What’s the difference between a mortgage lender and a bank when it comes time to take out a home loan? Here are five reasons to choose a lender over a big bank.
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In today’s mortgage market, you may be wondering whether it benefits you more to use a mortgage lender or a big bank when applying for a home loan. Here are five reasons that you should choose a mortgage lender over a big bank:

1. Mortgage loans are what they specialize in. This is all that mortgage lenders do: they provide mortgages to buyers and borrowers looking to purchase a home. Big banks, on the other hand, might have 100 different avenues of revenue. Mortgage loans are probably not their specialty, and the process usually ends up taking longer than it would with mortgage lenders.
2. More personalized service. It can be very difficult to get ahold of a bank lender at times, and this can slow you down when you need to move quickly on a home purchase. Most mortgage lenders are available 24/7, which is especially helpful if you need to get a pre-approval on the weekend, for example.
3. Getting a mortgage through the bank could cause delays. The changes to the Dodd-Frank guidelines have made it much more difficult to get a mortgage loan. Banks now have many more regulations, and that takes up much more time. It takes longer to get an appraisal done, longer to get your loan underwritten, and longer to get an approval, resulting in major delays. I personally have had three loans with banks this month that weren’t able to close on time due to these delays.
4. Mortgage lenders have better rates and fees. I think that most mortgage lenders will meet or beat most banks’ interest rates and fees in today’s mortgage market. A lot of banks offer various fee discounts for certain customers, but a lot of times those fees start out higher anyway.
5. Working with a mortgage lender is less stressful. Mortgage lenders are usually a lot more hands-on and are there to answer questions, help you with documentation, and ensure that you close on time without any issues.

Mortgage lenders are available to you 24/7.
If you have any other questions about the mortgage loan process or if you’d like a referral for a mortgage lender, feel free to give me a call or send me an email anytime. I’m always happy to help!