MCP Help Blog

Because the success of your home loan depends so much on the skill and character of your loan officer, it’s critical to avoid bad ones. Bad loan agents are more than just an annoyance–they can cost you serious money, give you ulcers, and ruin your skin. So look for these red flags when shopping for a loan, and avoid the turkeys:

BAD Loan Officers

* Are invisible and unavailable. They’re playing racquetball whenever you call. But no one in their office knows where they are. And of course they don’t call you back.

* Push the same loan on every client. Probably the one that pays the highest commission. Or the only one they’ve bothered to learn about. If you tell your agent you have 20% down, want the lowest rate, and you’re selling your home in five years, she should have a very good explanation for trying to shove you into a 30 year fixed FHA loan.

* Don’t care about your comfort zone. They encourage you to take the highest loan amount you can qualify for, or push you into riskier loans than you want. If you get the feeling that your loan officer and your real estate agent are tag-teaming you, they probably are. Replace them BOTH and find someone you can trust.

* Are lazy. They hand you a stack of paperwork and expect you to be their secretaries. They make weird requests–for the details of your messy divorce, a letter from your CPA about your lingerie parties, or they order you to get your septic tank drained and inspected–all of these can be legitimate underwriting requirements–but don’t bother to explain why.

* Don’t communicate. They change your program or rate without consulting you. They don’t explain the disclosures, instead saying, “It’s all right there on the form.” Or they hide behind jargon, explaining, “Well your rate is higher because the loan is a NINA program and your LTV requires an underwriting exception and the doc draw was delayed so we blew the lock.” Right. Get out of there fast, clean the BS off your shoes and find a lender who will be straight with you.

* Don’t know. When the lending boom was in full swing, suddenly everyone wanted to be a loan officer. The guy on the other side of the table may have been selling used cars or timeshares the week before. And if they don’t know the intricacies of lending–the many products, underwriting guidelines, and required legal disclosures–they can’t do a good job for you, however motivated or nice they may be. Becoming a good loan officer takes time and effort.

Bad loan officers lack the work ethic, experience, or motivation needed to be good loan officers. And while some may learn from their mistakes, get more experience and knowledge, and eventually become good loan officers, you don’t want to be the mistake they learn from, do you?

(5 votes, average: 5 out of 5)

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