Borrowing online
Borrowing online - In today’s internet age it is possible to apply for a mortgage 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. There are advantages and disadvantages to applying online. Some advantages to applying online are convenience you have the ability to get multiple quotes from the comfort of your home.
When choosing a mortgage professional online, send him or her an email asking a specific question. See how long it takes to get a specific response. Call his or her phone number. See if you reach a live person or how quickly a return call is made.
During this stage mortgage professionals are trying to impress you to win your business. If they are slow returning calls or answering emails now, it will probably not get better later on when you have questions about the progress of your loan.
Once you find a loan consultant you are comfortable with, it will be important to disclose information regarding your income, credit and living status. This will help you mortgage consultant measure which loan product will be suitable for you and your goals.
In today's busy world online applications are the way to go. You can do a mortgage with out leaving your home.
Use caution when applying online! Most states allow you to verify the licensing status of brokers and lenders online. Before providing any personal information review the company privacy policy and make sure the site is secure. Many online mortgage shoppers unknowingly provide their information to companies that resell the information. This often results in a barrage of telephone calls from mortgage companies that buy the leads. Protect your personal information and provide it only to legitimate licensed mortgage companies.
If you are trying to use the internet to receive mortgage quotes, be sure that you do not give out any personal information (mainly your SSN). In today's world with identity theft, you need to be cautious as to which companies you give your personal info too.
Be leery of interest rates you may see posted online. Many times these rates are very old - even as old as when the site was originally built, and they have never been changed. If you see a rate that is far outside of the current area of rates for the loan you are looking for, be cautious.
When applying online make sure the website is a secure website if you intend on giving personal information such as your social security number, date of birth, investment or income info, etc... It will have a little gold colored padlock at the bottom of your browser if it is. If you are just filling out your name, phone number and some very basic info, the site does not necessarily have to be secure however, you should research the company a little before divulging any information about yourself.
Always work only with websites owned and operated by a licensed mortgage broker or a direct lender. Avoid websites that claim to have "four or more lenders competing for your business". That is an obvious sign that the website's business model is not to finance home loans, but to sell and re-sell your information to outside mortgage professionals. Home buyers giving out information on these "lead generating" websites often find themselves being bombarded with endless phone calls for months and years to come. Therefore, when applying for mortgage online, apply only from a website where it will be the licensed company that actually work on your loan process.
Be cautious when applying online - Many websites appear to be mortgage brokers or bankers when in reality they are lead providers: companies that collect your personal information then provide it, for a fee, to mortgage companies.
One way to determine if the site is being ran by a legitimate mortgage broker rather than a lead provider is to verify the company’s license through their state. Most states allow consumers to access online lists of properly licensed mortgage professionals.
The information you give lead providers is often resold to 15 or more brokers. Often, this results in a flood of unexpected telephone calls. It can sometimes take weeks before all of the brokers quit calling.
When applying online, pay special attention to the company privacy policy. The privacy policy should explicitly state exactly what your personal information will be used for. Be wary if the company plans to resell your information, or if the company doesn’t have its privacy policy available on its website.
The lure of many lead providers is that they will “shop around” your loan and the competition will lead to an overall cost savings. These companies do not tell you that in addition to the cost of the lead to the broker, the lead provider may charge an additional $1,500 if the loan closes. The end result is often an increase in the overall cost of your loan.
Lead generators are companies that sell loan applicants' information to mortgage brokers, bank loan officers, and other lead companies for a profit. Their business model is not to provide actual mortgage services to the loan applicants. To avoid your information being sold, re-sold and be called on for the next year to come, upon the initial contact, ask the mortgage company if they would sell your information to others.
If the website where you are applying advertises a specific loan officer, it is probably safe to fill out that application. You can reasonably expect that your application is actually going to that loan officer, who will be contacting you sometime afterward.
I am Marty Searing, a licensed loan officer. I will not sell your information or pass it on to any third party without your permission. Contact me at 414-303-1215 or msearing@mayfairmortgage.com to get the application process started. I look forward to working with you.
Do a little research about a company before applying in person, on the phone or online to find out what kind of company you are dealing with. Try searching state licensing records, the Better Business Bureau and possibly even the state Attorney General's Office to see if there are any major complaints against the company or just to make sure they are indeed a licensed and legal company. This is the same advice for applying for any type of loan, credit or anything.
Although many websites say that lenders compete for your loan, lenders pay for every potential borrower whose information they receive. Lenders pay several hundred dollars for information from several potential borrowers in order to complete one loan.
This limits how low they can go on fees and rate when competing for you loan.
When you contact individual companies or loan officers, the cost to them is nothing, so they have more flexibility.
Often when you apply online your information is resold several times over. It is often more prudent to contact a broker and have them work up a loan for you versus applying online.
Online Mortgage Applications - With the growing presence of technology in all areas of life, many mortgage companies have either gone completely online, offering their services over the world wide web, while some companies have used the internet as a tool in addition to their "brick and mortar" offices.
The question oftens arises, is it really more cost efficient and secure for me to apply for a mortgage online?
What things should a client look for and avoid when completing an online mortgage application?
Look to see that the company is an equal housing lender, and also if the secured website logo is on the page. Also, never be afraid to try and call the company to see if they sell your information, or even go as far as to request them to sign a form stating that they will not sell your information.
An advantage to filling out a web application is that you are able to do it on your own time, most often 24/7/365. Doing it from your home also allows you to have access to documents you may not have directly at your fingertips. You are able to gather information at your own pace.
While there are many legitimate mortgage companies that operate only as a web based company, always check up on the company. With the constant threat of identity theft you should do your own research. Some online applications are a very basic form that collects general information about you and your transaction. While others collect a huge amount of personal information from your social security number to account information.
