Cash Out Mortgage Refinancing

Refinancing your home with cash back means taking out a new mortgage to pay off your existing loan while borrowing more than the payoff balance of your loan. The difference between your payoff balance and the amount you borrow will be paid to you in cash at closing. Cash back refinancing is great for homeowners who have a significant amount of equity to borrow against or if you need to improve the terms of your existing mortgage. It is important to remain in your home long enough to recoup the expenses from refinancing your existing mortgage.

Second Mortgage Loans

Taking out a second mortgage will get you a higher interest rate than if you were refinancing with cash back. The reason for this is that your home will be secured by two loans often from different lenders. The second lender shoulders more risk than the first and will pass that risk on to you the borrower with a higher mortgage rate. Second mortgages cost less in upfront fees than refinancing; however, because the loan is secured by your home the rates are typically lower than signature loans or credit cards.

Home Equity Lines of Credit

Using a Home Equity Line of Credit allows you to borrow as you need money and have the advantage of paying interest only on the loan’s balance. A home equity line can be an extremely flexible and many offer debit cards for ease of access to your funds. There is additional risk involved with a Home Equity Line of Credit as the ease of access to your equity may result in borrowing more than you intended. If you have difficulty managing your money this might not be the best loan for you.

Tax Deductible Interest

The interest you pay on cash out refinancing or home equity loans is typically tax deductible. If you borrow more than your home is worth or if you have second mortgages for more than $100,000 the IRS could deny your deduction.

Is a Home Equity Loan Right For You?

Make sure the reason you are borrowing warrants dipping into your equity. While the equity in your home belongs to you, it doesn’t make sense to borrow for something like a vacation or to purchase an automobile. If you need cash for some financial goal or to make improvements to your home or even start a business, cashing out your equity could be a wise financial decision. Remember that your home should not be the piggybank you dip into whenever you need a cash fix.

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Today’s 30 Year Fixed Rate

The 30 year fixed mortgage rate has been creeping up slightly to 6.0%. This rate does include Yield Spread Premium which is intended to give a commission to the person arranging your loan. Yield Spread Premium by itself is not necessarily a bad thing; only when it is abused could you wind up paying hundreds of dollars a month unnecessarily.

What is Yield Spread Premium?

Yield Spread Premium is a percentage of your loan amount created when the mortgage company or broker arranging your loan locks and closes with a higher than market interest rate. Suppose your lender approves you for a mortgage rate of 6.0% but the broker closes you at a higher rate of 6.5%. This creates .5% of Yield Spread Premium and brings the broker a commission of 2% of your loan amount. Did your mortgage broker overcharge you? It depends on how your loan was structured and whether or not the broker told you they were marking up your mortgage rate.

Mortgage Broker Compensation

Brokers are compensated in two ways. They can charge you an origination fee for their part in arranging your loan or receive compensation from the lender with Yield Spread Premium. If the broker is charging you an origination fee for their services a reasonable fee to pay is 1-1.5% of your loan amount. Mortgage brokers typically receive one percent of your loan amount for every .25% your loan closes about the interest rate offered by the lender. If this is paid in lieu of an origination fee or used to pay your closing costs Yield Spread Premium can be a good thing; however, it is often abused when the broker charges you an origination fee and pockets Yield Spread Premium without your knowledge.

You can learn more about refinancing your home loan without paying too much in broker fees including ways to recognize and avoid lender junk fees by registering for my free video tutorial.

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Types of Mortgage Points

Mortgage points come in two flavors. One point is equal to one percent of your mortgage amount and is the fee you’ll be required to pay at closing. There are the discount points you pay to the lender in exchange for a lower mortgage rate and the origination points you pay to the broker for their part in arranging your loan. Brokers and lenders do not always require that points be paid; however, some lenders hide their point requirements in the fine print hoping to distract you with an unnaturally low mortgage rate.

If you don’t agree to pay the points required for that low mortgage rate you’ll find the actual interest rate is often much higher than the going market rate. This is a common bait and switch tactic used by mortgage lenders to boost their profits. Fortunately once you understand how points work this is an easy scam to avoid.

Should You Pay Mortgage Points?

Deciding whether or not paying points to the lender is in your best interest depends on how long it will take you to recoup the expense based on the lower monthly payment you are getting. We’ve all seen the commercials on television promising insanely low rates with a lot of very small print flashed up on your screen. If you pause the commercial and squint you can just make out that this lender requires two points at closing to qualify for this low rate. Does it make sense to pay the fee?

