Searchlight Crusade

Got a question asking if zero cost loans really exist. They do. I’ve done several dozen myself, for clients who listened to me about the nature of the market.

Let me define what a zero cost loan is. It is a loan with a higher rate deliberately chosen so as to get a high enough rebate, or Yield Spread, to cover not only the loan provider’s margin, but all closing costs you would normally have had to pay as well. So that except for any cash you get, your loan balance should not increase by a single penny.

Even on a zero cost loan, you’re likely going to write a check or even more than one, but they are for things like Prepaid interest. Prepaid interest is not a cost; it’s paying money that you would have owed anyway in a slightly different manner, a little sooner than you otherwise would have, and you will get it back by not having a payment the next first of the month. Matter of fact, prepaid interest is the reason there is no payment due on the first of the next month. You’re not skipping a payment. You never skip a payment, and any contention to the contrary is reason enough not to do business with that particular loan provider. You generally have the option of rolling prepaid interest (along with other prepaids) into your mortgage, but then you’re paying interest on it and it’s stuck in your balance forever. Ditto an impound account. That is your money, not a cost of the loan. We are talking zero cost here, which is an entirely different thing from the lender absorbing money that you would have had to pay anyway. But in a true zero cost refinance, no money gets added to your loan balance. $X before the refinance, and $X after, not $X+6000. You will likely need to pay for the appraisal (if required) out of pocket when the appraiser comes out, but you get that cost refunded upon funding for a net zero out of pocket. True zero cost. This does entail accepting a higher rate, and therefore higher payments than you might otherwise have gotten, but if you only intend to keep the loan a relatively short period of time, you start ahead by doing this and there is not enough time for the lower payments to break even. For instance, a while back I had a par rate of 6.25% on a thirty year fixed loan, but providing your balance was at least a couple hundred thousand, I could do 6.625% for literally zero cost. If you were planning to sell in two years but your current rate was eight percent, as many people have nowadays, but their credit has improved now to where they qualify A paper, this saves them a lot of money for literally zero cost, so there are no “sunk costs” to “recover”; it’s pure profit from day one. I happen to think that with rates as volatile as they have been the last few years, it makes a lot of sense to choose a zero cost loan. If rates go down half a percent six months or a year from now, you can go get a rate that much lower for zero cost when they do. If you paid two points to get the rate, it’s going to cost you the same two points again to benefit by as much.

Now this is not to say that you shouldn’t be on your guard when someone talks about a zero cost refinance. What most lenders mean when they say “zero cost” is “No money out of your pocket.” But thousands of dollars (including multiple points) can still get added to your loan balance, where you not only pay them, you pay interest on them. Many lenders will talk about putting money in your pocket, when what they are doing is adding not only that money but all the costs and all the points to your loan balance, and people who have been doing this every two years wonder why their loan balance is ten times their original purchase price. I call these Stealth Cash Out Loans. There is no such thing as a free lunch. You paid for the cash out; you’re going to be paying for the cash out for many years, just the same as you paid for your closing costs in the previous paragraph with a higher rate than you would otherwise have gotten. The difference is that money added to your balance tends to stick around for as long as you own property, whereas a higher rate is over as soon as you sell or refinance that particular property. If you choose a zero cost loan, your balance should transfer straight across; you are continuing to pay it down as soon as you write the first check on the new loan. Whereas if you chose a loan that adds thousands of dollars in closing costs etcetera to your balance, it’s going to be years of payments before you’re back where you started. Here is a list of Questions to Ask Prospective Loan Providers in order to pin down what they are really offering.

A true zero cost loan not only has no net “out of pocket” expenses, it has literally zero added to your mortgage balance. They do exist, mostly for well-qualified A paper borrowers, despite what certain skeptics might say, and for most people who qualify for them, they are something you should strongly consider, whether you’re planning a purchase or a refinance.

UPDATE: Due to Dodd-Frank, these can no longer be called “zero cost loans” because they cost the lender yield spread – which is a red herring if ever there was one – but they are still zero cost to the consumer, and they still exist.

Caveat Emptor

“What mortgage fees can i recover after loan denial” was a search I got. The answer is basically, “None.”