A good place to check is the Better Business Bureau. You can look the mortgage company up on the BBB's website. Although not always an accurate of a company, you can see if a company has repeated complaints or not.
Before submitting an online application, it may be a good idea to find out if they can originate loans in your State.
Some mortgage brokers will give you the option of filling out a shorter, more generalized online application. Such an application will not require your social security number, since no credit pull is performed. In this case, the broker will give you the best estimate possible, based on your own evaluation of your credit profile.
Providing your Social Security Number, bank account numbers and everything else about you on an online application should only be done with extreme caution. The website page you are completing this application on needs to be secure and show the little lock box on it, the company needs to be reputable, and it should not be a site that is going to resell your information to other companies. Use extreme caution and do some due diligence in researching the company you are about to work with before you complete a full online application. The safer route is to only provide basic information online about your situation such as name, address, phone number, your goal or what you are looking to accomplish, some detail about your situation, and maybe some basic employment information (such as monthly income and length of employment). This is much safer and after a mortgage professional has had a chance to review your basic information, they can contact you with a little background on your situation.
An online mortgage application doesn't mean the wholeprocess will be online. For the fastest service, submit your information online, and call 414-303-1215 to follow up with a live loan officer.
Refinancing online - How Refinancing Online Can Save You Time And Money?
One of the largest financial decisions in most people’s lives could not escape the Internet. This has become an important shift in the mindset of consumers that greatly benefits them. There is much more competition now, which gives more financial power to the homeowner wanting to refinance.
Refinancing your home mortgage in the past, before the Internet, was a real hassle for both mortgage lenders and borrowers. The process of gathering information to compare loan programs was a time consuming task. Now, with a centralized information source for mortgage programs and financial advice, a homeowner no longer has to take time off from work to talk to banks and present mounds of paperwork to them before they can get a quote.
You can simply sit in the comfort of your own home, click a few buttons on the computer and presto you can have several quotes from multiple lenders in and easy-to-read side-by-side comparison.
Many websites offering 1% or 2% rates for example can be 'too good to be true'. Make certain to find out the small print before signing any documents and see what your closing costs will be, if the rate will balloon at a certain point, how it adjusts, etc...The allure of such low interest rates at the onset of a mortgage can lead a person to rush the process and find themselves in financial trouble shortly after taking the loan.
Many companies offering to "refinance online" will actually take your information and resell it to many brokers and bankers. This information is often sold many times, resulting in you getting many, many phone calls.
The best thing to do when you are filling out a form online is to check on the website for contact information and make sure that it is going directly to one broker or banker.
The reality is that your local mortgage professional can usually get you equal or better rates and combine that with personal service. By all means, do your shopping to determine market rates but think about just how you want to handle what is one of the largest financial transactions you will make.
Since the introduction of automated underwriting, refinancing online has become a simple task of a few mouse clicks. The old days of bringing cardboard boxes full of financial documents to local banks are long gone. With today's technology, most mortgage brokers and bankers are equipped to start the loan application process online. Income and assets documentations can be uploaded or .ed to lenders within minutes. Loan approvals can be issued in one day in some cases.
Refinancing online is easier, faster and can get you a much better deal than working with most brick and mortar brokerages. And remember, just because you are applying online doesn't mean we don't give you all the personal care and attention as your local broker, in fact because our loan officers spendless time chasing new business on the phone, they actually have more time to spend helping you get the very best deal on your refinance, purchase or home equity line of credit.
Be careful when sending your information to any one that promises up to "4" competing offers. Usually these places sell your information to to other brokers, but sometimes they may even sell to another reseller. That reseller may end up doing the same, and instead of the 4 offers you could get as many as 10-20 phone calls. The truth is when working with a broker, that broker more than likely shopped more than 4 lenders for you already.
When applying for a mortgage or refinance on line, it is best to apply directly with a broker. Instead of filling out a quick application on a site that states it provides you with "4" competing offers, use a site that actually gives you the names, phone, address and websites of the lenders. Then apply directly with that broker using their web site or contacting them by phone or email.
This will help you avoid being inundated with phone calls from lenders or brokers that have bought your contact information from large reseller sites.
Most large loan companies that offer to provide you 4 competitive quotes will re sell your information after 30 days. This will increase the number of phone calls you recieve and the length of time you recive them.
The internet is a great resource, be sure to use it to research the company that you decide to refinance with. Check with your states Department of Financial Institutions to see if the broker you are working with, is licensed in your state.
Always be sure if you are submitting critical information like SSN or financial account numbers that the website you are on has a SSL certificate. You will see a yellow lock in the lower right hand corner of your computer screen if it is a secure site.
When a website asks you for your social security number it is usually best to not provide the information. Rarely is this a manditory field. If the website insists on gathering your social security number then beware. At that point I suggest you do some serious research on the company.
Refinancing your loan online allows you to take advantage of improvements in your credit or drops in market interest rates faster than picking up the telephone.
Beware of being charged an amount for refinancing online. Make sure you talk to a Mortgage Professional who can help or guide you through your online process. When your putting your personal information make sure the website is Secure.
Since every persons situation is unique, the best way to find the right solution for your refinance transaction is to contact us by phone. Collecting some basic information for your situation today is the first step to applying for the right mortgage for your situation.
The phrase "refinancing online" is a little bit of a misnomer. Borrowers these days find it very convenient to look online for lenders and loan products and even apply for the loan online. It is always better though, to conduct the transaction with a real person. A real mortgage professional, such as myself, will get to know you and your needs and provide the personalized type service that you couldn't get strictly through the internet.
Always be cautious when conducting business online. Anyone can make a website. Check the company's license with the appropriate state agency and also check the Better Business Bureau.