bankrate.com, lendingtree, ditech......

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chef

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u guys know the bankrate.com local rate finder? when i run it neither any of the local or bigname national lenders show up there, but instead are smalltime companies I've never heard of. (mortgage capital assoc, amerisave, total mortgage services, etc)

they sure have good rates (3.63% on 5/1 ARM, 0 pts) but i wonder if they are 'bait & switch" or companies in risk of going under in the near future.

any thoughts? also anyone use lending tree.com?
 
Bait and switch maybe, but going under is probably not that important. The worst that will happen is that your loan is sold to another company. Unless you sign a crappy contract the terms of the loan shoudl stay the same even if it switches companies.
 
These smaller companies will almost definitely sell your loan, but this will not effect you at all. My loan has been sold over 5 times in the last 4 years. Go for the best rate. You should also check with smaller, local mortgage companies in your city. They will often give better rates than the big guys.
 
thx guys. i found ing direct & priceline, both well established and they have good rates.


btw, on a ARM, what should i look at more, the APR or rate?
 
Hey chef,

I'm going through the same process as you right now. APR is an estimate of the rate of interest for the life of the loan when you account for all costs (i.e., closing costs and lender fees). Lenders are now all required to reveal their APR's so consumers have a way to compare loans factoring in all costs. Otherwise they could lure you in with a great advertised rate but screw you with various fees that would be due at closing in addition to the down payment amount.
Keep in mind the APR is just an estimate (nobody knows what the rates will be from years 6-30 of your loan, after the fixed period is over). A general rule of thumb is to shop around for the best rate and then when comparing two or more lenders with similar rates, the one with the lower APR is usually the better deal (generally with slighty less up-front costs). Of course, if you specifically state in your purchase agreement that the seller will pay all or even some of the closing costs, that will change the value of the APR as it pertains to your particular loan.

By the way, just want to be sure you're aware that the ingdirect application can only be approved once you have a specific property/address in mind, so you can't use them for a "pre-approval" to aid your bargaining power in shopping around for a property.

(did any of that make any sense??? pm me if it didn't....i'm still learning all of this myself as I go along)

Good luck!🙂
 
Ummm.... this isn't financial aid that we're talking about, it's mortgages.

Can someone put it back under General Residency Issues?

Thanks.
 
Greetings,

I am also currently dealing with the home mortgage fiasco and thought I'd tap your wisdom. First off, how does one research multiple potential lenders to get programs and rates without having credit checks done by each company? I made the mistake of talking to my local Wells Fargo mortgage guy early on in the process and before I knew it we ran a credit check and processed pre-approval of a $180000 loan based solely on my $42000 salary. However, he was working with assumption that I was going to put upward of $20,000 down which I don't think I want to do...I anticipate other expenses soon (baby) and want to save my cash on hand. So I have looked into the physician loan program which is basically an 80/20 with no down, no PMI, etc. Pretty good, but the rate of the 20% mortgage is 7.35%, quite high it seems to me and the monthly payments end up several hundred dollars more expensive. So I re-consulted the Wells Fargo guy and talked about doing an 80/15/5 with a home equity line of credit as the second mortgage from which I could draw needed cash. Any opinions about doing that? Now I am looking on the internet and seeing some of the great rates, much better than Wells Fargo is offering and wondering how I should proceed, especially since I don't want five credit checks done in the next week. Any ideas? Any thoughts on down payment vs no down payment when I have cash available, but also anticipate further expenses soon?

thanks for any input!
 
Originally posted by Oftalmologo
Greetings,

I am also currently dealing with the home mortgage fiasco and thought I'd tap your wisdom. First off, how does one research multiple potential lenders to get programs and rates without having credit checks done by each company? I made the mistake of talking to my local Wells Fargo mortgage guy early on in the process and before I knew it we ran a credit check and processed pre-approval of a $180000 loan based solely on my $42000 salary. However, he was working with assumption that I was going to put upward of $20,000 down which I don't think I want to do...I anticipate other expenses soon (baby) and want to save my cash on hand. So I have looked into the physician loan program which is basically an 80/20 with no down, no PMI, etc. Pretty good, but the rate of the 20% mortgage is 7.35%, quite high it seems to me and the monthly payments end up several hundred dollars more expensive. So I re-consulted the Wells Fargo guy and talked about doing an 80/15/5 with a home equity line of credit as the second mortgage from which I could draw needed cash. Any opinions about doing that? Now I am looking on the internet and seeing some of the great rates, much better than Wells Fargo is offering and wondering how I should proceed, especially since I don't want five credit checks done in the next week. Any ideas? Any thoughts on down payment vs no down payment when I have cash available, but also anticipate further expenses soon?

thanks for any input!
Click to expand...

Generally you can get your credit run as many times as you like within 2 weeks, and it only counts as once on your credit score. The scoring compnay knows that people like to shop around. Secondly, I'd be wary of lower interest rate offers that could be ARMs or 15 year rates instead of a standard 30 year. With A credit, you should be able to get 5.5% fixed for 30 years or 4.75 for 15 years on a 80% loan. 7.35% on the 20% sounds pretty good with no PMI. Any lower % on a 100% loan, and you'll be paying PMI which would most likely end up costing you more.
 
Actually, I am interested in a 5/1 ARM since I will only be in the house for a maximum of 4-5 years while I complete residency.
 
Originally posted by Oftalmologo
Greetings,

I am also currently dealing with the home mortgage fiasco and thought I'd tap your wisdom. First off, how does one research multiple potential lenders to get programs and rates without having credit checks done by each company? I made the mistake of talking to my local Wells Fargo mortgage guy early on in the process and before I knew it we ran a credit check and processed pre-approval of a $180000 loan based solely on my $42000 salary. However, he was working with assumption that I was going to put upward of $20,000 down which I don't think I want to do...I anticipate other expenses soon (baby) and want to save my cash on hand. So I have looked into the physician loan program which is basically an 80/20 with no down, no PMI, etc. Pretty good, but the rate of the 20% mortgage is 7.35%, quite high it seems to me and the monthly payments end up several hundred dollars more expensive. So I re-consulted the Wells Fargo guy and talked about doing an 80/15/5 with a home equity line of credit as the second mortgage from which I could draw needed cash. Any opinions about doing that? Now I am looking on the internet and seeing some of the great rates, much better than Wells Fargo is offering and wondering how I should proceed, especially since I don't want five credit checks done in the next week. Any ideas? Any thoughts on down payment vs no down payment when I have cash available, but also anticipate further expenses soon?

thanks for any input!
Click to expand...

What about FHA -- you only need 3% down and they have great rates!

Ed
 
K Cox, what do mortgages have to do w/ med school fin aid? 😕 😕 😕
 
Originally posted by edmadison
What about FHA -- you only need 3% down and they have great rates!

Ed
Click to expand...

FHA also has mortgage insurance on any loan more than 80% LTV, which certainly makes the effective rate much higher on a 3% loan.
 
Originally posted by ken37
FHA also has mortgage insurance on any loan more than 80% LTV, which certainly makes the effective rate much higher on a 3% loan.
Click to expand...

Very true, I checked my numbers and my PMI raises my total interest rate about 0.075. In any event, you should run the numbers on both loans.

Ed
 
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