Good Twitter conversation. Loan officers are interested in making money just like everyone else and for the most part will do what it takes to write the loan. So they are not your friend regardless how nice they seem to be or how often they compliment you. With some of the changes in favor of the consumer after the crisis they now have more protection, but consumers are consumers and many are easy to influence.

In a couple of years when the economy is booming we wont hear the words transparency and honesty as much. It's amazing how much we overlook when things are going great.

Thanks for the post and good conversations do take place on Twitter.
My recent post Different Types of New Home Builders

That's good information for all of us as we assist our buyers in getting pre approved. I always encourage buyers to shop "rates and terms" and compare apples to apples. I realize we all have to make a living but honesty and transparancy go a long way. Real Estate Agents need to be up to speed on current mortgage information so we can better advise our clients.

Great Article! This is one of the main reasons that the regulators are mounting up and cracking down on the Mortgage Industry! We always have had a full disclosure policy, where we tell the customer how much we are making on a loan. The new GFE's will fix alot of this problem!
.-= Redding Mortgage´s last blog ..Mortgage Fees Explained! =-.

Great article! You can’t tell if your loan officer is telling you truth or lie and if they are misleading you but there are also quite a few good loan offices out there that are honest and ethical in their profession. You sharing this will make the public aware of this. Thanks for sharing!

I knew it, I knew they were never my friend!

Its so hard to trust anyone these days when greed drives our decision process. I think it would serve the consumer great if they were required to read a brochure or pamphlet of some sort written by a consumer advocacy group and the LO should be required to explain how they get paid. This way the homeowner will have a heads up that the LO will be presenting them with the loan product that will make the LO the most money, not represent the consumers best possibility.

Excellent post! Loan officers are much like real estate agents working model homes for builders in this regard. It doesn't mean they can't offer a very high level of professional service, but they are ultimately NOT looking out for the best interests of the borrower. Nothing wrong with this - BUT it is something that every homebuyer should UNDERSTAND so they can make the best decisions!

Speaking from a Realtor's position, this is a good example of why I have developed good working relationships with several local loan officers that I can send my clients to and know they will be treated honestly and fairly. True, they do work for the lender, but past experiences go a long way to know how trustworthy and dependable they may be.

Great Article and information, Thank You! I learned something like this when my wife and i tried to find a home. the rates and timing seemed pretty standardized. are there places to negotiate that i just didn't know about? i assumed the loan officer was giving us all the data. the housing market was so bad that the homes we contracted to buy had secnd and third loans and could not get clearance to sell so we took a break. we'll start shopping again after the holidays. Thank You.

This post is making me think about what various originators call themselves in order to give the public a certain image or opinion of what they do for a living...including: loan officer, mortgage planner, mortgage specialist...just to name a few. I think I've called myself those various titles at various stages over my mortgage career. I've recently gone back to "Mortgage Originator". Why? Because that's what I do. I'm not an "officer" at our company; although I provide advice and information--I'm not sure that "planner" is the correct term to use. Without a doubt, I do originate mortgages and help people with that process. I think our industry needs to have this type clarity and not be ashamed to be a mortgage or loan ORIGINATOR.

Justin - it is an important distinction for a buyer to understand

thanks for the post!

Justin - It is very refreshing to see this important point being talked about by a LOAN OFFICER...

Maximizing profit is rarely discussed when I hear people talking about getting a mortgage. The industry has done such a good job getting consumers to think about credit scores and approvals and this doc or that doc that the average consumer has no clue how banks make money. Thanks for opening some eyes, Justin...

So true and good stuff!

I had a post on AR years ago in response to an Agents post saying that the financial crisis was the LO's fault. It grabbed a few hundred comments and had a very interesting thread going between Ardell and a LO who mis understood the concept of Fiduciary Responsibility.

Sadly, so many others will miss the concept as well.

Here; come the Regulators!

Good Twitter conversation. Loan officers are interested in making money just like everyone else and for the most part will do what it takes to write the loan. So they are not your friend regardless how nice they seem to be or how often they compliment you. With some of the changes in favor of the consumer after the crisis they now have more protection, but consumers are consumers and many are easy to influence.

