Mortgage pre-approval

[girli565]

I'm looking to get a preapproved mortgage/loan and I'm just at a loss as to who to look at. I've already contacted my credit union so that's over. Who next?

Are places like Lending Tree legit?

 

[happily single]

I wouldn't use Lending Tree. I called them re: refinancing and it took a few days for them to get back to me. Then, Quicken called me CONTINOUSLY, all different people. I finally spoke with someone there, gave them my info, WAS VERY UPFRONT about my financial situtation. After running my credit, etc. she expresed surprise that they couldn't help me (duh, I told you I probably won't qualify).

I continue to get calls.

THEN I GET A DENIAL LETTER MONTHS LATER STATING A TOTALLY UNRELATED REASON FOR THE DENIAL.

I'm afraid of what my credit report looks like now, with all the "credit pulls" on it.

I would stay away and try your local banks

 

[girli565]

I'm just worried that I may not pre-qualify for anything because I've finally cleaned up my credit after a year of making huge payments and finally am debt free. I only have a car loan. But I do have a few blemishes, two charge-offs and that's it.

 

[CheshireVal]

We just bought our (first) house 6 months ago. We applied at a couple of different places. We found that the online vendors (Quicken being one) were persistent in follow-throughs but not altogether helpful. Plus, they wanted a deposit of a couple of hundred dollars just for the pre-approval or something.

We also tried Bank of America-- customer service was pretty terrible. They were unorganized, too.

Finally we ended up going with Coldwell Banker, who was also our realtor. Their rates were comparable to BoA, but they approved us for more money and were easier to deal with.

I think if you shop around within the same 2-3 weeks, your credit isn't going to take a big hit. It's spreading out your applications over the course of a few months that will hurt you.

 

[CheshireVal]

Want to add one more thing: there's a difference between prequalification and preapproval. The preapproval is better!

 

[mikeysmom]

I am a loan officer in Illinois and I can do loans in Florida.
A few questions I would ask are:

Is this a purchase?

Refinance? Cashout Refi?

what is your score?

Do you know what your loan amount is?

Value of the house?

Imcome vs debt?

PM me if you want I can tell you just with this info if something can be done or not.
Banks and lending tree/quicken don't have access to all the programs that are available they just do very conservative stuff.
I have access to 1000 programs.
I am not looking to get your business just help you. If you want I can put you in touch witha loan officer in florida that would have the same programs as me.
Thanks,
Meg

 

[girli565]

We just bought our (first) house 6 months ago. We applied at a couple of different places. We found that the online vendors (Quicken being one) were persistent in follow-throughs but not altogether helpful. Plus, they wanted a deposit of a couple of hundred dollars just for the pre-approval or something.

We also tried Bank of America-- customer service was pretty terrible. They were unorganized, too.

Finally we ended up going with Coldwell Banker, who was also our realtor. Their rates were comparable to BoA, but they approved us for more money and were easier to deal with.

I think if you shop around within the same 2-3 weeks, your credit isn't going to take a big hit. It's spreading out your applications over the course of a few months that will hurt you.

Well if I find the loan preapproval in the next month I will definitely start my home search. I just want to know how much I can spend and a payment I can afford.

I am a loan officer in Illinois and I can do loans in Florida.
A few questions I would ask are:

Is this a purchase?

Refinance? Cashout Refi?

what is your score?

Do you know what your loan amount is?

Value of the house?

Imcome vs debt?

PM me if you want I can tell you just with this info if something can be done or not.
Banks and lending tree/quicken don't have access to all the programs that are available they just do very conservative stuff.
I have access to 1000 programs.
I am not looking to get your business just help you. If you want I can put you in touch witha loan officer in florida that would have the same programs as me.
Thanks,
Meg

Thanks, I PMed you!!

 

[cruizie]

I would get recommendations from a couple of people and talk to those people. Or maybe ask your realtor if they know someone. My sil is a loan officer and did both of our mortgages. She was able to help us overcome a couple of blemishes on our credit and get us a great rate. I think the individual loan officer is really important.

 

[T. Lynn]

Please, please, please do not go with lending tree. You will only have problems later.

I've seen too many deals fall through because homebuyers think they are getting a deal...and later realize the company doesn't hold up their end of the bargain and they're back to square one. You don't want to end up loosing your dream home.

 

[vegasnative]

My advice is stay away from lenders that are online, such as Quicken Loans. We had a horrible, horrible experience with them. We have since gone to a local lender and she (along with a few other people) have told us they hear nothing but horror stories from online lenders. Our problem we had with Quicken was they didn't lock in the interest rate when we told them to, they did not disclose their total points we would be charged. With the extra point we were un aware of and with them not locking in our interest rate when we said, our payment was going up an extra $192 a month. We never received a "truth in lending" like we have been used to. Anyway, we walked from it even though the guy at Quicken blatently said "oh you won't walk over $200 a month more."
Moral of the story, don't use Quicken Loans!

 

[madge]

I'm looking to get a preapproved mortgage/loan and I'm just at a loss as to who to look at. I've already contacted my credit union so that's over. Who next?

Are places like Lending Tree legit?

Lending Tree is legit, but I don't think they're good to use. From what I understand, your phone will ring non-stop after registering with them, and not in a good way ... in a really annoying, leave me alone way. LOL.

