Shopping Around for the BEST Mortgage Interest Rates?
So who is fooling who? Fat cat banking industry lobbyist are spending your tax dollar with their bail-out money to portrays themselves as innocent victims, and have done a wonderful job getting that incorrect message sent to Washington.
Effective January 1, 2011 all Mortgage Bankers and Mortgage Brokers across the county will be require to meet new strict standard, and to be licensed according to the SAFE Act. UNLESS they work at one of the big banks!
An exemption in the consumer protection laws allows Loan Officers at the big Interstate Chartered Banks to NOT have to follow the same rules! Who are these banks? All the big names (Wells Fargo, Chase, Bank of America, etc.), plus plenty of smaller ones.
Now I am not trying to make this into a David versus Goliath story, but I am trying to emphasize the huge differences and implications this change will have on the consumer. As the new requirements have been rolling out across the country, many of the current Loan Officers who have been unable to meet the new requirements, and especially those who have failed the new tests, have simply gone to the large banks to spread their incompetence.
Here is a chart to show the differences:
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I think the choice is clear. Who would YOU rather be working with on the largest financial transaction of your life? Trained, licensed, fingerprinted, and background checked - or the person with none of that?
The funny part is the cost for the service based on rates and fees are usually about the same, but more often than not, non-bank lenders are slightly cheaper in both rate and costs, close the loans faster, and have more knowledgable and experienced Loan Officers. Plus, based on the new laws, the banks are about to get even worse.
The best SAFE ACT Loan Officer (non-Bank) analogy I can use is having a choice of working with a CPA to do your taxes vs. using Turbo Tax, but paying the same price.
Finally, THIS IS A CLEAR REASON why people should follow my #1 mortgage shopping rule: GOOGLE THE NAME OF YOUR LOAN OFFICER!