Indeed, one of your search criteria should be mortgage providers that don’t charge anything up front, except maybe a credit check fee. Those are about $20, and you should be prepared to spend that $20 several times over while you’re shopping lenders. If you’re worried about twenty dollars when you are applying for a mortgage, chances are that you shouldn’t apply.

Now many lenders want you to make a deposit that varies from a few hundred dollars to one or even two percent of the loan amount. Deposits are charged by lenders who want to get you committed to the loan, and they do it for at least two reasons. The first is psychological commitment. Usually when I mention things like that, I get people who immediately come back with, “Those kind of mind games don’t work with me!” I’m not looking for an argument, and with most folks, I don’t know their past history well enough to come up with an example, but this phenomenon is essentially universal as far as humans go, and those few not subject to it are probably suffering from some other more debilitating psychological problem. In fact, the normal progression of a loan is a series of commitments upon your part. The decision to talk to potential providers. The application.

After the application, lenders want the originals of your documentation and money. The original documents are requested so that you cannot shop or apply for a loan elsewhere. I, as a loan officer, do not need your original documents for anything I can think of at the moment. I need the original of the loan application and a couple other items you fill out with me, but not of your pay stubs, your taxes, your insurance bill, or any other documents you have pre-existing. Copies are just fine for any lender I do business with, so long as they are clean and readable.

The next step is to get money out of you. If all they want is the credit report fee of about $20, that’s fine and normal. Credit Reports cost money, and if you’re just shopping around, a loan provider has two choices: raise their loan prices slightly so that they charge those people who finalize their loans more, or charge folks whatever the cost is to run credit when they apply.

But many loan providers want more than the credit check fee. A lot more. They want a deposit that varies from several hundred dollars to one percent of the loan amount, even two percent in some cases. They might say it’s for the appraisal, and usually at least part of it does go to the appraiser. Nonetheless, you should not give it to them. I’ve had my clients tell me about the tales they’ve been told, about how that money is to pay the appraiser. The appraisal should be paid for when the appraiser does the work. As I’ve said before, you want to be the one who orders the appraisal, and therefore controls it. I’ve had clients tell me about loan providers who only use “in house” appraisers. Well, those “in house” appraisers are drawing a salary and requiring “in house” appraisers is usually indicative of lenders who aren’t competitive on price.

The reason they really want larger amounts of money out of you upfront is two-fold. First, it builds that psychological commitment I talked about a while back. Second, it makes you financially committed to a loan, which tremendously raises the level of psychological commitment. It means they’ve got some of your cash. Most people don’t really understand loans, not deep down where it really matters. Consider, for a moment, which you would rather have: $400 cash, or a loan that costs $5000 less (not so incidentally making a difference of $25 on the monthly payment), but is otherwise identical. Dispassionately sitting there on the monitor in front of you, the choice seems obvious. You’re going to have to pay that $5000 back sometime, and in the meantime you’re paying interest on it. But move it to a situation where these potential clients have already put down a $400 deposit with an overpriced loan provider, and the vast majority of them won’t sign up for my loan, even though I’m willing to guarantee my loan quote and the other company isn’t willing to guarantee theirs. Why? Because they’re thinking of that $400 in cash that came out of their checking account, not the $5000 in extra balance on their mortgage. Companies want that deposit to stop you from going elsewhere, to a loan provider that can do the loan (or, more importantly, is willing to do the loan) for much less money. Practically speaking, they’re not only guaranteeing themselves a certain amount of money, they are guaranteeing that the client won’t change their mind about their loan.

So do you get it back if the loan is denied? Nope. At least I’ve never been told about an instance where it happened. That money was a good faith deposit. Legally, it was an incentive for that loan provider to do the work of that loan, all of which costs money. Provably costs money, I might add. The loan processor doesn’t work for free. The underwriter doesn’t work for free. The escrow officer doesn’t work for free. The appraiser doesn’t, the title company doesn’t. Nobody works for free. Phone calls and copies and word processors to generate all of your documents from the title commitment to the loan documents. Some documents are the same for every loan and can be computer generated. Others, like the title commitment, require humans to enter literally everything on them.

