having a hard time finding a lender in our area

[Jess21]

So i want to find a lender that we can work with for out first mortgage, hopefully soon.  We live in a small town in Hickory, NC and we have the big banks like BoA, BB&T, and I have the State Employees Credit Union because of my job but I have been recommended to find a Mortgage Broker instead of a big bank because they are better to deal with but I cannot find any.  About a year ago we tried NFCU but I did not like the LO or the process itself so we just dropped it bc the amount they approved us for was pathetic, probably bc it was the first time homebuyers program with a really high interest rate too.  This time we are thinking more something like FHA, we only have aout 5% to put down.  Any recommendations?

[ezdriver]

Start with the credit union. Almost all mainstream lenders will do FHA but some credit unions don't. If your don't, then try BB&T and then maybe go online to the many lenders located all over the country.

[Jess21]

our credit union does not do FHA  I want a mortgage broker/lender... a company that will do the whole process

[Anonymous]

I was going ask if you had internet access, but that would be a silly question. 😄 I did my whole mortgage process online from application up to close. I know not everyone is comfortable doing things online or over the phone. For me I had a good experience and everything worked out. It's actually kinda cool to look back through the chain of emails. Gives you a good timeline of the whole process and if anything gets missed their is a chain of communication. Anyway a lot of online lenders give some competitive rates and just about any kind of loan is available. Just a thought.

[StartingOver10]

Jess, Guaranteed Rate does the origination, underwriting and funding - everything online and they originate mortgages all over the US.

I will pm you an excellent LO.

Having said that, there are many that will do the entire process online. You just need a great one!

[Jess21]

---

@StartingOver10 wrote:

Jess, Guaranteed Rate does the origination, underwriting and funding - everything online and they originate mortgages all over the US.

I will pm you an excellent LO.

Having said that, there are many that will do the entire process online. You just need a great one!

---

Thank you!  It does make me a little scared to do the whole process online.  Ihave heard of sellers to accepting offers from people pre approved by online banks like Quicken Loans and stuff.

[StartingOver10]

---

@Jess21 wrote:

---

@StartingOver10 wrote:

Jess, Guaranteed Rate does the origination, underwriting and funding - everything online and they originate mortgages all over the US.

I will pm you an excellent LO.

Having said that, there are many that will do the entire process online. You just need a great one!

---

Thank you!  It does make me a little scared to do the whole process online.  Ihave heard of sellers to accepting offers from people pre approved by online banks like Quicken Loans and stuff.

---

From my experience with Quicken Loans - I wouldn't use them. This is my opinion only through experience with buyers that have used their services. Their phone reps are nothing more than application takers. They are not experienced loan officers.  They are good with some one that has A credit and will put down 20% and has no bumps in their file but any lender can do that. Their phone reps know next to nothing about mortgages.

What I don't like is they charge the application fee immediately and then if you cancel the deal for any reason you don't get that fee back even if the cancelation was the same day!  They have their own appraisers - sure it is under a different corporate name, but the appraiser doesn't even pretend to be an independant third party. They represent the lender and the lender wants a low valuation so I have seen many deals fall apart over a low appraisal through Quicken.

There are other lenders that are much, much better than Quicken. Having said the above, I do think their commercials are good. But they just don't follow through with reality.

[Revelate]

---

@StartingOver10 wrote:

---

@Jess21 wrote:

---

@StartingOver10 wrote:

Jess, Guaranteed Rate does the origination, underwriting and funding - everything online and they originate mortgages all over the US.

I will pm you an excellent LO.

Having said that, there are many that will do the entire process online. You just need a great one!

---

Thank you!  It does make me a little scared to do the whole process online.  Ihave heard of sellers to accepting offers from people pre approved by online banks like Quicken Loans and stuff.

---

From my experience with Quicken Loans - I wouldn't use them. This is my opinion only through experience with buyers that have used their services. Their phone reps are nothing more than application takers. They are not experienced loan officers.  They are good with some one that has A credit and will put down 20% and has no bumps in their file but any lender can do that. Their phone reps know next to nothing about mortgages.

What I don't like is they charge the application fee immediately and then if you cancel the deal for any reason you don't get that fee back even if the cancelation was the same day!  They have their own appraisers - sure it is under a different corporate name, but the appraiser doesn't even pretend to be an independant third party. They represent the lender and the lender wants a low valuation so I have seen many deals fall apart over a low appraisal through Quicken.

There are other lenders that are much, much better than Quicken. Having said the above, I do think their commercials are good. But they just don't follow through with reality.

---

Other than the first day bit, isn't usually the application fee non-refundable?  Know in Chase's disclosure if I pay the $500 that covers fee + appraisal, I don't get that money back at any rate.

Not a fan of Quicken either just from what research I could find online.  Thousand different lenders out there and quite possibly the vast majority are better than Quicken... know most people don't post solid experiences with lenders and just list negatives, and they have done likely a lot more loan originations than many in the US, but the data is overwhelmingly poor.  

[StartingOver10]

True Rev, once you pay the application fee it is non-refundable with most/all lenders.

However, you can speak to most LO's and get all the info you need before you pay the application fee - you can't do that with Quicken.

Quicken wants that fee with the first phone call and even if they know the applicant can't qualify - that probably is a better description that how I stated it originally. An example would be if someone clearly doesn't qualify based on DTI, rather than discussing it and coming up with a solution they charge the fee and then deny the loan. Not cool IMO.

You can talk to, email and otherwise communicate with LO's at other lenders without having to put your money at risk and then when you are ready to apply, you pay the fee. Big difference in approach to the consumer.  

[Anonymous]

I just applied to the lenders network and a man called me. He is a direct lender and said that he can do 580 and up. Apply there!