You can easily determine this with a simple mortgage payment calculator. First compare the lower payment with points to the higher payment without points. The difference between the two payments is your monthly savings. Suppose you were refinancing a $200,000 loan with this lender. Two points would amount to $2,000 due at closing. If the monthly payment is $35 lower it will take you almost five years to recoup this expense. If you plan on staying in your home for the long term paying points can be beneficial; however, if you sell your home before this you’ll be losing money by paying points.

What About Origination Points?

Mortgage brokers often charge origination points for their part in arranging your loan. Not every mortgage charges origination points as brokers can receive compensation from the lender behind your loan. If your broker is charging you a fee for arranging your loan a reasonable fee to pay is 1-1.5% of your loan amount. You can learn more about your mortgage refinancing options including costly mistakes to avoid by registering for my free video tutorial.

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What are no cost mortgage loans? No closing costs loans are simply a gimmick to get your business. There will always be third party closing costs that cannot be waived…if your lender is “waiving” these costs they may be paying them for you; however, they will mark up your mortgage rate to cover the cost.

When you take out a mortgage the person arranging your loan typically slips .50 to .75 percent markup of your interest rate to get a commission. If you take out a no cost mortgage you will have this markup plus as much as a full point markup from the lender. This higher mortgage interest rate can result in paying hundreds of dollars extra each month that you keep the loan. This is true of both the mortgage lenders and banks you see offering “no closing cost mortgages” as well as the “flat fee” loans.

Suppose you take out a $350,000 mortgage to purchase your home. The mortgage rate you qualify for paying your closing costs is 6%; however you elect to take a 6.75% mortgage to avoid paying closing costs. Your monthly mortgage payment at 6.75% on a 30 year fixed rate loan will be $2,270 per month. If you paid the closing costs upfront your monthly payment at 6% would have only been $2098. That’s an extra $2,064 you’ll pay every year you keep the loan.

In five years this “no fee” mortgage has cost you a whopping $10,320…money you’d still have in your pocket had you elected to pay your closing costs up front. You can learn more about saving money on you home loan while avoiding unnecessary markup of your mortgage rate and garbage fees with my free video tutorial.

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How can you get the lowest mortgage rates?

Instead of trying to predict when mortgage rates will bottom out you can save yourself thousands of dollars by concentrating on what aspects of your mortgage rate you can control. There is one factor affecting your mortgage rate that 90 percent of homeowners have never heard about…namely the commission based markup of your interest rate. You might thing that when you apply for a home loan the lender runs your credit, looks at your qualifying ratios, and will approve your loan with the interest rate you deserve. This simply is not the case.

Beware Your Loan Originator

Your mortgage company or broker you choose when taking out a mortgage actually determines whether or not you’ll pay too much for your next home loan. Pick the wrong person for the job and you’ll overpay thousands of dollars every year you keep this mortgage. All because of a little known fact called Yield Spread Premium. Simply put…this is the commission based markup of your interest rate. The broker arranging your mortgage gets paid in two ways. They get paid by charging you an origination fee for their work and they get paid by marking your mortgage rate up for a kickback for lender.

How Yield Spread Premium Works

Yield Spread Premium is a percentage of your home loan amount created when the broker or mortgage company locks and closes your loan with a higher than market interest rate. When you get approved for your home loan the lender approves you for a certain mortgage rate, say 5.5%. The broker turns around and marks this up telling you that you qualified for 6.25% because the lender pays them 1% of your loan amount for every .25% they markup up your loan.

Suppose you’re refinancing your home for $200,000 taking out a fixed rate loan for thirty years will get you a payment of $1,231 at 6.25%. If you had gotten the mortgage rate you deserve at 5.5% your monthly payment would be $1,135 per month. That’s $1,152 that you’re throwing away every year because your mortgage broker took advantage of you!

Mortgage Rates Predictions

As you can see it’s much more important to make sure your loan does not include Yield Spread Premium than it is to try and make mortgage rates predictions. When you avoid Yield Spread Premium you’ll be taking advantage of wholesale mortgage rates and can negotiate with your broker to pay only a one percent mortgage origination fee. There are honest mortgage brokers out there that do not abuse Yield Spread Premium; you just have to find the right person for your loan. You can learn more about finding the right person to arrange your next mortgage without taking advantage of you by registering for my free home mortgage video tutorial…and don’t let anyone pull the wool over your eyes making meaningless mortgage rates predictions.