Now, a deposit isn’t necessary. In fact, you can find loan providers out there (I’m one of them) who routinely work the whole loan on speculation of it funding. They might ask you to pay for the credit report up front, but everything else is paid for as the work is done. You write the check to the appraiser when they do the work. You might ask the advantages to the consumer of this. That advantage is that these loan providers are not holding your money hostage. This means that if the loan falls apart because the loan provider told you they could do the loan and they couldn’t, they’re out the money, not you. This means that if you find a more competitive loan, there’s no reason why you can’t apply for that one instead. This means if your back up loan is ready to go and this one isn’t, all you’ve spent is the $20 for a credit check. You’re not out hundreds to thousands of dollars that were in the deposit.

So if a loan provider asks for a large cash deposit up front to begin the loan, chances are that you shouldn’t give it to them. Particularly if they won’t guarantee their loan quote, chances are they are trying to lock you into their loan by holding your money hostage, and when you discover at closing that they tacked thousands of dollars onto the loan charges that they conveniently “forgot” to tell you about or pretended didn’t exist (“Escrow’s a third party charge. We don’t have to tell them about it until afterwards”), and now you are facing a choice between forfeiting your deposit and signing off on a loan that’s not what you agreed to when you gave them that deposit. Better not to face that choice, by not agreeing to pay anything beyond the credit fee up front.

Caveat Emptor

Just like “we’ll beat any deal!” in any other competitive sales endeavor, this is a game. Actually, it’s even more of a game for loans than it is anywhere else, used cars included. What they are hoping is that you’ll go there last, and tell them what the best thing you’ve been quoted, and then they can sell you on their loan and most people will go with them, because “we’re here, not there.”

The first issue is that anyone can give a low quote. It’s like the old joke, “Your lips are moving.” Unless they guarantee that quote, that’s all they’re doing: flapping their gums. All a quote is is an estimate, and I’ve more than adequately covered the games it is legal to play with a Good Faith Estimate (or MLDS in California). By itself, A low quote means nothing. Loan officers can, legally, quote you one loan and deliver a completely different loan at a completely different rate with a completely different (higher, or course) closing cost. Without some kind of Loan Quote Guarantee, a quote isn’t worth the paper a verbal contract is printed on.

The second issue is that even if they are quoting a loan they intend to deliver, unless they are quoting to the exact same standard, the quote game favors the lender who pretends third party costs don’t exist, who pretends that you’re not going to get zonked for the add-ons that you are going to get zonked for at the end of the process, the lender who quotes based upon a loan that you do not qualify for. Are you going to pay these costs? Absolutely. Would you rather know about them at the beginning, so you can make an informed choice, or get blindsided at closing (assuming you even notice)?

The third issue is that they are looking for safe harbor, and they’re hoping you give it to them. If someone brings them everyone else’s quotes, they know what everyone else has talked up, how big the lies are that the prospect has been told, and they just have to tell one that’s a little bit better. This is trivial when you’ve got all that information you’ve been freely given. This is called false competition. You’ve metaphorically given them a mark, and told them to “tell a more attractive story than this one.” Easy enough in a storytelling context – tell the same story with a little more sex – and even easier with loans.

A good loan officer has no need to know what quote you’ve been given to tell you what the best loan they can deliver is. Tell them to quote you the best loan they can without this information. Ask them if they’ll guarantee that quote, because a quote that isn’t guaranteed – as in they pay any difference, not you – is worthless. That’s how you can choose the best rate that can really be delivered, not by allowing someone the advantage of knowing how much they have to lie to get the business.

Caveat Emptor

I keep getting hits for this, so people must want it explained. Loan Amortization is nothing more than the process of paying the loan off by regular payments over time. Leave it to the experts to come up with a fancy word for an everyday process, eh?

A loan which is fully amortized (or fully amortizing) is one which the required payments will pay it off in full by the end of the term of the loan. Fixed rate loans are the classic example of this. A thirty year fixed rate loan has 360 payments of equal amount, at the end of which the loan will be paid off, assuming you have made all the payments on time. The last payment may be somewhat smaller due to the fact that they may round the payment up to the next penny, and over thirty years it makes a difference.

However, most hybrid ARMs are also fully amortizing loans. The difference between these and the fixed rate loan is that the rate, and therefore the payment, is fixed only for the first few years, and after that the rate varies based upon an underlying index. Nonetheless, the loans are still calculated to pay off the entire balance by the end of the loan. You are welcome to keep them after the fixed period if you want to, but few people do.

