BIG Bank Loan Officers versus SAFE ACT Licensed Loan Officers? You Make the Choice!
Washington has been busy protecting consumers from bad lenders right? Wrong! While they made a lot of changes, most of them are pretty meaningless to the consumer, and some have been clear disasters (the new Good Faith Estimate, and the new HVCC Appraisal rules are good examples). They have done a poor job, and to make it worse, the general perception by the public as to who is the better lender choice is completely wrong. Most people feel the brokers and the non-bank mortgage lenders have created all the problems.
So who is fooling who? Fat cat banking industry lobbyist are spending your tax dollar with their bail-out money to portrays themselves as innocent victims, and have done a wonderful job getting that incorrect message sent to Washington.
Effective January 1, 2011 all Mortgage Bankers and Mortgage Brokers across the county will be require to meet new strict standard, and to be licensed according to the S.A.F.E. Act, UNLESS they work at one of the big banks!
An exemption in the consumer protection laws allows Loan Officers at the big Interstate Chartered Banks to NOT have to follow the same rules! Who are these banks? All the big names (Wells Fargo, US Bank, Chase, Bank of America, etc.), plus plenty of smaller ones.
Now I am not trying to make this into a David versus Goliath story, but I am trying to emphasize the huge differences and implications this change will have on the consumer. As the new requirements have been rolling out across the country, many of the current Loan Officers who have been unable to meet the new requirements, and especially those who have failed the new tests, have simply gone to the large banks to work. Calling "1-800-Big-Lender" to find a loan officer??? YIKES!
Here is a chart to show the differences:
| |
SAFE ACT |
Bank LO’s |
| Licensed |
Yes |
No |
| FBI Background |
Yes |
No |
| Fingerprinted |
Yes |
No |
| Surety Bonded |
Yes |
No |
| 20 hours upfront education |
Yes |
No |
| 8 hours continuing education |
Yes |
No |
| Personal Credit checked |
Yes |
No |
| Federal and State testing |
Yes |
No |
| Complaint mechanism's |
Yes |
No |
| Licensing fees and renewals |
Yes |
No |
|
I think the choice is clear. Who would YOU rather be working with on the largest financial transaction of your life? A fully trained, licensed, fingerprinted, and background checked Loan Officer - or the Loan Officer at the bank?
|
CHECK YOUR LOAN OFFICER OUT on the
Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System and Registry
http://www.nmlsconsumeraccess.org
If they are NOT on this list, be very cautious about using them.
My NMLS # is 274132
|
The funny part is the cost for the service based on rates and fees are usually about the same, if not slightly cheaper in both rate and costs. Plus non-bank lenders usually close the loans faster, and have more knowledgeable and experienced Loan Officers.
The best S.A.F.E. ACT Loan Officer (non-Bank) analogy I can use is having a choice of working with an experienced CPA to do your taxes vs. you using Turbo Tax to do it yourself, but paying the same price.
Finally, THIS IS A CLEAR REASON why people should follow my #1 mortgage shopping rule: GOOGLE THE NAME OF YOUR LOAN OFFICER before allowing them to handle the largest financial transaction of your life!
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