A word about predatory lenders

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As you are undoubtedly aware of the recent state of the economy, leaving everything up to the mortgage lenders is probably not the best idea in the world. You’ll find that some number of them will always be putting their own interested before yours even if its an ethical or moral issue at hand. No matter how nice and helpful they may be, they are in business to make money. That’s not to say that all mortgage lenders are out to get you. Not at all.. I am saying that you need to look out for yourself. Don’t expect your mortgage lender to have your best interests at heart like your mom would. Take the time to do your homework and find out what is important to you about the transaction. Identify those aspects within the deal, make sure you are legally covered, and that the agreement actually states everything you expect it does, and nothing you don’t expect. If you are looking for home loans, Oklahoma City is a great place to start.

Just as not “all” mortgage lenders are out to get you. Its true, some are bad guys. Just like everywhere else you will find both good and bad people. In the current economy you’ll find the bad ones keeping out of direct light, behaving innocently, but they are still out there. These weasels prey on old people, widows, stupid people and anyone at a disadvantage. They’ll take advantage if they see one. If for any reason you feel uneasy about your mortgage guy, get a new one, simple.

Some things to look out for are:

• High cost, “no cost” loans
• Deceptive advertising
• Bad faith estimates of the closing costs
• Misleading clauses in the paperwork
• Lowballing rate quotes
• Flimsy rate locs
• Undisclosed repayment penalties

When you are thinking about these sorts of things and watching for them they are less likely to take you by surprise. This may make you wonder how it is that someone could get away with doing things like this. The unfortunate reality is that too many people simply trust too much and leave all the “details” to someone else without due diligence They don’t pay attention. They get tired after signing their name 50 times and don’t pay attention to that 51st page that’s got a misleading clause with an undisclosed early repayment penalty.

Don’t get me wrong.. I am not trying to convenience you that mortgage lenders are crooks who out to weasel you. They are simply out to make money like everyone else in the market. They want to get the best price they can for what they are selling. As it happens a small percentage of them are weasels. Some just get greedy. Maybe they are not at fault. They were perhaps born that way, who knows. My point is that you need to watch out for yourself and make sure you are getting the deal you expect. Ask questions. Do your homework. If you get tired, just take a break. Don’t skip over anything. If you need to, hire someone who specializes in mortgage lending to review all your paperwork before you sign it. You could end up saving yourself $10,000 on the cost of your refinance oklahoma city just because you stopped to read the fine print!