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What I’m talking about here has nothing to do with your credit or qualifying ratios; it’s all about the markup of your mortgage rate for a commission. Here are the basics you need to know before refinancing your home loan to get the best mortgage rates.

Understanding Mortgage Rate Quotes

Most of the rate quotes you see online are simply garbage. In order to accurately quote you a mortgage rate your mortgage broker needs sixteen pieces of your personal financial information. If you get quotes without providing the intimate details of your finances the person you’re dealing with has no intention of honoring that rate. Assuming that you have provided this information the quotes you receive are not the mortgage rates you qualify, they have been marked up to get a commission from the lender behind your loan.

What is Commission Based Markup?

Most brokers charge an origination fee to you for their services. This fee is disclosed on your Good Faith Estimate and HUD-1 settlement statement. What your broker isn’t telling you is that they get paid by the lender also for marking up your mortgage rate. This markup is what makes mortgage loans “retail” products. Just like buying a car where the dealership markups up your car for profit the mortgage broker marks up your loan to make a buck. This is considered dishonest by many because you’re already paying an origination fee for their work and this markup can cost you thousands of dollars every year.

Yield Spread Premium

The technical term for the fee paid by the lender is Yield Spread Premium. Basically the way it works is the lender pays your broker .25 percent of your home loan for every quarter percent they overcharge you. You might think that a quarter percent isn’t much but in a moment I’ll show you what this markup does to your mortgage payments. Yield Spread Premium is rarely disclosed on the Good Faith Estimate and can be hard to recognize on your HUD-1 statement. The best way to avoid this unnecessary markup is to be upfront with your mortgage broker about your intentions for the loan.

Here is an example to illustrate the markup of your mortgage rate by the broker. Suppose you are refinancing your home for $250,000 and the broker quotes you a rate of 6.75 percent with an origination fee of 1.5%. You’ll pay the broker $3,750 at closing for this fee. Assuming that you take out a 30 year home loan with a fixed mortgage rate your monthly payments for this loan will be $1,622. What your mortgage broker isn’t telling you is that you actually qualified for a 6% mortgage rate and they’ve marked it up for the Yield Spread Premium. If you had actually gotten the mortgage rate you deserve in this example your monthly payment would be $1,498. This is a difference of $1,488 every year you keep this loan…money you’ll pay for no good reason!

Refinance With Wholesale Rates

Homeowners who learn to recognize Yield Spread Premium can find mortgage brokers willing to work without the markup. It is possible to refinance your home paying only a one percent origination fee saving thousands of dollars every year. You can learn more about doing this yourself by registering for my free home loan refinancing video tutorial.

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The commission based markup of your mortgage rate is the industries dirty little secret. Your mortgage company tells you that you qualified for a specific interest rate when you actually were approved for a much lower rate. South Carolina mortgage companies do this because the lender behind the loan pays them a commission for overcharging you. This commission is called Yield Spread Premium and according to the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development is responsible for homeowners in the United States overpaying sixteen billion dollars every year.

How Yield Spread Premium Works

Suppose you purchased your South Carolina home for $350,000 and qualified for a 7% mortgage rate. You used a traditional fixed rate mortgage to purchase your home with a 30 year term length and your payments have been $2,328 but what you don’t know is that you actually qualified for a 6.25% interest rate and the mortgage company marked it up to get a bonus from the lender. Your mortgage company charged you a fee from originating your loan and then took a kickback from the lender of 3% of your loan amount for overcharging you.

If you had purchased your home at 6.25% instead of 7% your mortgage payment would have been only $2,155. The first year you had your home you threw away $2,076 because your South Carolina mortgage company lied to you about your rate. After just five years you’ve thrown away $10,380! Can you see why choosing a mortgage company that does not include Yield Spread Premium with your loan is the most important aspect of the new mortgage?

Yield Spread Premium Can Be Avoided

When you avoid this unnecessary markup of your mortgage interest rate you have the ability to refinance with wholesale mortgage rates. Doing this for yourself is easier than you think…you just need to find the right mortgage company or broker for the job. You can refinance your South Carolina mortgage with a wholesale mortgage rate and only pay a one percent fee to your mortgage company or broker if you know how to go about this. To learn more about finding the right South Carolina mortgage company and avoiding junk fees, register for my free video tutorial.