Balloon loans are partially amortized. Their payments are calculated as if they were a longer loan than they are. Because they amortize based upon a longer loan period, the regular payments do not pay the loan off in its entirety by the end of the loan. Unlike the hybrid ARM, these loans are over in a shorter period of time, and you do not have the option of keeping them. You must either pay the loan off, whether by paying it or by refinancing, or sell the property.

I don’t see it in a federally approved list of loan terms, but I have heard interest only loans called delayed amortization. These loans, whether fixed rate or hybrid ARM, have interest only payments for a given time, and then amortize over the remainder of the loan. For instance, a five year interest only loan is then paid off (amortized) over the remaining twenty five years of the loan. Note that when they start to amortize, they will then have payments that are higher than the equivalent fully amortized loan, because the balance is paid off over a shorter period. They will also typically carry a higher interest rate (most subprime lenders charge 1/4 percent higher interest rate for an interest only loan, and there are additional limitations on availability).

If there were such a thing as an interest only loan that stays interest only until you refinance, it would be an unamortized loan. Years ago, I was invited by a company to take a seminar because they offered these to financial planners clients. Fortunately, when I checked NASD regulations, I found out that what they were trying to sell was prohibited. The interest rates they were talking about were very high as well. The reason I said “fortunately” about finding out NASD regulations prohibited what they were doing is that I later found out that they were a scam and shut down by the regulators. I might have found out had I done all my due diligence, or it’s possible I might not have. Either way, I’m glad I didn’t have any clients with them.

Finally, there is the negative amortization loan, where if you make the minimum payment your loan balance actually increases, effectively digging yourself deeper into whatever hole it was that motivated you to do it. There are circumstances where they are the best thing to do given the situation, but in my opinion, (at least for owner occupied property) it should be a temporary solution of last resort.

Caveat Emptor

“Trust Deed Incorrect Legal Description”

There are all kinds of legal descriptions. Lot, Block and Map, or just Lot and Map, are probably the most common. Sectional portions (Portion A of Section B of Township C, Range D) are probably next most common, followed by “metes and bounds”, and often the two are mixed. Finally, in some areas of the country (like Southern California) there are remnants of prior systems here and there, like the Ranchos here, parishes in Louisiana, etcetera. What they all have in common is descriptions of the boundaries of the parcel concerned. Condominiums are based upon cubes of airspace exclusively with an undivided common interest in the communal property.

There are technically incorrect legal descriptions, and there are significantly incorrect descriptions. There are three main categories.

1) Descriptions that describe the land with some technical difference. Missing an easement, missing part of a defined lot, something like that. This is by far the most numerous of these errors and basically means nothing. They land the trust deed describes was pledged as security. Practically speaking, these might as well not have the imperfection, and if you fight in court, you’re probably wasting your money. If the legal description is missing part of the land, but the whole thing is only one legally zoned lot, they’re going to get the whole thing, by and large. If it’s out in the country somewhere and not covered by things such as lot regulations, they might split the part that was covered by the description off from what wasn’t covered. Obviously, only part of the property was pledged as security, right? But most of the time, the lot cannot legally be subdivided anyway, and the lender is likely to get the whole thing.

2) Descriptions that partially describe the property. There are three main subcategories: a) they describe part of the property, but not the whole thing b) they describe part of the property and part of some more, and c) they describe the entire property and some extra besides. Subcategory a, that describes part of the property but not the whole thing, usually count as the “technical difference” category. In other words, no big deal. Subcategory b, where they describe something extra as well, is only of special note if you owned the other piece of property, also, at the time the Trust Deed was signed. Otherwise, you deeded property you didn’t own. Your neighbor may end up defending his title in court and coming after you for his expenses, but you can’t deed away what you don’t own. It’s the part that you own that’s important. Subcategory c, like b, is only interesting if you own the extra property as well. Then the lender might get a little extra! Otherwise, you can’t deed away what you don’t own.

3) Descriptions that describe another property. You can’t deed what you don’t own, so unless you owned the other piece of property as well, the lender is basically out of luck. It is to be noted that they’re still going to do their best to come after you, and your neighbor may come after you for his expenses in defending his title, and the cops may be interested in you if they think you intended fraud.

Of course, the law varies and you should check with your lawyer and it’s the court’s decisions that are final. Your mileage may vary; these are just some rules of thumb.

Caveat Emptor