I refinanced with Luana Bank in Polk City. Smaller bank with 3 branches I think. No closing costs. No escrow. Defiantly worth looking into. https://luanasavingsbank.com/
Still time to refinance my house? Who should I contact?
- Thread starter UNIGuy4Cy
- Start date
Curious on the ARM vs. traditional, seems like an unnecessary risk for years 5-10 or 5-15. What swayed you?
Couple of things. I am currently with Wells Fargo, went through the process with them twice, turned down both times because I'm self employed for less than two years (never mind half of the house is paid for). Tried to refi with another bank in my wife's name but was turned down because she hasn't lived her for a year (I'm a newlywed). Apparently this is all because of Dodd/Frank or whatever. Anyway, I was pretty frustrated having gone through all this (the second time Wells told me it would get through, whatever).
So after all this we just did an easy on line application with ING, accepted in minutes in my wife's name (now that she has lived here for a year:wink
. ING didn't offer a true 10 year, so we didn't really have a choice. As I mentioned in my previous post, after calculating the interest expense and payoff date by paying what we would pay on a 10 year, it's really a wash. By the end of the 5th year, the principal will be low enough that a rate hike won't cost much. That I don't expect to live here for more 5-7 years.
I also found the getting approved for the refi very challenging. My wife recently went through a job change and we also bought a car so there were a lot of large deposits and they had to have proof of everything, which was a pain.
Then they started asking stupid things. "We see that you had $xxxx come out of a money market account, where did this money come from and where was it going?" What business is it of yours? It got deposited in that account 5 years ago and it's not going anywhere. it's used to pay for stock in the same account which you can see by looking at the 3 months of account info I sent you.
What is this deposit of $569? Some friends wrote us a check for travel that we put on our credit card.
Seriously, why does it matter about these deposits? I've never missed any payment my whole life and both my wife and I have 820+ scores.
I would think you'd want to lok at a few things.
Value of house
Amount of loan
Credit history
Job history
Then they started asking stupid things. "We see that you had $xxxx come out of a money market account, where did this money come from and where was it going?" What business is it of yours? It got deposited in that account 5 years ago and it's not going anywhere. it's used to pay for stock in the same account which you can see by looking at the 3 months of account info I sent you.
What is this deposit of $569? Some friends wrote us a check for travel that we put on our credit card.
Seriously, why does it matter about these deposits? I've never missed any payment my whole life and both my wife and I have 820+ scores.
I would think you'd want to lok at a few things.
Value of house
Amount of loan
Credit history
Job history
Just got a note from my wife that we ended up getting locked in at 2.875% for a 15 year. I can't imagine it will ever be much lower.
We got a bunch of stupid questions too- the particularly irritating one was that they wanted proof of deposit for my work checks since my wife usually uses the ATM for those. Evidently, they were suspicious that we were depositing some other unknown source of money, in the exact amount as my paycheck, every two weeks, and thought maybe we were just holding on to the checks themselves?
Couple of things. I am currently with Wells Fargo, went through the process with them twice, turned down both times because I'm self employed for less than two years (never mind half of the house is paid for). Tried to refi with another bank in my wife's name but was turned down because she hasn't lived her for a year (I'm a newlywed). Apparently this is all because of Dodd/Frank or whatever. Anyway, I was pretty frustrated having gone through all this (the second time Wells told me it would get through, whatever).
So after all this we just did an easy on line application with ING, accepted in minutes in my wife's name (now that she has lived here for a year:wink
Hmmm, interesting and stupid all at the same time. 4 years ago a un-employed single mother of 7 could get a loan, now you can't get one with 50% equity. Stupid.
Thanks.
Yeah, I thought the process was a joke. They are asking the wrong questions. I didn't even get to the point where they wanted my bank statement. I offered to show them proof of assets but that didn't seem to concern them.
They want to see proof of employment when you could lose your job tomorrow. But having enough liquid assets to pay your house off if you get in a pinch doesn't matter?
As I mentioned in my case, I have ~50% of my house paid for so if I defaulted they could take the house, sell it for 75% of the value in less than a week and make money on the deal. Doesn't sound like a good deal for me and would be something I would want to avoid.
The frustrating part about Wells Fargo is that my refinance on 5 year arm would have cut my payment by more than half. I asked them how I was a better risk for them paying double. Crickets...
I think they are still missing the point and could end up having more defaults down the road if the economy flops again.
/end rant
They want to see proof of employment when you could lose your job tomorrow. But having enough liquid assets to pay your house off if you get in a pinch doesn't matter?
As I mentioned in my case, I have ~50% of my house paid for so if I defaulted they could take the house, sell it for 75% of the value in less than a week and make money on the deal. Doesn't sound like a good deal for me and would be something I would want to avoid.