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Mortgage rate quotes

With the exception of Bank loans, mortgages are retail products resold by mortgage companies and brokers for profit. Mortgage brokers make their profits by charging you a fee and by marking up your mortgage rate. The quotes you receive when shopping for Florida mortgage rates all include markup by the broker to give them a commission.

The commission paid by the mortgage lender is called Yield Spread Premium and avoiding it needs to be your number one priority when refinancing your home. Yield Spread Premium Sounds scary but it’s a relatively simple concept to wrap your head around. When a lender approves your application they are approving you for a certain “wholesale” mortgage rate. Your mortgage broker marks this rate up to get a kickback from the lender…for every quarter percent you agree to overpay the broker gets paid one percent of your mortgage amount.

Florida Mortgage Rates and You

The problem with this commission based markup of your mortgage rate is that it’s never properly disclosed or explained. Yield Spread Premium adds thousands of dollars to your mortgage payment every year that you keep that loan, money you’re paying because the broker took advantage of you. Here’s an example to illustrate Yield Spread Premium and Florida mortgage rates.

Suppose you’re refinancing your Sarasota home for $300,000 with a fixed rate 30 year mortgage. The broker quotes you a mortgage rate of 7%….you’ve had some dings on your credit and need to consolidate your home equity loan so you agree to the loan. Your mortgage payment at 7% interest is $1,995 per month.

What your mortgage broker isn’t telling you is that you actually qualified for a 6.5% mortgage rate and they’ve marked it up to 7% to get a 2% commission from the lender. This commission is paid in addition to the 1% origination fee that they’re charging you. The broker walks away with 3% and you get stuck paying more than you need to…but exactly how much more?

The same loan with a 6.5% mortgage rate has a monthly payment of only $1890! That’s an additional $1,260 you’ll be paying every year just to give your mortgage broker a bonus. Over the next five years this balloons up to $6,300! How many other uses do you have for your own money besides giving it to someone that lied to you?

The good news for the Sarasota Florida homeowner in this example is that Yield Spread Premium can be avoided. By doing your homework you can learn to recognize this unnecessary markup and avoid junk fees in the process. You can learn more about doing this for your home by registering for my free mortgage video tutorial.

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Beware Commission Based Markup

The commission based markup of your mortgage rate is called Yield Spread Premium. What is this markup? Yield Spread Premium is simply a percentage of your loan amount created when the mortgage broker or Internet mortgage company locks and closes your loan with above market interest rates. This is paid on top of any origination fees you’re already paying for that person arranging your loan.

Here’s an example of how Yield Spread Premium works. Suppose you are refinancing your Florida home mortgage for $350,000 and the broker tells you that you qualified for 6.5%. The broker charges you a one percent origination fee for arranging the loan; however, what you don’t know is that you were approved to a 6.0% mortgage rate and the broker marked it up to get a 2% kickback from the lender. In this example you pay the broker $3,500 for the origination fee and the lender pays them $7,000 more for overcharging you.

What Does Yield Spread Premium Do To Your Payment?

In the previous Florida Mortgage Refinancing example with a 30 year fixed rate mortgage your payment at 6.5% would be about $2,212. If you got the interest rate that you actually qualified for at 6.0% your payment would be only $2098. This is $1,368 you’re throwing away every year because the broker lied to you about your interest rate!

The good news for you and your home loan is that you can avoid this unnecessary markup of your mortgage interest rate and keep more of your money out of the broker’s pockets. You can qualify for a wholesale Florida mortgage rate and only pay a one percent origination fee to the person arranging your loan. You can learn more about Florida mortgage refinancing without paying commission based markup or junk fees by registering for a free video tutorial.

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Mortgage Rates Are Constantly Changing

Mortgage rates tend to fluctuate on a daily and sometimes hourly basis. If you miss locking your refinancing mortgage rate today, it will not be the same tomorrow. Your mortgage broker has to re-price your loan on a near daily basis. Before you can understand the importance of your mortgage rate lock confirmation you need to understand how your mortgage broker is paid for their work.

