Trusting Your Loan Officer?

I may at times seem to be a little harsh with my comments and come across rude. When it comes to: How do you trust a loan officer?  I really try to be polite. I urge you to read this letter and what my concerns are….

I give my honest opinion of my 25+ years in the mortgage industry about other loan officers and mortgages in general.  People need to be aware of a few things when dealing with a mortgage and or real estate. So here it is… although there are many loan officers that are honest and ethical however in the mix of our profession there is also a good number of loan officers that lie, mislead, and bait and switch.  It’s certainly is a fact, not an opinion. I find that this is my job to inform the public to be aware of this and how to shop wisely.

I was speaking to a client the other day who was telling me that she had applied for a loan with another company and then stated that it was over two weeks ago. When I asked her if she had been qualified and approved by the lender she stated that she had not heard anything nor was she getting any phone calls returned from her loan officer or the company for that fact. Then of course I proceeded to ask more questions about what she thought she was getting. She stated that she didn’t know what the rate was or what the cost were going to be, since she had not received a good faith estimate or a letter from the company.

This is when she stated that she didn’t know how do you trust a loan officer? After this incident and that is why she decided to call me because she trusted her friend who referred me. She was looking to buy a piece of property in Groveland Ca, Of course being a Real Estate Licensed Loan Officer immediately red flag’s went up.

This really makes me mad when I have to hear that a consumer is treated like this. In my opinion this means someone Lied to the consumer and didn’t have the guts to call them back and give the real answers. Was she given the wrong quote, was there an appraisal issue, was there a problem with their qualifications. Whatever the issues were why wasn’t the loan officer willing to be honest and just call the consumer back.

I recently read an article that someone wrote as to why many loans don’t close on time or doesn’t close period. I thought their opinion which sounded like fact, was their loans would be denied at the last minute, because there was an appraisal or title issue. In my opinion many of these loans don’t close because the loan officer didn’t know what they were doing, they either lied, or thought they couldn’t make it work. I believe that 50% of the loan officers in this business shouldn’t be handling mortgages.

I was told by another loan officer as to why I was being so negative toward loan officers and that I could be scaring borrowers away. I wanted to laugh, but was a little offended, but my response was that this is part of my job to educate by letting the consumer know what is out there.

They shouldn’t always believe anyone at any time. That they should do some research on the side especially when it sounds too good to be true. Of course the author of the blog actually said that they don’t believe that anyone would purposely lie or purposely stick a loan file on the wall, hoping that it would stick. So the question comes back to me from the consumer, How do you trust a loan officer?

My whole reasoning for my comments that might sound harsh is to wake up the general public, to educate them. Here is a great example.

I received this e-mail from someone the other day….

Hello,
my sister is applying for an FHA loan. She filled out the application on Friday with a lender. The loan officer told him because this was an FHA loan, that it would take a week to get the good faith estimate.

I think it should be given to the applicant within 3 days regardless if it is FHA loan or not. Am I right?

This is a great example…   It doesn’t matter if it’s a FHA loan, a conventional loan, a VA loan, etc, etc. By law, the lender has 3 days to give that borrower a copy of a Good Faith Estimate. I had another borrower that was told that you couldn’t lock a rate in until 10 days before settlement. Just a blatant lie in probably giving that borrower a lower rate, that can’t be given by any other lender. Knowing that rates change and that this borrower will be at the loan officer’s mercy.

Conclusion: In my 25 years in this industry I have ran into many consumers that were lied to, over charged, and at the closing table only to find they did not get what they were told at the beginning nor were they told the truth up front.

If I state in my comment that this is my opinion, and that these are things that I learned throughout my career, how can one sound positive if it’s negative news and feedback?

So Mr. & Mrs. Borrower, or realtor, or consumer…..I don’t want to scare you! Do you want me to make you feel all warm and fuzzy? Or would you rather be properly informed and armed with ammunition, in case you run into a scenario such as mentioned above.

We need to raise the bar and running from the truth will not help. Sorry, I wish I didn’t have to say this, but it happens. It doesn’t happen all of the time, but it happens, in any business. So how do you trust a loan officer? My opinion takes to heart this advice and shop around!!

Sincerely,

MaryAnn Sumaraga

Trusted Advisor

Groveland Ca

209-962-0263 - Direct