Broker or Bank

Who is your mortgage with? (name of company)

We have been speaking to a mortgage broker and he suggested going with a company that i have never heard before. Not saying that they aren't good, I just haven't heard them (used to hearing Chase, Citibank, Bethpage, etc.)

I was told brokers can get you different deals since they shop wholesale (like Costco) but was just curious what others have.

Thanks!

Re: Broker or Bank

I always recommend going to a direct lender versus a broker. Unless you have a really hard to place loan and need a broker to do the legwork for you, I don't see any advantage to using a broker.

I've also had clients have bad experiences with brokers, who couldn't get the loan done when it came time to do it. The problem is that the broker ultimately has to place the loan with a bank or lender, but the broker doesn't work for that bank/lender, or have relationships with the underwriters (who have the final say) or the familiarity with the bank's particular rules.

Also, the broker has to make money somewhere, so you usually pay more with a broker.

I usually recommend specialty mortgage banks -- direct lenders with a local presence who only handle mortgages -- as opposed to large commercial banks (Chase, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, etc.) -- to my clients. So lenders like U.S. Mortgage Corp., Continental Home Loan, Academy Mortgage, etc. I think they process loans more quickly, customer service is generally better. Credit unions can be very competitive on rates/closing costs, but are very conservative and also tend to lack the manpower when it comes to the speed of processing/approving loans.

But it really depends a lot on the particular loan officer you use, rather than the overall institution, too. I've had buyer clients recently have great experience with larger banks as well. I think it always helps if you can get a recommendation on a particular loan officer, not just a lender, from a friend, family member, or LIF'er.

Re: Broker or Bank

Us mortgage, continental have their own mortgages? So you are paying them directly? Or they pass it off to smaller companies?

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We used Continental, but the loan was sold off even before we made our first mortgage payment to Chase

Re: Broker or Bank

Broker or Bank

We used Chase both times, just made sense to me to go directly through a reputable bank, didn't see a need for 'middle man'.

Broker or Bank

Used Wells Fargo for our first house -- TERRIBLE experience. I hate Karl and Alicia (the 2 people who handled our loan) with a passion. We didn't know if the bank was going to get everything done -- there were questions on whether or not we would get the mortgage up until the morning of closing...

We used a broker for the second house -- Justin Schiatta. He was ALWAYS available to answer questions and we were able to negotiate a lot of costs down.

Broker or Bank

My Uncle is a RE Atty so he set us up with a realtor and broker who he trusted and had experience with. We were very happy with our mortgage broker. They got us mortgage through Cole Taylor Bank and it was sold to Wells Fargo before our first payment was due.

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We used a mortgage broker and our mortgage is with Wells Fargo.

Broker or Bank

Wells Fargo. Beth recommended him and he is seriously amazing. He got our mortgage done in 2 weeks. Craziness.

Broker or Bank

We went through Bethpage FCU. We had a friend who was a broker and he ran the numbers for us. By going directly through the bank we saved about $5000 in closing costs.

We still have our mortgage thru BFCU, and we've refinanced with them twice as well.

Re: Broker or Bank

I went directly to a bank. What I did was on a given day I called up several big banks and asked what their rate was and what their closing costs were (the closing costs that are unique to each lender such as application, appraisal, underwriting, etc).

Then I chose who to apply to.

I would rather not use a broker. They just act as a middleman and collect their fees.

Re: Broker or Bank

Broker or Bank

We went through a broker when we purchased our house and for our two refinances and were very happy with the experience.

We also looked at a direct lender but, the broker got us a much better rate and the difference in closing costs was minimal.

Re: Broker or Bank