The origination and mortgage broker fees are pretty straight forward but often over-inflated. Yield Spread Premium on the other hand will be cleverly disguised in your loan documents if disclosed at all. In the simplest terms Yield Spread Premium is simply a percentage of your loan amount created by the broker when they lock and close your mortgage with above market rates. This is a commission paid by the lender when your mortgage broker overcharges you.

If you plan on staying in your home for the long term it makes sense to pay an origination fee and avoid Yield Spread Premium completely. If you agree to pay any amount of Yield Spread Premium on your loan you could overpay thousands of dollars every year that you keep the loan. The problem is most homeowners don’t know how to recognize Yield Spread Premium on their loan documents. This is where the rate lock confirmation comes in…this one piece of paper could save you thousands of dollars.

Ask For Your Rate Lock Confirmation

After you lock in your mortgage rate, make sure you ask the broker for the rate lock confirmation from the wholesale lender. Don’t accept any confirmation typed up on your mortgage broker’s letterhead, it has to come from the lender directly. The reason you don’t’ want this document from the broker is that it will have Yield Spread Premium clearly disclosed on the form…mortgage brokers that provide rate locks on their own letterhead do so to hide what they’ve done with your mortgage rate. You can learn more about refinancing your mortgage with a wholesale mortgage rate without paying too much by registering for my free video tutorial.

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What is Commission Based Markup?

Mortgage loans are like retail products. With the exception of banks, mortgage companies and brokers resell loans for wholesale lenders. You might think that if you call up a wholesale lender yourself you’ll bypass the middleman and save money. Unfortunately this isn’t the case…every wholesale lender has a retail division that deals with public and includes the same markup we’re trying to avoid. So what is this markup? The technical term is called Yield Spread Premium and is the mortgage industry’s dirty laundry.

Yield Spread Premium is a fee paid to your mortgage broker for locking and closing loans with higher than market interest rates. Lenders reward mortgage companies and brokers for overcharging people because these loans with above market rates bring them a hefty profit when the loans are sold to investors. How does it work? It’s actually very simple…for every .25% that your mortgage broker overcharges you’re the lender pays a commission for 1% of your loan amount. Think a quarter of a point is no big deal? Guess again…here’s an example to show you how much Yield Spread Premium is already costing you on your existing mortgage.

Suppose you purchase your home for $280,000 at 6.75%. The broker charges you a one percent origination fee for brokering the loan. What your mortgage broker doesn’t tell you is that you actually qualified for a 6% mortgage rate…they marked up your rate for the additional commission. When you closed on your home the broker’s fee was $2,800. Your broker pocketed an additional $8,400 from the lender for lying and overcharging you.

Yield Spread Premium & Your Mortgage Payment

A quarter of a point might not seem like much…even in this example what’s .75% between friends? More than you think actually. Supposing that you financed your home for 30 years with a fixed rate loan your payment at 6.75% would be $1,816 per month. What if you got the 6.0% rate that the lender approved you?

That’s a whopping $1,656 you overpay every year that you keep this loan! As you can see Yield Spread Premium is not only something you should worry about when refinancing but should be your entire focus when refinancing. It is possible to refinance your home loan paying a flat one percent origination fee without garbage fees or Yield Spread Premium. You can learn more about doing this for yourself by registering for my free mortgage video tutorial.

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What is YSP?

YSP or Yield Spread Premium is a fee paid by the wholesale lender when your broker locks and closes your mortgage with an above market interest rate. Lenders reward mortgage brokers for overcharging because these loans bring a premium profit when sold to investors. The amount of Yield Spread Premium depends on how much your broker overcharges you. For every .25% you agree to overpay the broker’s “kickback” is 1% of your loan amount.

Suppose you are refinancing your home loan for $250,000. The broker quotes you a rate of 6.75% but doesn’t tell you that you’ve qualified for 6.0%. The spread between what you could have had and what you got is .75% which creates 3% of Yield Spread Premium for the broker. Your broker receives a kickback of $7,500 from the lender for overcharging you…in addition to the origination fee that you’re already paying.

Yield Spread Premium can be hard to spot unless you know what to look for. Many brokers “forget” to list the fee on your Good Faith Estimate. If this is the case the next opportunity you will have to catch it is on the rate lock confirmation from the wholesale lender. Make sure the confirmation you receive after locking your rate comes from the lender and not the broker…many brokers provide rate lock confirmation typed up on their own letterhead. If you get a rate lock confirmation typed up on the broker’s letterhead you do not have proof of anything…let alone guaranteeing your mortgage rate.

