Entries from Searchlight Crusade tagged with 'lender games'
APR vs APY: What The Difference Between Note Rate and APR Tells You
I have in the past told people to ignore APR. APR should not be used to compare between loans. Not only is it a one dimensional number used to measure what is fundamentally a two-dimensional trade-off between rate and...
Biweekly Mortgage Spam
Sometimes spam makes writing an article all too easy. Here is a piece of spam I got, probably because my email at work contains "realestate.com", with identifying information taken out. This goes to show that the financial ignorance of most...
How To Effectively Shop for A Real Estate Mortgage Loan
This is a little harder than shopping for buyer's agents, so congress critters might not be able to do it. But it's nowhere near as tough as high school algebra, so even if you're a politician you can just get...
Mortgage Accelerators, Money Merge, and Paying Your Mortgage Down
My article Debunking the Money Merge Account Scam has been getting a lot of attention and a large amount of hate mail lately. The scamsters that sell these things love to send me hate mail for exposing the fact that...
Games Lenders Play, Part VII - Selling Mortgage Accelerator Programs
I thought I'd share this with you as an example of the sort of mind set to beware. This is a real email I received, with identifying information redacted. I found you through the DELETED web site and I thought...
Why Is My Rate Higher Than My Lender Promised?
First off, neither the California Mortgage Loan Disclosure Statement nor the Federal Good Faith Estimate are promises, commitments, or anything more than your loan provider wants them to be. Quite often, they're nothing more than a fictional story told...
Prepaid Interest and Why You Never Really Skip a Mortgage Payment
Many people think that mortgage interest works like rent: paid in advance before you live in the property for the month. This is not the case. Mortgage interest is paid in arrears. As you begin the month, interest begins...
Why Cost Is As Important As Rate For Mortgage Loans
When I wrote explaining why borrowers should consider a 5/1 ARM, because the tradeoff between rate and cost is lower for that loan, and most people don't keep their loans 5 years anyway, so having a likely need to...
Mortgage Lenders Don't Want to Compete on Actual Price
Yet that is exactly what you want them to do. To avoid competing on price, they have all kinds of distractions they offer to make life more convenient, but not cheaper. They offer automatic payment options, the convenience of having...
Loan Rate Sheets: The Games Lenders Play With Rate and Cost Adjustments
This is part and parcel of the system that's abused. Here are sample rates from one A paper lender, picked at random, that were in effect when I originally wrote this. Rates are lower now, but it's a good example...
Time in Line of Work for Mortgage Qualification - What Counts?
Question from an e-mail: Hi, I have a question about mortgages. My boyfriend and I are looking to buy a home, and since I have recently quit my job he would be the primary applicant. He makes $44k and we...
Debunking the Money Merge Account Scam (Games Lenders Play, Part 8)
For a couple years, Mortgage Accelerators, or Money Merge Accounts, were the thing that everyone was pushing. I got so much junk mail about this from more originators (who don't know who I am) and wholesalers (who should) that I...
Changes In The Mortgage Market And Transparency Since 2005
The overview is simple: The government has made it take slightly more effort to lie to consumers, while adding layers of delays that add an absolute minimum of a week - an average of three weeks - to the...
Games Lenders Play Part II More Misleading Advertising
(This was originally published September 29,2005) Here's another advertisement that I got in the mail: "Pick a Pay, Any Pay!' The Revolutionary Option ARM!" "Start rates as low as 1%!" Loan amount $100,000 Payment $321.64 $200,000 $643.28 $300,000 $964.92 $400,000...
Can a Lender Legally Stop Loan Funding After Signing?
That question brought someone to the site. The answer is "Yes, they can". As a matter of fact, just because they have you sign those documents does not in any way obligate that lender to actually fund your loan. There...
Games Lenders Play, Part I: Misleading Advertising to Get You to Call
I get the same junkmail and spam most of you folks do. They don't know who I am when they send it out. It's just that I know what's going on behind the scenes with this stuff. So I thought...
Yield Spread is a Beneficial Tool That Can Be Misused
If you read the papers and the congressional record on the housing crisis, you might think yield spread is the central culprit for the entire meltdown. You would be wrong. Yield spread is a beneficial tool, offered voluntarily by lenders,...
Assuming Seller Concessions On Loan Quotes
I recently received an email asking about a Good Faith Estimate on a $200k loan. The person asking my opinion attached the actual "estimate" to the email. In addition to a point of origination and a point of discount...
Games Lenders Play, Part V - Selling a Low Payment
Hello, I've been reading your website for awhile now, and have found it very helpful as I'm learning to navigate this crazy loan process! I had a question I was wondering if you could write about/answer. We currently have...
The Loan Shopping Koan
It's very easy for loan providers to talk about a much better loan when you're shopping than they have any intention of delivering. Then you give them thirty to sixty days after you sign up, and you're put into a...
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