Kimber White is Managing Partner of United American Mortgage and President of the Florida Association of Mortgage Professionals (FAMP) Broward Chapter. He has over 27 years of experience in the mortgage industry. Kimber was awarded Mortgage Broker of the year award for 2013 in Broward County as well as being awarded the 2013 Mortgage Broker of the year by his peers in the Florida Association Mortgage Professionals. He has also been presented with the President’s award for outstanding service to the association. Kimber serves currently as President of The Florida Association of Mortgage Professionals, Broward Chapter and state government affairs chair for FAMP.
We asked Kimber give us his expert insight into today’s mortgage lending market.
Kimber, explain the difference between a mortgage bank and a mortgage broker.
Kimber: There is no such thing as a mortgage broker any longer. It is a mortgage brokerage business. The people who work in a mortgage broker business are Mortgage Loan Originators.
With that said, the difference between a lender and a mortgage brokerage business is a lender is someone who lends their own money, who is a direct lender such as banks, credit unions. They directly lend their own money. At the same time, a lender is only tied to one product. That is their bank’s product.
A mortgage broker business is a company that brokers to the lenders.
What are the advantages and the disadvantages with each?
In the old days there used to be disadvantages. The mortgage brokerage business could have higher prices and they had more points and fees. We don’t find that true in the market anymore. The lender, usually the banks, have the higher fees.
So by going to a mortgage brokerage business you have two advantages. The rates are more competitive, there’s no additional fees. You have someone who’s usually more versed in the business and product knowledge, because a mortgage broker is, at this time, the only one that’s required to have a license. You get quality service from a broker business, you are dealing with the loan originator from start to finish in loan process unlike the banks or big lenders, the mortgage broker business will shop your loan to many lenders and get you the best pricing and the best rate because they’re competing for your business.
So a broker is going to shop around for your loan and they’re going to be more of an advocate for you as a consumer. Am I correct in that assumption?
Kimber: That’s correct.
Let’s go into the types of loans that a broker might have available. I know that’s a broad topic, but can you explain what’s available out there and the differences between the types of loans?
Kimber: Let’s start with your plain vanilla conforming loans, which is Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Basically what they call them is conventional loans that are written by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. With that, you have to have at least a 640 credit score to get conventional financing.
The conventional loans typically will go up to a 45% debt to income ratio, so that’s a hindrance if you have a lot of debt. A debt to income ratio includes your housing payments, your credit card payments, all of your monthly payments. It does not include housing, as far as lights, utilities, those things. That is your conventional loan.
Then you have an FHA loan, which you can put down as little as 3-1/2%. They do not have a credit score threshold but usually most lenders go down to 560. The max debt to income ratio is based on the automated underwriting findings usually they max at 58% with compensating factors.
That is the difference, if you’re looking and you’ve had dings on the credit. A conventional loan, four years out of bankruptcy, FHA two years, so that is your difference in those. It can go all the way up to seven years with a foreclosure on conventional loans. People getting back into the market, that’s the loan to be looking for.
There’s another loan called Home Path which is by Fannie Mae. That is 5% down. Fannie Mae owns the property. There is no appraisal. Of course, then there’s renovation loans, all variations of that. You can do a renovation loan with an FHA, which means that you can buy a house, fix it up and roll the money into it for repairs. You can do Home Path Renovation, which a lot of people do, buy the Home Path loans, which is a Fannie Mae product, fix them up.
Then we have VA. If you’re a veteran there is 100% financing. There’s really no credit score. It’s a total package scorecard. That’s the way to go if you’re a veteran. Rates are good, they’re low and they’re easy to get into.
What kinds of fees are associated with a loan application and approval? Does it vary from the types of loans you just mentioned or is it pretty much standard across the board?
Kimber: Point blank, there are no application fees allowed to be collected because of the new rules. You cannot collect an application fee, zero. It is not allowed. The broker or the lender, whoever it may be, is to be paid only if the loan closes. As far as any upfront fees, except for a credit report fee, which is a legitimate third party fee when you want to get qualified, or an appraisal fee made directly to the company assigned to do the appraisal but there can be no other fees charged.Â
