Your Credit vs Loan Quality Initiative
Posted in: First Time Homebuyer, Industry News, Loan Process, Truth in Lending
Fannie Mae’s “Loan Quality Initiative” What you need to know: Fannie Mae doesn’t make loans. Banks lend money. Fannie Mae buys loans from banks and securitizes them into mortgage-backed securities that are sold in the bond market. As such, Fannie Mae wants to make sure that every loan it buys to meet its basic underwriting [...]
Consumer Choices – Opting Out
Are you familiar with the National Do Not Call Registry? That is the service where you can register your phone and cell phone number to opt out of sales and marketing calls. As of 2008, if you registered a phone number there, you will remain on the DNC list forever (if you registered prior to [...]
Don’t Get Prequalified for a Loan Amount
Posted in: First Time Homebuyer, Purchase, Truth in Lending
When you’re about to get serious about shopping for a new home, the common logic is to contact a mortgage lender, and provide some information about your income and credit in the hopes of learning what purchase price you can be qualified for. The problem with this model is that you aren’t qualifying for a [...]
APR Explained
When you apply for a new mortgage, one of the disclosures that you’re given is the Truth In Lending. This document discloses your Annual Percentage Rate (APR) among other things. It is a disclosure required by the Fed on ALL residential mortgage transactions to help you – the consumer – compare loans from different lenders. [...]
Mortage Rates Throughout the Day
According to a recent survey of home buyers, 55% of them didn’t know that mortgage rates can change throughout the day. In fact they change exactly as often as market forces dictate. Sometimes that means that the first rate sheet of the day for each lender doesn’t change. Other times the price of a given [...]