Date: December 01, 2017 Age: 50 to 59 Gender: Female Marital Status: Married
Closing Fee
My company I worked with provided much lower closing cost than other places. I shopped around and my institution was about half the cost. This also included a discount that I got because I was a repeat customer.
Interest Rate
My original originator is a small private company that is located in a city near by. They worked closely with me but also with other big banks. They work by finding the best rate for me. They search around because their portfolio is only so big so they will sell off the loan after they are done processing it. This way I get personal care from a small institution while still getting Big bank rates.
Loan Officer Service
He respected my time and knowledge of the products. The time frame was set realistically and they allow closing that was close to my home at convenient hours.
Overall Rating
Pros
My loan officer represented the lender very well. From underwriting to processing to closing, the whole processes was smooth.
Cons
I did not get as much followup on my closing as I would expect. Also, I had to reach out to them to consider a refinance, then them letting me know of the current interest rate potential.
Date: January 26, 2018 Age: 20 to 29 Gender: Male Marital Status: Unmarried
Closing Fee
I had gotten a no closing cost mortgage. A few others offer the same service. I am completely satisfied with the experience.
Interest Rate
I got a pretty reasonable interest rate but I could have gotten a better rate elsewhere. Others had rejected my application even though I had over 720 FICO.
Loan Officer Service
My loan officer went out of their way to make sure that everything was in order. They even drove out to the lawyer's office to hand deliver a piece of missing paperwork and sit in to help make sure everything else went smoothly.
Overall Rating
Pros
As stated before, they went out of their way to help make sure it was a smooth experience. First-time buyer and they did everything they could to help me out.
Cons
The rates were not the best on the market though very close. Some interactions took longer than expected as well.
Date: February 11, 2018 Age: 50 to 59 Gender: Female Marital Status: Married
Closing Fee
My company I worked with provided much lower closing cost than other places. I shopped around and my institution was about half the cost. This also included a discount that I got because I was a repeat customer.
Interest Rate
My original originator is a small private company that is located in a city near by. They worked closely with me but also with other big banks. They work by finding the best rate for me. They search around because their portfolio is only so big so they will sell off the loan after they are done processing it. This way I get personal care from a small institution while still getting Big bank rates.
Loan Officer Service
He respected my time and knowledge of the products. The time frame was set realistically and they allow closing that was close to my home at convenient hours.
Overall Rating
Pros
My loan officer represented the lender very well. From underwriting to processing to closing, the whole processes was smooth.
Cons
I did not get as much followup on my closing as I would expect. Also, I had to reach out to them to consider a refinance, then them letting me know of the current interest rate potential.
Date: August 11, 2018 Age: 36 Gender: Female Marital Status: Married
Closing Fee
We did compare and found that this company had less overhead so we were spending less on those additional costs. They were very upfront and honest when it came to their fees and costs so nothing was hidden.
Interest Rate
Our interest rate was competitive with what was currently being offered by other lenders. We did not find any other place with a lower rate.
Loan Officer Service
He was very accessible and completely knowledgeable. He was professional and fast with all that we needed. Our loan was put together in less than thirty days.
Overall Rating
Pros
They provided videos about each step in the process so questions were answered before we even asked them. The steps were clear and everything was done so seamlessly. We appreciated the personal touch too.
Cons
Sometimes the online tools to sign and send documents got confusing. I would miss an email regarding signing something or it would get lost in the shuffle. It would have been better to have one portal to access all this stuff.
Date: July 29, 2018 Age: 28 Gender: Female Marital Status: Married
Closing Fee
I feel the fees/closing costs were reasonable and around what I had expected. I think they may have even been lower than competitors.
Interest Rate
I feel my interest rate is very competitive compared to what we put down our house. Of course, we would all like a lower interest rate.
Loan Officer Service
We went through weeks of trouble with our original loan provider and ultimately got denied. The new loan officer was extremely quick in getting everything approved and fixed.
Overall Rating
Pros
I like that they were very quick at approving our loan and that we did not have to deal with the ridiculous problems we did with the original lender we were with.
Cons
I disliked that everything was over the phone and online and that we were unable to talk to someone in person.
Date: December 01, 2017 Age: Above 60 Gender: Female Marital Status: Married
Closing Fee
In working with the mortgage company we had a clear idea of the fees and what we needed to bring to closing. The credit union couldn't give us that until after underwriting.
Interest Rate
We looked at 2 institutions. A mortgage company and our local credit union. The mortgage company was able to get an interest rate of 0.5% lower than the credit union.
Loan Officer Service
We worked with someone who has been in the Mortgage Industry for 20+ years. He was knowledgeable, patient and was available whenever we had questions or needed information.
Overall Rating
Pros
I liked that the mortgage company provided options to decrease the monthly payment. Such as PMI buyout and potential to purchase interest rate percentage points
Cons
I loved everything about them. There is nothing that I would change. We truly had a fantastic experience.