Your last opportunity to catch Yield Spread Premium before closing on your new mortgage will be on the HUD-1 statement. The fee is usually listed around lines 810-811; however, you may find it further down. It is often called “mortgage broker rebate” or “YSP paid to broker.” If you find this on your HUD-1 statement you have a mortgage rate that includes commission based markup.

The Perfect Mortgage Loan

Most homeowners don’t know what a good mortgage deal looks like. It is possible to get a wholesale mortgage rate without Yield Spread Premium and pay a one percent origination fee to the broker. You can learn more about refinancing your home with a wholesale mortgage rate while avoiding junk fees by registering for my free video tutorial.

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Avoiding Commission Based Markup

If your goal for the new home loan is to get the lowest rate possible you’ll need to get a wholesale mortgage rate. The only way to get a wholesale mortgage rate is to find the right mortgage broker who is willing to give you access to wholesale rates for a reasonable fee. How do wholesale rates work? Only mortgage brokers have access to these rates; you’ll never get wholesale from bank, credit union, or broker bank.

The problem with using a mortgage broker to refinance your mortgage is that most brokers rely on commission based markup of your interest rate as a source of income. You’re already paying a perfectly reasonable origination fee for their services; why accept a higher mortgage rate just to give your mortgage broker a commission?

This commission based markup of your mortgage rate refinancing is called Yield Spread Premium and you’ll need to avoid this markup to get the lowest possible rate.

How do you get the best mortgage rate refinancing your home? Find a mortgage broker willing to work for a one percent origination fee without tacking Yield Spread Premium to your loan. These people are out there…they are typically self-employed mortgage brokers that run their own businesses without staff or posh offices. The key is to find a mortgage broker that doesn’t employ a sales staff. These brokers always split their commissions with their salespeople are will not typically negotiate over Yield Spread Premium. The same is true of a large brokerage house…the owner is always going to want their cut.

You can start your search by checking the website of the Upfront Mortgage Broker Association. (upfrontmortgagebrokers.org) Their website lists their members by Sate and all of the brokers agree to run their businesses by certain professional and ethical standards. When you contact these brokers ask them how long they’ve been originating loans. You’re looking for ten years or longer and someone that is the owner of their business. Make sure they close your loan in the name of the wholesale lender and not their own company. Brokers that close in their own companies name fund their own loans and are not required to disclose their profit margin or markup under the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act. This is the same reason you should never refinance your home loan with a Bank or Credit Union.

When addressing Yield Spread Premium, make sure your broker will not include this in your loan and is willing to show you the rate lock confirmation from the wholesale lender. This document provided by the lender is proof that your broker is not receiving Yield Spread Premium for marking up your rate. If the broker is unwilling to provide you this document he or she is hiding the fact that Yield Spread Premium is a part of your loan and cannot be trusted. You can learn more about getting the best mortgage rate refinancing your home and expensive pitfalls to avoid by registering for my free video tutorial.

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Not Every Mortgage Broker Will Negotiate

The problem with negotiating with a broker is that not all brokers are in a position where they can negotiate. If you’re speaking to a salesperson from a large brokerage house they will probably not have the authority to negotiate for the terms you’re looking for. The reason for this is that the owner of the brokerage will be splitting the commission with the salesperson meaning you’ll always pay more than you have to with a mortgage broker in this situation.

This is also true of mortgage brokers that employ their own salespeople. Suppose for instance, you’re charged a one percent origination fee for your home loan. Your broker pockets this fee and will most often pay the salesperson from the Yield Spread Premium on your loan. Loan offers that don’t have origination fees are making up the difference often by doubling the amount of Yield Spread Premium on your loan. If you want a wholesale mortgage rate and plan on keeping your home for a long time you’ll need to avoid Yield Spread Premium completely.

If you’re not already familiar with this retail markup of your mortgage rate for a commission here is an article about the basics of Yield Spread Premium.

Self Employed Mortgage Brokers Are Best

It’s always better to work with the owner of the company you are dealing with. A self-employed mortgage broker that has been working for ten years or longer is the perfect candidate for arranging your mortgage. Working out of their home? Even better. One reason why working with a self employed mortgage broker is better is that they simply don’t have the overhead expenses that come with posh offices and support staff. A self employed mortgage broker is more likely to negotiate with you and agree to your terms for the loan.