Check over at CreditBoards.com - here's the link to their mortgage board:
http://creditboards.com/forums/index.php?showforum=9

Good luck!

 

[girli565]

I would get recommendations from a couple of people and talk to those people. Or maybe ask your realtor if they know someone. My sil is a loan officer and did both of our mortgages. She was able to help us overcome a couple of blemishes on our credit and get us a great rate. I think the individual loan officer is really important.

Ok, so no online programs! Thank you so much for your help!!

Please, please, please do not go with lending tree. You will only have problems later.

I've seen too many deals fall through because homebuyers think they are getting a deal...and later realize the company doesn't hold up their end of the bargain and they're back to square one. You don't want to end up loosing your dream home.

Too good a deal really makes me weary, I know that this is something that if done correctly could really make the homebuying process wonderful.

My advice is stay away from lenders that are online, such as Quicken Loans. We had a horrible, horrible experience with them. We have since gone to a local lender and she (along with a few other people) have told us they hear nothing but horror stories from online lenders. Our problem we had with Quicken was they didn't lock in the interest rate when we told them to, they did not disclose their total points we would be charged. With the extra point we were un aware of and with them not locking in our interest rate when we said, our payment was going up an extra $192 a month. We never received a "truth in lending" like we have been used to. Anyway, we walked from it even though the guy at Quicken blatently said "oh you won't walk over $200 a month more."
Moral of the story, don't use Quicken Loans!

Ok, no online loans... closing the lending tree window forever!

I love the DIS, you all are so wonderful and full of info!!

 

[DebMcDonald]

We're had good and back luck with recommendations from our realtor. The first time we had been pre-approved from I sold my house.com because I just wanted to know if we could get approved or not and then our relator recommended someone in their office, it was a good experience, but when it came to refinance when rates dropped we could not get her to return our call. We just bought again and our realtor recommended someone from Chase and she was wonderful!!!

 

[girli565]

We're had good and back luck with recommendations from our realtor. The first time we had been pre-approved from I sold my house.com because I just wanted to know if we could get approved or not and then our relator recommended someone in their office, it was a good experience, but when it came to refinance when rates dropped we could not get her to return our call. We just bought again and our realtor recommended someone from Chase and she was wonderful!!!

The builder we are looking into works with Chase but I've had a charge-off with Chase so I'm worried they will deny me.

 

[stahshee]

I thought you had to have a good credit score to get a mortage??

 

[HelenePA]

I thought you had to have a good credit score to get a mortage??

they told us when we got ours you only needed a score of 620 to get one Dh had a bankruptcy 2 years before we got our house but that's a whole other story which I had NO involvement in (well at least spending part you can thank his ex-gf who moved out and left him with almost 75k in cc debit to pay himself )

I wanted to add we go our pre-approval thru M&T bank I dont know if its only local?? but they sold us to someone else who then sold us to someone else who then sold us to someone else finally we are now with Chase (who I dont like)

 

[In Luv with Disney]

I used TopDot Mortgage (who is licensed in most states, so they told me) and they worked out GREAT! I closed in a matter of DAYS (home equity) If you're interested, PM me and I will give you my reps name and phone number.

 

[mikeysmom]

It's a myth that you have to have a good credit score. With FHA you can have no score and still get 100% financing...I do it everyday!

Now if you want a really good rate you have to have above a 675..below that the rates are tiered.

FHA rates are good though too. There are a lot of misconceptions about fha and people think it's only for people with bad credit but that's what sub-prime is for and if any of you watch the news you know how well that went.

If all the slimey mortgage brokers who were out for only money and not to help people took a min. to really look at the customers profile we would only have 1/2 of this mess. The other half is the customer's fault who signed the papers and knew full well they couldn't afford it.

Sorry for ranting. I am a mortgage broker and we get a bad rap because of the bad seeds that used to be used car salesman and just got into this industry to make a quick buck and use people.
A good loan officer will educate you and explain things in a way that you can really understand.
Please don't be fooled by lending tree and quicken those companies are a waste of time.
By the way... your realtors who are "referring" you to a lender are also getting a kickback so there is some incentive there for them to refer your business. It's always a good idea to get 3 rate quotes and good faith estimates from 3 seperate lenders. A good one will match.
Please anyone feel free to ask me any questions. I like being able to use my knowledge to help people, it makes me feel better about paying my student loans!

 

[HelenePA]

Oh yes we did the FHA and got almost 100% with 30yr 5.5% locked (3 years ago next month) we are not in forclosure or even close to it. We did not go above what we could afford even though they would have given us 5times what we wanted.

 

[cancer_survivor_06]

I have been working w/ Wells Fargo Mortgage. You can checkout their website and see if there is a local mortgage office in your area. Our credit has some blemishes on it as well and we so far we have had wonderful service and no trouble w/ them. I did start out w/ a local mortgage company that my realtor recommended but they were not so great to work w/ I especially didn't like that if something was wrong or if they needed something else they didn't notify me they would let my realtor know and she would call me. I finally got fed up and moved on. I haven't spent nearly as much time w/ my WFM rep and we have accomplished twice as much. They also let me know that if we close the loan w/ them they offer incentives b/c of the company my dh works for b/c they do business together, she also told me that if I still worked at my previous job that we would have also gotten 500 dollars b/c the company I worked for works w/ them.