Questions You Should Ask Your Lender When Shopping For a Loan


1.Are both fixed-rate and adjustable mortgage loans available?

2.What is the interest rate?

3.How long can I "lock-in" the financing at the current interest rate?

4.Is a float down lock available in case rates drop after I have locked in?

5.What are the other fees a lender may charge me in conjunction with my loan?

6.Are funds for a second mortgage available?

7.On adjustable loans, how often will the interest rate be adjusted?

8.Is there a maximum limit on each rate change?

9.How often will the monthly payment be adjusted?

10.Is there a ceiling on payment adjustments?

11.Can the term of the loan be extended?

12.What is the maximum rate that can be charged over the life of the loan?

13.Is there any potential for negative amortization?

14.Is there a pre-payment penalty clause? This involves extra charges for paying off the loan before maturity. About 80% of all loans in the United States are paid off early.

15.What is the "grace" period?

16.How late can a monthly payment be made before a late charge is assessed?

17.What will happen if a payment is missed?

18.If you sell your house, will the new buyer (if he/she qualifies) be able to assume your mortgage at the same interest rate?

19.Do you have to pay "points" to get your new mortgage?

20.Usually lenders charge points for the cost of giving you a mortgage loan. A "point" is 1% of the loan.

21.Will the lender require mortgage insurance?

22.Is the loan serviced locally or is the servicing sold? Ask for a written "good faith deposit".

More Tips and Advice At RealEstateLatino.com

Why when we are talking about Foreclosure and how it hurts Minorities, Race is always a factor ignoring the real problem?

By Bill Arce (RealEstateLatino.com)
Study: Latino ‘foreclosure generation’ devastated

The Orange County Register has this article featuring a study conducted by NCLR reporting how minority (especially Latinos) are being disproportionally hurt by the housing crisis mainly, foreclosures.

The study shows some interesting findings, statistics and makes recommendations:

Researchers interviewed 25 families in foreclosure, many victims of “predatory lending,” according to the study’s authors.

Among their findings:

•The loss of a job and a hike in mortgage payments most often led to losing the home. The families interviewed lost an average of $89,155 because of the foreclosure.

•Despite going to their lenders for help, none of the families were offered a loan modification, forbearance or other help.

•More than half of the families reported that their children had academic or behavioral problems in school because of the instability in the home. Researchers have dubbed these families “the foreclosure generation.”

•All but one family was left without savings they could tap in case of a financial emergency, and many held back on necessary health care to save money.

The study advocates loan modifications that include a principal reduction and a strengthening of the safety net, including allowing foreclosed families to stay in their homes as renters and a program of community based, nonprofit financial counseling.

Now, what really stroke me about this article was the responds some of the readers had. I liked to think some of these readers were showing signs of frustration due to the fact they are losing their homes to foreclosure, other may feel their race is underrepresented, or simple it seams that they are losing their share of “HOPE” and might be left out of any help available. Whether the case may be, I think it is incorrect to assume that minorities’ homeowners are getting more assistance than others just because we are considered a minority, when it is true that the mortgage crisis is hurting more Latinos and African American than anybody else.

The sad part will be when we get out of this mess and we realized we didn’t learn anything from it.

Florida Mortgage Fraud Resources

The list of resources below has been compiled for anyone that suspects that they may be a victim of any type of fraud or scam. The list was originally designed as a resource to report mortgage fraud, predatory lending scams and identity theft in Florida but may also serve those who are victims of many types of fraud in Florida.

Other types of fraud may include:

Internet Scams
Phishing/Email Scams
Credit Card Fraud
Investment Scams
Financial - Debt Elimination
Business/MLM ScamsEtc.

FBI Field Offices, Mortgage Fraud

White Collar Crime Supervisorhttp://jacksonville.fbi.gov/7820 Arlington Expressway, Suite 200Jacksonville, FL 32211-7499Phone: (904) 721-1211

White Collar Crime Supervisorhttp://miami.fbi.gov/16320 NW 2nd Ave.North Miami Beach, FL 33169-6508Phone: (305) 944-9101

White Collar Crime Supervisorhttp://tampa.fbi.gov/500 Zack St., Room 610, FOBTampa, FL 33602-3917Phone: (813) 273-4566

Florida Attorney General - Consumer Protection
http://myfloridalegal.com/consumerThe Capitol PL-01Tallahassee, FL 32399-1050Phone: (850) 414-3300

HUD Field Office
Jacksonville Field OfficeCharles E. Bennett Federal Building400 W. Bay St., Suite 1015Jacksonville, FL 32202Phone: (904) 232-2627 Fax: (904) 232-3759
Miami Field Office909 SE First Ave.Miami, FL 33131Phone: (305) 536-4456 Fax: (305) 536-5765

Orlando Field Office3751 Maguire Blvd., Room 270Orlando, FL 32803-3032Phone: (407) 648-6441 Fax: (407) 648-6310

Tampa Field Office500 Zack St., Suite 402Tampa, FL 33602Phone: (813) 228-2026 Fax: (813) 228-2431

HUD Regional Office
Atlanta Regional Office40 Marietta St.Five Points PlazaAtlanta, GA 30303-2806Phone: (404) 331-4111 Fax: (404) 730-2392

Florida Department of Banking and Finance Division of Financial Investigations
101 East Gaines St., Suite 516Tallahassee, FL 32399-0350Toll Free: (800) 848-3792 (Florida only)Phone: (850) 410-9275Fax: (850) 410-9628

