Wachovia Mortgage is part of Wachovia Bank, which has about $783 billion in assets, according to their website. Those assets rank them as the 4th largest bank in the United States. Is big better?
As for their mortgage division, which is a relatively small part of the company, Wachovia offers most of the standard loan programs available almost everywhere: fixed rates, adjustable rates, 100% financing and home equity lines. In addition to the standard options, Wachovia also offers their “Pick-a-Payment” loans, which are also known as Option ARMs.
The basic idea behind a “Pick-a-Payment” loan is you get to decide if you want to make payments that are interest only, negatively amortizing, amortized over 30 years, amortized over 15 years or perhaps amortized over 40 or 50 years. Flexibility is the name of the game.
Wachovia isn’t the only mortgage lender to offer this type of loan. In fact, you can apply for one almost anywhere, including your local mortgage broker. It’s probably a good idea to read all the fine print before closing on an option ARM loan, however, because it’s generally wise to understand exactly what all the options mean to you and your home.
At any rate, how have you enjoyed dealing with Wachovia, for those of you that have? Positives? Negatives? Would you recommend them to others?
E-Loan offers more than just mortgage loans. In fact, their offerings are perhaps the most diverse of any online lender. Besides home loans, Eloan offers auto loans, student loans, personal loans, high yield savings accounts and CDs. Not bad, right?
Well, as usual, our single purpose here is not to discuss only the positive things about each company reviewed. So whether you have good or bad feedback to provide other people about E-Loan, go ahead and post it.
A couple things of note that E-Loan claims about themselves:
- Loan officers don’t get paid commissions
This can potentially be a good thing if the loan officer actually has your best interests in mind instead of her own. However, it can also mean a drop in service levels because they get paid regardless of how well they take care of you. I see this as a double-edged sword, which has both pros and cons just like most things. - E-Loan is honest
Whether or not this is true, I can’t say. However, E-Loan’s website says they will never change your rate at closing “unlike most other lenders”, which is a patently false and sweeping statement in that there is no proof that most other lenders do change rates at closing. But we do all know someone who has had their rate changed at closing, so to say it never happens would be naive.
So what do you think? What’s been your experience with E-loan?
Flagstar Bank is one of the biggest home lenders in the U.S. that most people have never heard of. They do a lot of business with mortgage brokers, who originate the home loan. Flagstar then purchases the loan servicing rights, which means the home owner winds up making their monthly payments to Flagstar. This is a common practice and nothing to be worried about, but it’s one of the reasons a lot of people haven’t heard much about this particular lender.
Flagstar does also originate mortgages through their own retail efforts in some areas, mainly the midwest. Most mortgage brokers I know appreciate Flagstar because they are ahead of the curve when it comes to technology (much of the process of getting a loan for a borrower is handled online, if not all) and they have very competitive rates.
Have you had experience with Flagstar? What did you think?
Ditech Mortgage is basically the online, retial arm of GMAC mortgage. They are famous for plentiful TV commercials with the loser loan officer who is always losing “another loan to Ditech”. During my time as a loan officer with a mortgage broker, I sent plenty of loans to GMAC (including the loan on my own home) as they consistently had the best rates and good service. However, I never dealt with Ditech directly.
Ditech started in 1995, in the earliest days of the internet, and was purchased by GMAC in 1999. The company really started to grow at that point. They are also known for widely promoting a single flat-fee mortgage program (of around $395).
I have heard mixed things about Ditech and would be interested to hear what you readers have to say who have direct experience with them. What has been your experience?
Quicken is best known for it’s personal finance software, which seems like it’s been around forever. They’ve also got a mortgage branch now and do a fair amount of online advertising. So here’s some general information for you about this company, which our users will begin to supplement with their own reviews.
First of all, Quicken Loans claims to be the world’s #1 online mortgage company. That may or may not be true, since their website doesn’t really cite any sources to support the claim or the criteria used to make the claim. Not to worry, such practices seem to be the norm these days.
Quicken’s website also says they closed over $19 billion in loan volume in 2007 (a very impressive number) and can close loans in all 50 U.S. states.
Have you used Quicken Loans? What sort of experience did you have with them?
LendingTree.com is a competition engine for all sorts of loans, including mortgages, which is really where they got their start. The basic idea behind Lending Tree is that you submit your information and they share just enough of the pertinent parts with various mortgage lenders to give them an overall picture of your creditworthiness. In turn, the various lenders then make their best offer to you for loan terms and you pick the one you like the most. Pretty good idea, right?
The model has proven effective as LendingTree.com has emerged from the dot com bust as a viable business and in fact has grown quite a bit over the last decade. They now do competitive pricing services for auto loans, home equity loans, real estate sales and more.
Have you done business with Lending Tree? What did you think?
Visit LendingTree for more information about their services.
Countrywide Home Loans is the self-proclaimed #1 home loan provider in America. Millions of Americans use Countrywide as their mortgage provider and as expected with any large company there are both happy and unhappy customers. Unhappy customers are usually more vocal than the happy ones, so take their feedback with a grain of salt.
Mortgage brokers who deal with Countrywide have also had both positive and negative encounters but there is a reason this company has grown as large as it is: they try to do things the right way.
MortgageReviewQ.com is a new site dedicated to helping homeowners find a solid, reputable mortgage company that has great customer service based on customer reviews. Enjoy!
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- JOANN T MILLER: THIS IS IN REGARD TO THE BAD PRACTICES OF COUNTRYWIDE MORTGAGE COMPANY// I HAD A LOAN WITH...