Online mortgage lender?

[dancingirl21]

Has anyone used an online service for a new mortgage? We have used two local mortgage companies for our purchase and then refinance. We are currently casually looking for a new home. We reached out to one of the lenders and they are saying current 30 year fixed rates are 4.25%. I know rates have gone up, but that seems high. DH is reaching out to the other lender we have used.

I started looking online and am seeing much lower rates. Has anyone done this? Any good/bad stories and what company you used?

[MrsDarcy]

We used lower.com for a refinance and were very pleased with the experience. They had the lowest rates I found. Super easy.

[dr.girlfriend]

Feb 14, 2022 20:23:16 GMT -5 dancingirl21 said:

Has anyone used an online service for a new mortgage? We have used two local mortgage companies for our purchase and then refinance. We are currently casually looking for a new home. We reached out to one of the lenders and they are saying current 30 year fixed rates are 4.25%. I know rates have gone up, but that seems high. DH is reaching out to the other lender we have used.

I started looking online and am seeing much lower rates. Has anyone done this? Any good/bad stories and what company you used?

I've always used bankrate.com to get rates, and then the first two times I got Wells Fargo to match the rate but with their lower fees.  I know the many reasons people hate WF but I like them because they service their own mortgages, and there's no fee for biweekly payments as long as they are automatic payments. 

The third time they couldn't match but it was really low for the time -- 2.75 for a 15-year.  I just went with the local place that offered the rate on bankrate.  That was a bit of a pain because it did get sold around a lot, but finally it's back with someone who services their own mortgages so hopefully we're not going to have to make any changes to payment until it's paid off.

[lessel]

We went through Costco’s mortgage program if that’s an option for you. Really good experience.

Our local lender that we’d worked with for a purchase and 2 refis just couldn’t match rates.

[dancingirl21]

dr.girlfriend I was playing around on bankrate last night but chickened out at the last minute. I’ll do it again today!

[dancingirl21]

Feb 15, 2022 8:02:28 GMT -5 lessel said:

We went through Costco’s mortgage program if that’s an option for you. Really good experience.

Our local lender that we’d worked with for a purchase and 2 refis just couldn’t match rates.

We do have a Costco membership. I will definitely look into that. Thanks!

[deadwing]

I refinanced through LenderFi.com last year. The refinance process was very simple and I got a great rate. They claim to service 90% of their loans, but sold mine immediately. That's my only complaint.

[lessel]

Feb 15, 2022 8:38:39 GMT -5 dancingirl21 said:

Feb 15, 2022 8:02:28 GMT -5 lessel said:

We went through Costco’s mortgage program if that’s an option for you. Really good experience.

Our local lender that we’d worked with for a purchase and 2 refis just couldn’t match rates.

We do have a Costco membership. I will definitely look into that. Thanks!

The specific lender we went with is CrossCountry Mortgage. They retained ownership of the loan, but use a mortgage servicing company that I recently got in a fight with because they didn't pay my property taxes out of escrow. The servicer was kind of a PITA to deal with, but someone at CrossCountry itself shook it loose ultimately.

[sb]

We used better.com and it was fantastic. With traditional mortgage lenders I always felt like things were getting dropped or communication was lacking, so I never knew what, if anything, I was supposed to be doing. With Better, there is a clear task list that you complete and check off. It was so much easier and less anxiety inducing. Also the rate was very competitive. Our mortgage was immediately sold to Chase, which I have no issues with.

[Susie]

When we bought last year, our agent encouraged us to do our preapproval with our credit union because they are notoriously cautious in underwriting.  As a result, perception of a preapproval from there within our local market is favorable.  Preapprovals from there tend to result in smooth, timely closings, buyers with resources to cover an appraisal gap, etc.  It can help get your offer selected.  

I can say from the sellers standpoint that it's true.  We had 3 buyers tied for the same top offer, and we were looking at all of those indicia of ability to close quickly/timely.  It did influence who we chose.

Back to buying though, although we got our preapproval from our credit union, we didn't finance with them.  When we actually won the contract on our house, we shopped rates and did our approval with another lender that could beat our credit union by about 0.5%.  You are under no obligation to actually finance with the lender who does your preapproval.  You have to go through the process twice, but if you keep your paperwork organized, the second time is pretty easy.  

So anyway, the tl;dr is to consider getting a preapproval from a local bank or credit union with a good reputation.  Save the rate chasing for when you actually find your house.  Rates may change, and who has the best one may change between now and then anyway.

[darby]

I don’t know your market, but my area is very competitive. If you are in a multiple offer situation the online lender preapproval would not be as desirable as a quality local mortgage broker & could hurt your chances of getting your offer accepted. While the online companies can do a great job with a refinance, they are notoriously slow with processing & communication can be terrible (I’m not saying it’s this way 100% of the time, just generally speaking). If you have an experienced Realtor I would ask them for a lender referral. They are not going to benefit from this, but will be able to offer someone that can do a great job for you & should be competitive with regard to their rates & fees. I have had offers accepted for my clients due in part because the other agent knew the lender could get the deal done smoothly. Best of luck to you!!!

[dancingirl21]

Susie and darby thanks. I had not considered that. We are talking to a few local lenders referred by our realtor.

It’s such a competitive market here and we are targeting one specific neighborhood. We know one house is coming on the market in March. It’s currently on the private market and our agent tried to get them to let us see it now but they said no. They want to go on the market and get all the offers, which is fine. Anyway, if rates are as high as we are seeing, we will likely stay put.