We're thinking about shopping for a mortgage on the Internet. Mortgage
companies and brokers on the net seem to offer better rates than the
local banks. We're, however, concerned that there might be hidden
gotchas behind the good deals, and that we might run into scam artists.

If you have experience with Internet mortgage companies or brokers,
please share it. Was your experience good? Is there a catch to the
seemingly good deals? Do you know of a good mortgage broker/company that
you would (or would not) recommend?

Thanks for your help in advance.

JAD If you have experience with Internet mortgage companies or
JAD brokers, please share it. Was your experience good? Is there a
JAD catch to the seemingly good deals? Do you know of a good mortgage
JAD broker/company that you would (or would not) recommend?

They all are only resellers anyways, the real mortgage is given by a bank.

Search on google for something like "mortgage questions to ask" and "junk
fees", and you'll have lots of advice in seconds.

On Sun, 24 Aug 2003 16:05:06 GMT, "southbass"
wrote:

Don't get ripped off when buying or refinancing your home!! I can & will
teach you all the tricks used to hide fees / deceive you & rip you off!!


Depending how that sentence is parsed, this may be a case of
truth-in-advertising at its finest.

I'm not interested in having you "teach me all the tricks used to hide
fee, deceive me, and rip me off". Thanks for offering, though. I
think I'll stick with someone who isn't quite so obvious in wanting to
rip me off.


Email me at


"John A. Doe" wrote in message
...
We're thinking about shopping for a mortgage on the Internet. Mortgage
companies and brokers on the net seem to offer better rates than the
local banks. We're, however, concerned that there might be hidden
gotchas behind the good deals, and that we might run into scam artists.

If you have experience with Internet mortgage companies or brokers,
please share it. Was your experience good? Is there a catch to the
seemingly good deals? Do you know of a good mortgage broker/company that
you would (or would not) recommend?

Thanks for your help in advance.

"John A. Doe" wrote in message ...
We're thinking about shopping for a mortgage on the Internet. Mortgage
companies and brokers on the net seem to offer better rates than the
local banks. We're, however, concerned that there might be hidden
gotchas behind the good deals, and that we might run into scam artists.

If you have experience with Internet mortgage companies or brokers,
please share it. Was your experience good? Is there a catch to the
seemingly good deals? Do you know of a good mortgage broker/company that
you would (or would not) recommend?

Thanks for your help in advance.

We had a particularly bad experience recently with a very large,
reputable company that is offering mortgage refinances over the
internet.

They dawdled around with our paperwork and processes until the week
before our lock-out was set to expire (we were locked in at 3.9%
fixed, and rates had climbed significantly during our waiting), and
then pulled several fast ones.

First, they chose to do an "electronic appraisal" of our home rather
than the standard walk-through, in order to "save time," they said.
The appraisal came in nearly $30,000 less than a walk-through
appraisal we had done just 9 months prior.

"Oh but no problem," they said, as they were already in the process of
rewriting our loan to put the majority of the cash back we wanted onto
a line of credit -- at a higher, adjustable interest rate.

When I offered to send them a copy of the previous appraisal (not to
mention a copy of our recent tax assessment showing that the county
"awarded" us with another $28,000 of value for the upcoming year),
their reply was "we just passed a policy that prevents customers from
challenging electronic appraisals."

Needless to say, we found an alternate solution with another bank,
went there in person, and got what we needed in 10 days with much less
hassle and "finagling." (As an aside, the new walk-through appraisal
came in $15k MORE than the one 9 months ago, and that was without any
kitchen whatsoever -- as it's currently torn out for remodeling).

Both our mortgage broker friend and the bank we ultimately used said
they have had "quite a few" people come to them after going several
weeks into the process with an online company, only to find hitches in
the process -- at a point when most people would rather stick it out,
after having gone through all the paperwork hassle.

I've got to believe they're not all like that, but after having the
experience we did with a very reputable company, I'd say "buyer be
aware."

If you need more info about our experience, feel free to e-mail me
privately at relaena at yahoo dot com.

Good luck to you,
Relaena

Don't go through a broker unless you have credit problems and need
someone to fight for you/shop for you the best deal (if you know what
you're doing you can do everything they do youself, trick is contacts
can make a difference, so I won't say brokers are completely useless).

If you don't have credit problems (or just a few credit problems) skip
the broker as they always tag on a certain number of points to the
loan amount (this is how they get paid). Their fees are usually
nondisclosed, but on average they are about $3500 for every $150,000
borrowed. The process for a broker works something like this: 1. Run
the credit reports on potential client 2. Find the best lender for
that client, 3. Pre-qualify the client using the lenders automated
system 4. Take the rate offered by the lender and tag on a certin
number of markup points, quote the client the lenders rate plus
markup. 5. On closing secure the mortgage for the client. 6. Collect
the markup and resale the mortgage to another company within 90 days
of closing.

All brokers follow this system. Since they retain the option not to
resale (although they always do), they don't all disclose themselfs as
"brokers", most of them just perfer the term "mortgage companies". I
know a lot of people who have had great experiences with brokers, by
since by nature they are a middle man, its seems they have to add some
value to the transaction. I would imagine you could get a better deal
going with direct.