Couple of things I have learned...
- Use a direct lender instead of a broker. Usually your local bank
does not have the best deal, and brokers are worse.
- When shopping around, do NOT give out your SS number unless you want
them to pull your credit. Especially for a refinance. Brokers will
tell you they won't pull your credit and then they will do it anyways.
And after a couple of inquries it starts to effect your credit and
you find out you are locked into a broker you might not have wanted to
go with.
- I can't say enough to watch out for brokers. Don't assume they know
what they are doing, and understand how the game is played. They want
to suck you in, run your credit,and get you filling out paperwork asap
to get you locked in.
- It also helps to understand something about underwriting. Brokers
will tell you fairly early on that your loan is approved. The truth
is that the underwriting happens at least twice, and the last one
usually 2-4 days before closing. Until the final underwriting is done
you are not truly approved. Most of the time this isn't a big issue,
but it bugs the crap out of me that most brokers either misrepresent
this issue, or worse are ignorant themselves of how it works.
Good luck!! |