In a couple of years when the economy is booming we wont hear the words transparency and honesty as much. It's amazing how much we overlook when things are going great.

Thanks for the post and good conversations do take place on Twitter.
My recent post Different Types of New Home Builders

That's good information for all of us as we assist our buyers in getting pre approved. I always encourage buyers to shop "rates and terms" and compare apples to apples. I realize we all have to make a living but honesty and transparancy go a long way. Real Estate Agents need to be up to speed on current mortgage information so we can better advise our clients.

That's good information for all of us as we assist our buyers in getting pre approved. I always encourage buyers to shop "rates and terms" and compare apples to apples. I realize we all have to make a living but honesty and transparancy go a long way. Real Estate Agents need to be up to speed on current mortgage information so we can better advise our clients.

Great Article! This is one of the main reasons that the regulators are mounting up and cracking down on the Mortgage Industry! We always have had a full disclosure policy, where we tell the customer how much we are making on a loan. The new GFE's will fix alot of this problem!
.-= Redding Mortgageu00c2u00b4s last blog ..Mortgage Fees Explained! =-.

Great article! You canu00e2u0080u0099t tell if your loan officer is telling you truth or lie and if they are misleading you but there are also quite a few good loan offices out there that are honest and ethical in their profession. You sharing this will make the public aware of this. Thanks for sharing!

I knew it, I knew they were never my friend!

Its so hard to trust anyone these days when greed drives our decision process. I think it would serve the consumer great if they were required to read a brochure or pamphlet of some sort written by a consumer advocacy group and the LO should be required to explain how they get paid. This way the homeowner will have a heads up that the LO will be presenting them with the loan product that will make the LO the most money, not represent the consumers best possibility.

Excellent post! Loan officers are much like real estate agents working model homes for builders in this regard. It doesn't mean they can't offer a very high level of professional service, but they are ultimately NOT looking out for the best interests of the borrower. Nothing wrong with this - BUT it is something that every homebuyer should UNDERSTAND so they can make the best decisions!

Speaking from a Realtor's position, this is a good example of why I have developed good working relationships with several local loan officers that I can send my clients to and know they will be treated honestly and fairly. True, they do work for the lender, but past experiences go a long way to know how trustworthy and dependable they may be.

Great Article and information, Thank You! I learned something like this when my wife and i tried to find a home. the rates and timing seemed pretty standardized. are there places to negotiate that i just didn't know about? i assumed the loan officer was giving us all the data. the housing market was so bad that the homes we contracted to buy had secnd and third loans and could not get clearance to sell so we took a break. we'll start shopping again after the holidays. Thank You.

This post is making me think about what various originators call themselves in order to give the public a certain image or opinion of what they do for a living...including: loan officer, mortgage planner, mortgage specialist...just to name a few. I think I've called myself those various titles at various stages over my mortgage career. I've recently gone back to "Mortgage Originator". Why? Because that's what I do. I'm not an "officer" at our company; although I provide advice and information--I'm not sure that "planner" is the correct term to use. Without a doubt, I do originate mortgages and help people with that process. I think our industry needs to have this type clarity and not be ashamed to be a mortgage or loan ORIGINATOR.

Justin - it is an important distinction for a buyer to understand

thanks for the post!

Justin - It is very refreshing to see this important point being talked about by a LOAN OFFICER...

Maximizing profit is rarely discussed when I hear people talking about getting a mortgage. The industry has done such a good job getting consumers to think about credit scores and approvals and this doc or that doc that the average consumer has no clue how banks make money. Thanks for opening some eyes, Justin...

So true and good stuff!

I had a post on AR years ago in response to an Agents post saying that the financial crisis was the LO's fault. It grabbed a few hundred comments and had a very interesting thread going between Ardell and a LO who mis understood the concept of Fiduciary Responsibility.

Sadly, so many others will miss the concept as well.

Here; come the Regulators!