The frustrating part about Wells Fargo is that my refinance on 5 year arm would have cut my payment by more than half. I asked them how I was a better risk for them paying double. Crickets...
I think they are still missing the point and could end up having more defaults down the road if the economy flops again.
/end rant
You pay your mortgage and are not a risk to them. They want your interest money therefore, no motivation for them to improve your situation. Banking as usual.
Agreed, I'm pretty sure my old loan is on their books. I think 90% of all loans now are going to Fanny or Freddie, at least for Wells. But they just got the last dollar they will ever get from me at the beginning of this month.
The ignorance of some people still amazes me. I've been consulting on loans for years, but comments like these still just blow my mind. I understand not everyone can have a high level of knowledge about everything, but it's when they act like they know so much about a topic they really know so little about that drives me crazy.
You really think the banks WANT to stop you from refinancing? If that was the case they would be out of business. Refinancing keeps the business for the banks going. By them not being able to do a refi for you (and this has been shown by some comments in this thread) it only frustrates the buyer into thinking absurd thoughts about the bank trying to screw them, and they end up going with another lender. Which results in not only lost revenue on the mortgage, but lost revenue from all the other accounts that borrower could have with them that instead they will close and go with another lender, and lost revenue by the poor comments that consumer will pass on to friends, family, and message boards
. Contrary to popular (stupid) belief, banks like Wells are not trying their hardest to keep you from refinancing. The government regulation over the past few years has made things drastically different than how things were in years past. Having worked with multiple lenders, I can tell you difference is Wells actually follows the government regulations very, very strictly. You also don't see them having trouble like Bank of America, Citi, Chase, etc... I wonder why?
Don't shoot the messenger, but the reason that underwriters ask for a copy of the deposit is to make sure that the funds are yours and that they can source the funds. For example, if you are purchasing a house the funds have to be your money or gifted from a family member. If you got a check from your best friend, then that would not be an acceptable deposit for a mortgage down payment. Also on a refi, sometimes there are certain amounts that need to be verified in your asset account. It's a huge pain in the neck, I agree but that is the main reason why they ask for it.
The ignorance of some people still amazes me. I've been consulting on loans for years, but comments like these still just blow my mind. I understand not everyone can have a high level of knowledge about everything, but it's when they act like they know so much about a topic they really know so little about that drives me crazy.
You really think the banks WANT to stop you from refinancing? If that was the case they would be out of business. Refinancing keeps the business for the banks going. By them not being able to do a refi for you (and this has been shown by some comments in this thread) it only frustrates the buyer into thinking absurd thoughts about the bank trying to screw them, and they end up going with another lender. Which results in not only lost revenue on the mortgage, but lost revenue from all the other accounts that borrower could have with them that instead they will close and go with another lender, and lost revenue by the poor comments that consumer will pass on to friends, family, and message boards
Contrary to popular (stupid) belief, banks like Wells are not trying their hardest to keep you from refinancing. The government regulation over the past few years has made things drastically different than how things were in years past. Having worked with multiple lenders, I can tell you difference is Wells actually follows the government regulations very, very strictly. You also don't see them having trouble like Bank of America, Citi, Chase, etc... I wonder why?
I use to work for WFHM, they are better than places like CITI but they are far from perfect. I was involved In the due diligence during some large acquisitions and it wasn't always pretty.
Well....a mortgage broker is a middleman and has to be paid. That's fine. However, my experience with a mortgage broker (granted...this was just one person) was that he stopped returning my calls when I wanted to move beyond comparing interest rates he could get me vs. a local bank onto a discussion on comparing total costs/expenses related to getting a loan using him vs the bank.
He basically admitted he couldn't compete if I was going to look at it from an expense standpoint. That makes sense to me, since he has to making a living somehow. I decided didn't need his services because I could comparison shop on my own. Some prefer to pay someone else to do this for them...at a cost.
If I've got this wrong, I hope someone closer to the industry can clarify.
Technically a broker I suppose, but it doesn't make much difference IMO. He made the process very easy for my wife and I. He came highly recommended by our real estate agent and he didn't disappoint. He's very detail-oriented and tries hard to help you understand everything. I had a ton of questions because we were first time home buyers, and he was always willing to take my call and explain things to me; even on the weekend. I really appreciated that.
That makes sense. The first thing Tyler did was explain to us how he makes money. His philosophy is that once you understand how someone makes money you can understand the decisions they make as they conduct their business. Very true. We ended up paying no more than our down payment because we got the seller to pay closing costs.
I do this for a living for WF here in the DSM metro. The company that holds and services your loan after closing is a very important factor. I see many issues where people come in and this has been messed up by a no name company.
WF does not sell loans the vast majority of time.
We have a really good group of mortgage consultants here; you wouldn't go wrong working with any of them.
On the other hand; if you like your current lender; they may have a good option for you to do something with them.
