Tag Archives: lenders

Your Private Information is For Sale

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This subject totally irks me…it is just so completely wrong. The three major credit bureaus are selling personal information to hundreds of mortgage companies throughout the country as soon as a credit report is pulled from a mortgage lender. You visit your preferred lender to get preapproved for a mortgage, and whammo…within hours you may start getting calls from other unscrupulous lenders who will even go so far as to pretend to be working with the preferred lender. You’ll also start noticing mailers appearing in your mailbox offering special rates and programs, too. You’re going to feel very popular and probably very annoyed.
Private information is being sold without your consent or knowledge. These mortgage companies buying these trigger list (also referred to as prescreening) are generally “fly by night

Licensed to Loan

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This New Year brought significant changes to the mortgage industry. Loan Originators who provide residential loans in Washington State are now required to be licensed. This legislature applies primarily to Mortgage Brokers and not LOs who are employed by banks or credit unions. As I am employed by a Mortgage Broker (technically, we are a Correspondent Lender…I’ll save that for a later article), I thought I would share some tidbits of what I’ve found so far during the first two weeks into the licensing period.

I completed my online application with DFI, submitted my MU4 forms and 2 sets of fingerprints all prior to the due dates so that my background check to determine that I am not a felon and do not have any gross-misdemeanors can be performed. DFI is inundated with applications and they are posting the list of licensed loan originators on line. I’ve been checking the list daily for my name and license number. As of Tuesday, DFI is showing 9,913 licensees from 123 Cash to Zippy Cash. Loan Originators must display their license number on their business cards, loan applications, marketing and websites. This seems kind of odd to me. Realtors and Escrow Officer’s (L.P.O.) do not have to attach their number to their name for the public to see…don’t they trust us?

Currently, Loan Originators who have completed the required steps of the online application, MU4 and fingerprints are operating under an “interim license

Investigating Preapproval Letters

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(Editor’s Note: Today I get to introduce yet another contributor! Rhonda Porter is a successful mortgage broker from the Eastside who has been a frequent and much appreciated commenter on RCG as of late. I’m definitely excited that we get to learn more from her years of experience in the industry… She was formally a title representative before getting into mortgage. You can learn more about Rhonda on her personal blog or her website. She can be reached via email or by simply leaving a comment below!

Yesterday, I received a phone call from a Listing Agent regarding a preapproval letter I had prepared for one of the buyers I’m working with. She wanted to confirm that my clients are indeed approved and to find out a bit more information about me since, if she did accept their offer, we would all be working together. She informed me that she calls on all preapproval letters she receives and that often times, lenders may seem not to have all the facts straight on their borrower or respond as if it’s the only transaction they have in their pipeline. Regardless, she gets a better idea of who the lender is that might be involved with her Seller’s transaction. I am really surprised I don’t receive more phone calls from Listing Agents to check out preapproval letters.

[photopress:j0403639.jpg,thumb,alignright]When I sold my house last year, I actually called on one of the preapproval letters we received. The Selling Agent who was presenting the offer thought it was “highly irregular

There are now five drink sizes at Starbucks: Short, Tall, Grande, Venti, and Chuck Cross

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Chuck Cross, former Director of Consumer Services for the Washington State Department of Financial Institutions is on his way to the other Washington to serve within the Conference of State Bank Supervisors.

[photopress:chucknorris.jpg,full,alignright]Quoting from the CSBS press release, “Chuck was one of the key investigators, architects and negotiators of the multistate settlement with Household Finance and Beneficial Finance in 2002, which was the largest predatory lending case to date. From late 2002 through 2005 he investigated Ameriquest Mortgage and served on the multi-state Executive Committee for the country’s second largest predatory lending case, which was filed and settled in March 2006.

Interest Rates are Down

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[photopress:rates.jpg,thumb,alignright]I’ve been working on listings more than buyers for a bit until recently. I had two offers to write yesterday, and was surprised to see the 30 year conforming at 6.125 and the jumbo at 6.375.

My perception was that interest rates were climbing, but looks like they are back down. Would love to hear from some lender types on this board with regard to what’s happening with rates. Last I heard the prediction was they are going up, up and up again. So I was surprised to see them so low. Anyone have any news about what’s happening with rates generally?