Date: August 03, 2018 Age: 33 Gender: Female Marital Status: Married
Closing Fee
I can't compare the fees/closing costs of our lender to others because I do not know what other lenders would charge. However, I feel that our lender notified us well in advance of the amount of money that would be necessary at closing and we were prepared to pay it.
Interest Rate
At the time, our loan rate was very competitive at 5% fixed. However, in recent years, rates have been lower and our mortgage company has stayed competitive with the fluctuations.
Loan Officer Service
Our loan officer worked for Heartland Credit Union. She notified me of what paperwork was needed to get the loan process started. I brought everything to her office one afternoon and it took her about an hour to go through everything and explain the process to us. She was very polite and professional through the whole experience.
Overall Rating
Pros
I like that they are local and I was able to complete everything without driving a long distance. I also like that the people at the credit union know us by name. They called us when new information about our loan was available. I also like that we can do all of our banking with them, including checking, savings, and auto loans.
Cons
My only complaint about this lender is their PMI cancellation rules. The PMI for our loan doesn't automatically cancel when our loan hits 78% LTV. We have to either pay for a costly appraisal or wait until the date when our loan was originally scheduled to hit 78%. It just doesn't seem right to me that if we make extra payments to get our loan down, we still have to pay for insurance that doesn't help us and is not needed.
Date: June 04, 2018 Age: 30 to 39 Gender: Male Marital Status: Married
Interest Rate
Our loan interest rate with BB&T ended up being about a quarter of a present lower than we were able to get anywhere else. Since there is very little customer service involved with loan servicing and we had used them previously it seemed like a good fit.
Loan Officer Service
Brad was very helpful in giving our loan the personal touch. I know most of the questions are probably repetitive and that it could have been done online. However, when it comes to one of the largest purchases of your life it's good to have the personal touch.
Overall Rating
Pros
BB&T it's really the only lending institution we have used. However, I thought that they treated is fairly and we'll throughout the application and closing process.
Cons
While the connection with Brad was nice, he lives in the city we moved from, not the city we moved to. It makes the relationship with the lender feel a little colder and impersonal.
Date: August 19, 2018 Age: 35 Gender: Female Marital Status: Married
Closing Fee
They had a closing cost that I honestly don't remember because they rolled it into the mortgage which I didn't necessarily like but we couldn't afford to pay for it out of pocket. When we compared the closing costs to other banks/lenders around the area it was around the same if not lower and the option to roll it was nice.
Interest Rate
They were 4 1/2 percent and when we looked into other lenders such as US Bank they were higher so we decided to proceed with HomeTown Bank.
Loan Officer Service
He was very to the point and had everything spelled out for us. I felt as though it was very black and white and I appreciate that because I don't always know what all those terms mean.
Overall Rating
Pros
Previously i like the rates, the transparency of the lender and how they allowed us to roll the closing costs into the mortgage. I also like the fact that there is online banking with it.
Cons
The only thing that I would say that was negative was the fact that they sold out to HomeTown Bank when it was originally a small bank in a small town
Date: December 01, 2017 Age: 50 to 59 Gender: Female Marital Status: Unmarried
Closing Fee
Talking with my sister about her closing costs, ours seemed to be low. She thought it was probably due to my husband and my great credit scores but I'm not sure.
Interest Rate
The interest rate of our lender is comparable with other lenders in the area. If we were to go in and refinance now, we could most likely get a better rate than we did when we closed though, just due to market fluctuations.
Loan Officer Service
Our loan officer was very straight-forward with us. I was very well-prepared for the meeting as well though. I had every statement for every financial account between both my husband and myself. She was able to use my information to fill out our application fairly quickly and go over what looked good and what may be questionable in the approval process.
Overall Rating
Pros
I like that the lender is local and was easy to get an appointment with. The entire process was very fast and they worked with my real estate agent to fill in any blanks that we weren't sure of.
Cons
I disliked that my lender (originally Heartland Credit Union) moved our mortgage to (possibly their partner company) Midwest Loan Services after a year. We thought that we had done business with a local credit union and that our mortgage account would show on our credit union statements to make things easier if we wanted to make an extra payment, etc. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. After they moved our mortgage, we now get statements from Midwest and their website is a little simplistic and almost scary-old looking. But we haven't had any problems with payments or taxes or insurance payments not being made so we are not completely unhappy.
Date: September 01, 2018 Age: 41 Gender: Male Marital Status: Married
Closing Fee
when I closed on my mortgage I had the seller pay my closing costs so I assume that they were pretty fair
Interest Rate
I think really compared to other places I have a very low-interest rate, they even lowered it after 1 year with them they called and told me they would refinance it for me
Loan Officer Service
My loan officer was awesome they made sure that I I had everything lined up before it went into underwriting so it went smoothly