I've been involved with home loans and refinancing for several years now: As I use to work for a large mortgage firm and as a landlord of over 11 properties, and I've tried nearly all the major online loan companies (like the ones you see on TV) and others to compare rates (especially to refinance my income properties). And guess what, most online websites are not competitive at all. And some of them are downright rip-offs!
These firms don't offer the loans, nor even broker the loan direct to a bank, like most mortgage companies do. They broker the loans through another broker, who sometimes sells the lead to yet another company. You can even damage the look of your credit report with some of these companies that will have your credit pulled too often and by too many companies!
How does that affect you?
What can happen with a loan company that submits to several other companies or mortgage brokers is once each third party company receives your information, they will then pull your credit to see if your application and personal information meet their standards. And when someone's credit is pulled by too many different companies in a short amount of time it looks bad to anyone viewing your credit. It looks as if you're simply running around town, trying to get money from anyone who'll give it to them. Not good!
Also, Imagine how much of a percentage cut each one of these companies is taking off the loan - talk about middlemen! By the time the loan rate actually gets back to you, you could have cut off a few points and saved yourself thousands of dollars - or years off the life of your loan! Be sure to check for reviews of reputable companies online and their interest rates from third party sources. That's the best way to insure you're really getting the best rate available, and it's personally saved me tens of thousands of dollars once I found about all this.
Fortunately in my dealings with financing for my own investment properties, I have come across some companies that DO NOT
engage in the above mentioned practices and do offer some of the lowest interest rates available anywhere, even for
poor credit! Reputable websites that offer free quotes like Savings.com
and
America's Lending Partners
usually give quotes from several lenders at the same time. The other main benefit from sites like these is that the forms are pretty simple and fast (name, address and type of loan), so you don't have to sit around filling out long rate quote applications.
Also, both the above sites advertise "all credit welcome". That's right, forget about paying memberships and fees to all those scam "bad credit loans" and credit repair websites.
So, if you do decide to get a quote on any kind of loan (home, student, poor credit, or otherwise) I would highly advise getting a free quote from the companies that passed our review, listed below.
Good Luck and Great Rates,
Liam Griffon
Here are the Free Loan Quote Websites that We Do Recommend:
Savings.com Home Refinance, Home Equity, Debt Consolidation and Home Purchase. Four Free Quotes from lenders with one quick form.
America's Lending Partners Free quotes from several lenders.
Countrywide Home Loans Second Mortgages, Home Equity, Home Improvement and Refinancing.
Payday Loan with No Credit Check No Credit Check, Instant Payday Loans in 24 Hours.