Nationally Chartered Credit Unions
Region III – Atlantahttp://www.ncua.gov/AboutNcua/org/Region3.htm7000 Central Parkway, Suite 1600 Atlanta, GA 30328Phone: (678) 443-3000Fax: (678) 443-3020

State-Chartered Credit Unions
Florida Division of Banking101 East Gaines St., Ste. 636Tallahassee, FL 32399-0350Phone: (850) 410-9111Fax: (850) 410-9548

Savings & Loan Association or Savings Bank
Office of Thrift Supervisionhttp://www.ots.treas.gov/resultsort.cfm?catNumber=88&dl=17&edit=1E-mail: consumer.complaint@ots.treas.govSoutheast Region - Atlanta1475 Peachtree St., N.E.Atlanta, Georgia 30309Phone: (404) 888-0771Complaints: (800) 842-6929

National Fair Housing Alliance
To locate your local office:http://www.nationalfairhousing.org/National Contact: E-mail: nfha@nationalfairhousing.org1212 New York Ave., NW Ste 525Washington, DC 2005Phone: (202) 898-1661 Fax: (202) 371-9744

Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services
Division of Consumer Services2005 Apalachee ParkwayTerry Rhodes BuildingTallahassee, FL 32399-6500Phone: 1-800-HELP-FLA (435-7352)

Florida Real Estate Commission (REC) Home Page
DBPR Customer Contact Centerhttp://www.myflorida.com/

Disciplinary Activity Reports of Brokers and Appraisers:http://www.myflorida.com/1940 North Monroe St.Tallahassee, FL 32399-1027Phone: (850) 487-1395 Fax: (850) 922-4191

Better Business Bureaus
Better Business Bureau of Northeast Floridahttp://www.bbbnefla.org/E-mail: info@bbbnefla.org4417 Beach Blvd., Suite 202Jacksonville, FL 32207Phone: (904) 721-2288Fax: (904) 721-7373

Better Business Bureau Serving Southeast Florida and the Caribbeanhttp://www.bbbsoutheastflorida.org/E-mail: info@seflorida.bbb.org2924 N Australian Ave.West Palm Beach, FL 33407 – Phone: (561) 842-1918Fax: (561) 845-7234

Better Business Bureau of West Floridahttp://www.clearwater.bbb.org/E-mail: info@bbbwestflorida.orgPO Box 7950Clearwater, FL 33758 -7950Phone: (727) 535-5522Fax: (727) 539-6301

Better Business Bureau of Northwest Floridahttp://www.nwfl.bbb.org/E-mail: info@nwfl.bbb.orgPO Box 1511Pensacola, FL 32591 -1511Phone: (850) 429-0002Fax: (850) 429-0006

Better Business Bureau of Central Florida, Inc.http://www.orlando.bbb.org/E-mail: info@orlando.bbb.org151 Wymore Road, Ste. 100Altamonte Springs, FL 32714 - Phone: (407) 621-3300Fax: (407) 786-2625

Federal Reserve to Curb Mortgage Lending Abuses: More Rules for Those Who Hate Rules

The Federal Reserve proposed rules today to curb abusive lending practices. They think it may not be a good thing—you know, lenders giving loans to folks who can’t afford to repay them, which leads to foreclosures, which leads to bank losses, which leads to less lending, which leads to less buying, which leads to less selling, which leads to a weakening economy, which leads to less holiday gift spending, which leads to a recession. Oh, my!

Now, you would think the whole process could be avoided if buyers did not borrow over their heads. Then again, you would think mortgage brokers would advise clients not to borrow over their heads. Or maybe the fellows with the dough to lend would just not lend it to folks who want to borrow over their head. Surely, everyone wanted to reach the same goal, so the fault must be divied up—don’t mortgage something you can’t afford to lose, don’t get a client a loan just to make a commission, and don’t lend money against property you are likely to foreclose.

Anyhoot, here are the proposed rules, in a nutshell (they will not be made final until consumer comments are reviewed):

1. Do not give unaffordable loans. Instead of measuring a borrower’s ability to repay based on the lowball sub-prime ARM introductory rate, measure it against the reset rate. In other words, stop the sucker loans.

2. Restrict “stated income” or “no income verification loans. These “liar” loans lead to borrowers taking loans they never should have taken in the first place. These were great for lenders and mortgage brokers because it gave them an out– “It ain’t our fault, the guy said he made a million bucks. It’s not our obligation to check it out. Who thinks people will lie to get money?”

3. Eliminate or limit prepayment penalties. It does not take much to figure out that steep penalties for paying off a loan early would limit consumers’ refinancing options. Hmm… you don’t pay back the bank, they’re unhappy; you pay them back early, they’re still unhappy. You just can’t please some people.

4. Require disclosure of broker incentives. Wow. You mean borrowers would know just how much the mortgage broker was being paid? These brokers are gonna have a heck of time explaining yield spread premiums.

5. Prohibit coercion of appraisers. You mean appraisers allow themselves to be coerced? Maybe appraisers need to tell folks “Hey, I need my job so I’m giving the bank this appraisal number, but just between us, the appraisal I’d like to send them is this.”

6. Require better disclosure. Oh no. More forms that no one will read, drafted by lawyers who still think they should be charging by the word (some of them may even throw in some legalese, or latin, you know, to show they’re smarter and entitled to higher fees)

Maybe those armchair anarchists are right. Abolish government and all these silly laws. Let the consumer figure it out— or get what’s coming to them.

If it were up to us, there would be only one rule: Is this a loan you would give to your mother?

Source: CNN Money.