What To Ask For When Refinancing

If you plan on keeping your home for the duration you’ll want to pay a one percent origination fee without any Yield Spread Premium on the loan. Some mortgage brokers argue that paying the origination fee will only raise your closing costs; however, agreeing to a higher mortgage rate that includes Yield Premium will result in a mortgage payment that could be as much hundreds of dollars higher per month than it has to be.

You can learn more about finding the right mortgage broker to arrange your loan by registering for my free video tutorial. Register today and you’ll learn how to refinance with a wholesale mortgage rate without paying garbage fees to your lender or broker.

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You’ll Have to Use a Broker

If you want wholesale rates there’s no way around working with a mortgage broker. Banks and credit unions never offer their customers wholesale rates and the big Internet lenders you see are simply banks pretending to be something they’re not. So what is a mortgage broker?

Mortgage brokers are simply loan originators that do not fund the loans they close with their own money. They are basically salespeople reselling mortgage loans for wholesale lenders. Your mortgage broker gets paid by charging you an “origination fee” and from a “rebate” paid by the wholesale lender. Lenders reward mortgage brokers for marking up the interest rate you qualified and closing your loan with above market rates. This rebate paid by the lender is called Yield Spread Premium and you’ll need to avoid it if you want to refinance with a wholesale rate.

How Yield Spread Premium Works

Suppose the mortgage you are refinancing is for $300,000. Your mortgage broker locks and closes your loan with a mortgage rate of 6.5%; however, what the broker doesn’t tell you is that you qualified for 6.0% mortgage rate. Because your mortgage broker locks and closes your home loan .5% higher than necessary this creates 2% of Yield Spread Premium for the broker. Your mortgage broker pockets $9,000 in addition to the fees you’re already paying for overcharging you.

Finding the right mortgage broker to originate your home loan without lining their pockets with Yield Spread Premium is a skill you can easily learn. Give me an hour of your time and I’ll show you how to refinance your home with a wholesale mortgage rate without paying garbage fees with free videos…Register for yours today.

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They assume that the origination fee listed on their Good Faith Estimate is the broker’s commission for the home loan; however, what you don’t know about mortgage broker fees could cost you a lot of money.

Here are several tips and questions to ask potential brokers to help you find the right professional to refinance your home loan.

The mortgage industry in the United States has a dirty little secret known as Yield Spread Premium. Mortgage brokers are very good at explaining away this fee as “lender paid” compensation; in other words it’s not coming out of your pocket so don’t worry about it. The problem with Yield Spread Premium, which is a percentage of your loan amount created when the broker locks and closes your home loan with an above market interest rate, is that it really is costing you money…thousands of dollars in unnecessary finance charges every year that you’ll pay as long as you keep that loan

Yield Spread Premium is a Lie

Your mortgage broker pockets a commission from the lender for marking up your mortgage interest rate. Sure this is listed on the HUD-1 statement as a “broker rebate” but if your broker doesn’t tell you they’ve marked up your interest rate for cash it’s still a lie of omission. Your mortgage broker receives one percent of your loan amount for every quarter percent they overcharge you. This “rebate” is paid in addition to any origination fees or mortgage broker fees you’re already paying.

Mortgage Refinancing Done Right

Another problem faced by the majority of homeowners refinancing their mortgages is that they don’t know what a good deal looks like. The ideal transaction between a homeowner and a mortgage broker is a loan with zero Yield Spread Premium, no garbage fees, and a one percent origination fee. Think that this sounds too good to be true? It’s not if you know how to find the right mortgage broker to originate your loan.

Questions to Ask Your Mortgage Broker

Before you agree to anything with a mortgage broker there are several pointed questions you need to be asking:

Honest mortgage brokers willing to work for a one point origination fee do exist and finding a broker like this will save you thousands of dollars and countless headaches when refinancing your home. You can learn more about getting a wholesale mortgage rate while avoiding lender junk fees by registering for my free mortgage video tutorial.

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Before the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act was amended to require mortgage brokers to disclose their profit margins made from locking and closing mortgages with above market rates, banks were losing a large portion of their profits to mortgage brokers.

The Banking Lobby decided to do something about this and spent millions of dollars lobbying Congress to have the disclosure laws changed; their goal was to gain an unfair advantage in the marketplace by requiring mortgage brokers to disclose the commission based markup of your mortgage interest rate.

