An Open Letter to the Consumer - Show me a little respect

Dear Consumer,

I applaud you for doing your homework when shopping for a mortgage. Sometimes the research that you do online, making sure that you are getting a good deal, is a good thing.

My question to you though, do you over do it?  Do you shop to many times, calling many lenders, looking for that best deal?  Do you know that the market can change daily? Do you realize that one deal that you thought was great, could be worse 3 days later?

 

Consumer.... what I respect is that you are patient at times and give loan officers a chance and sometimes the benefit of the doubt when shopping for a mortgage. You sometimes give them many days in getting back to you. But is this good? Are you just fixated on the best price? Don't you know that service comes with a price or in some cases, lack of price.

What do I mean by this? Let me give you an example of one of my most recent clients or in this case, a client that I actually fired. This consumer found me through my blogs and was impressed with my knowledge. I spoke to this person for about 20 minutes, gathering all the information that I need to properly qualify them for a mortgage. They had already spoken to someone from Wells Fargo and received a cost sheet from them. It wasn't a detailed good faith estimate. I was extremely busy that day with a few closings, 2 new clients, and some other people that I promised to get back to. This client asked for a good faith estimate, which wasn't necessary. Anytime I pre-qualify someone, I make sure I send out a good faith estimate to them within 12 hours, depending on my schedule. In this case, I sent one to her in 3 hours, fully detailed, with an explanation in an e-mail. Her reply back to me?

 

Jeff,

I received the good faith estimate, thank you.

The Wells Fargo good faith estimate is much less complete analysis and did not include escrows for taxes, hazard insurance and mortgage insurance.  It also doesn't look at a possible seller's credit. 

My husband and I want to show your estimate to our realtor and wll get back to you.  Thank you for taking the time to be so thorough in our conversation yesterday.

 

Best,

Consumer

 

Thank you Mrs. Consumer, for the kind words. So I follow up with her after the e-mail and she says that their realtor gave them 2 other loan officers to speak to. Me?  Okay, no problem, I'll check back with you in a few days. I called Mrs. Consumer back 2 full days later and she still hadn't received the good faith estimates from these loan officers. I told her that I would be concerned about this. Her answer was...."they must be busy".  To everyone reading this, busy is an overused and abused word, especially in the mortgage industry. To me, it's an excuse. I would bet that I am busier than 70% of the loan officers out there. If I can't get it done during normal business hours, then either that night or the next morning. She received both good faith estimates 4 days later. Me?  Unacceptable.

Consumer, 48 hours to recieve a good faith estimate is too lenient. I always say 24 hours or less is a good indicator. And this is coming from someone that has been in the mortgage industry for over 15 years. Are you going to want me to re-disclose when you finally get your other two estimates?   What happens if rates went down, but their service is not up to par?  You might be picking the wrong lender based on a better market and because the loan officers took their time.

 

In any case, just food for thought. I guess my 15 years of lending experience, professionalism, and just treating you as a person doesn't count for much. And by the way, in reality, these figures are not always worth the paper that it's written on. What am I saying?  I am not always going to be the cheapest, but you will get great follow up and no surprises at settlement. I am a gambler in life, but not with your money.

 

Sincerely,

Jeffrey J. Belonger

Mortgage Consultant since 1992