Tips & Advice on choosing a Pennsylvania Mortgage Lender

What to avoid:
 

• E-lenders who are solely or primarily web-based, including mortgage clearinghouses and bidding sites.*
   
• Lenders who will not give you their loan officer's cell or home phone number.  Our customers frequently need to reach us on weekends and evenings, especially on a purchase, where problems may arise in the home inspection and they just want to talk or they have questions, need to know if they can change loan amounts, etc.  You should not have to wait until Monday to speak with someone when you have a concern Friday.
   
• Being swayed by a Real Estate Agent to use their lender.  Expect this, and scary stories about buyers who have found their own lender being taken.  YOU know if you have found a good mortgage company.  If you follow these tips your lender will be better than any Realty Agency Affiliate.  You are best to look out for yourself here, and find a lender who will look out for you, not the Real Estate Agent.  The agent has a goal to sell the property and get paid, and they are NOT on the buyers side first, or really at all.  With your own lender who cares about your satisfaction first, you will find information out before closing that may be on the appraisal, and nothing will be hidden as your lender and their appraiser are not working for anyone but you.  Rate drops will be passed on to you rather than the Realty agent.   Also, kickbacks both legally set up through "Affiliated Business Relationships" and illegal ones, are usually paid to agents, and it will be you who ends up paying for it. 
   
• Lenders lacking a clean record with the BBB.   The BBB states the mortgage industry receives the most complaints against them. 
   
•  Accepting a closing cost estimate without a maximum fee guarantee.  A Good Faith Estimate as required by RESPA states "the fees listed are estimates - the actual charges may be more or less".  Lenders are not bound to it.  This is why people complain about "hidden fees" or "surprises at closing".  It is 100% legal for lenders to add or change fees.
• Giving your application to a data entry clerk over the phone (a sign of a clearinghouse and cost cutting measure.)  It takes at least two years to become a seasoned loan officer.  Work with someone with the skill to advise and inform and make sure they aren't newly in the business.   Look for stability because when a loan officer quits their loans often are dropped.
   
•  Lenders who underestimate prepaids (interest per diem and tax escrows) and title insurance fees.  These fees are set by the state and it is illegal for title companies to give any discounts other than the standard 3 discounts they ALL will give (new developments, 7 year reissue, and 3 year reissue).  If a lender quotes a lower title premium than is on the state chart it is a sign they are obviously "low-balling" their closing cost estimates and are giving you a worthless estimate.  This is a litmus test for an honest good faith estimate.  
   
• Shopping for rates over the period of days or through market volatility.  Rates change from day to day so to compare lenders the quotes you have should all be from the same time period.  
   

You are paying for a service and it should be delivered quickly and with honesty.