couldn't do this for credit cards.

We just bought our home in June and we got the best deal thru one of the Lending Tree companies. I guess our town is just too small to have too many local companies that could compete.

That is not true either. If you have several mortgage companies pulling your credit report EACH of them will show up as an inquiry and shopping around like that will be considered against you in trying to obtain a loan. Each INDIVIDUAL lender can pull multiple reports but since they are the one's pulling the report won't count it against you. If you have 20 inquiries on your credit report in the past month, most good lenders will NOT give you a loan.

 

[PlaneJoy1]

That is not true either. If you have several mortgage companies pulling your credit report EACH of them will show up as an inquiry and shopping around like that will be considered against you in trying to obtain a loan. Each INDIVIDUAL lender can pull multiple reports but since they are the one's pulling the report won't count it against you. If you have 20 inquiries on your credit report in the past month, most good lenders will NOT give you a loan.

Actually, this poster was correct.

"Recent changes minimize the negative effects that rate shopping can have on a mortgage applicant. If there is a consumer originated inquiry within the past 365 days from mortgage or auto related industries, these inquiries are ignored for scoring purposes for the first 30 calendar days; then, multiple inquiries within the next 14 days are counted as one. Each inquiry will still appear on the credit report"

Consumer are expected to shop arounds for mortgages, hence the reason that the credit report isn't negatively affected.

 

[Makdyn]

This is not true. You can apply with 20 or however many companies but as long as it is within one 30 day period, it only counts as one inquiry. The key is that it is for a home mortgage. You couldn't do this for credit cards.

We just bought our home in June and we got the best deal thru one of the Lending Tree companies. I guess our town is just too small to have too many local companies that could compete.

This is correct. It will only count as one inquiry as long as it is within the same month. It will tell the Loan officer that you are shopping them which could mean they will try to get you the best deal possible.

 

[ducklite]

Be careful with Lending Tree. Between the company we went with and Lending Trees closing agent, my mortgage is so messed up that I'm 45 days past closing and it's still not all resolved. I've got SVP level people at both Lending Tree and the broker trying to fix compliance issues. My loan was "cookie cutter" no cash out, straight ahead rate/term re-fi, it should have been a slam dunk, and they dropped the ball on everything from having the wrong date on the closing docs to not getting a sub-ordination agreement for my HELOC.

Anne

 

[cheshirekitty]

What companies are you dealing with? I used to work for a company the Lending Tree would send people to....would not recommend going with them. I also know of many other bad companies.

Mandy

 

[hlbtimes2]

I would recomend finding a good mortgage broker in your area. Ask coworks, friends, family, if they know of any. We have went with the same one for the last 3 purchases and 2 refi's. She was able to get us a great rate.

 

[sweet angel]

I went thru Lending Tree to see my options for my refi. The two best were the mtg co that did my first refi and my current mtg co. I liked the rep at the first and went with them. No problems whatsoever.

Of course, right after closing they transferred the loan to the company that I had before I did the refi. Whatever, I still consolidated my debt and got a lower rate.