What is a Broker Bank?

The banking lobby succeeded in having the law changed and of course banks are exempt from this new disclosure legislation. This change in the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act sent mortgage brokers scrambling to take advantage of the same loophole exploited by banks. All a mortgage broker had to do was fund their own loans like a bank which would allow them to close in the name of their company instead of a wholesale lender…hence the Broker Bank was born.

The only reason a mortgage company or broker would choose to operate as a broker bank is to hide their markup of your mortgage interest rate. If you refinance your home with a bank or broker bank you’ll never know mortgage rate you could have had with an honest lender.

How to Recognize a Broker Bank

Banks are easy to spot; however, when it comes to recognizing broker banks things can get a little fuzzy unless you know what to look for. First of all, broker banks love to brag about doing their loans “in house.” The best way to find out if your mortgage broker is acting as a broker bank is to ask if they close in the name of the wholesale lender. If the answer you get is “no” and they are closing in their own companies name then you know with 100% certainty that they are a broker bank and cannot be trusted with your mortgage.

Beware Bank Wholesale Divisions

One of my readers emailed me that she was working with a broker for a loan through Wachovia. Her broker convinced her that this was okay because the lender wasn’t Wachovia directly, but their “wholesale division” known as Vertice. The problem with this logic is that the bank controls their wholesale division and the rate sheets provided to mortgage brokers from Vertice include the markup. On top of this the banks salespeople do not have the authority to negotiate for lower rates. Banks have enormous overhead they must cover and rely on overcharging to make a profit. This is true of every bank originated mortgage loan on the market today.

Do you think my reader paid too much for her mortgage refinancing with Wachovia? Absolutely…she never signed up for the free mortgage videos I offer and will pay thousands of dollars too much. It always amazes me why people don’t take advantage of a free product that will not only save them thousands of dollars in unnecessary finance charges but show them how to avoid garbage fees as well. Similar products sell for hundreds of dollars and don’t offer half as much insider mortgage scoop that I give away free every day. I guess the old saying is true…you can lead a horse (in some cases a goat) to water, but you can’t make her drink.

If you’d like to learn how to refinance your mortgage with a wholesale rate without paying lender and broker garbage fees, register for my free video tutorial.

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What Does Locking Your Rate Mean?

When you choose to lock your rate, a process you must initiate yourself, your broker “locks” your mortgage rate with the wholesale lender. The idea is to hold that rate long enough for you to close on the loan. Your broker sets the lock on your behalf with the wholesale lender…more importantly the lock determines the amount of Yield Spread Premium on your new home loan.

What is Yield Spread Premium?

Yield Spread Premium is a percentage of your loan amount created when the broker locks you with an above market mortgage rate. Your broker knows the wholesale mortgage rate that your lender approved you; however, they mark up this interest rate to get a commission from the lender. This commission is called Yield Spread Premium and if you want the best possible mortgage for the long term you need to avoid this commission based markup.

If you plan on living in your home for the long term does it make sense to be constantly refinancing your mortgage loan? Mortgage rates are currently and historically low levels…You’ll probably never see rates below four percent that aren’t teasers. With this in mind doesn’t it make sense to lock in a great rate now and keep it for the long haul? If this is what you’re trying to accomplish you’ll want to lock in a wholesale mortgage rate. Before you can get a wholesale rate you’ll need to understand how mortgage brokers are compensated for originating you loan.

How Are Mortgage Brokers Paid?

There are several ways your mortgage broker gets paid (often overpaid) for their work on your home loan.

Many brokers tell you that they’re not charging you origination fees because of Yield Spread Premium. Does it make sense to take a higher mortgage rate instead of paying a one percent origination fee when you plan on keeping your home for the long term? Absolutely not…If you plan on living in your home for the long term you want a wholesale rate and you only want to pay a once percent origination fee.

How Do You Lock Your Mortgage Rate?

Before you decide to lock in your mortgage rate you need to be sure that you’re working with the right mortgage broker. Talk to your broker about the rate you qualify based on your financial details. Did you know it takes sixteen pieces of your financial details to accurately quote a mortgage rate? If your broker has not asked for detailed financial information before quoting you a rate you can be certain that they have no intention of honoring that rate.

Talk to your broker about their compensation. This includes the origination fee, broker’s fee, and any Yield Spread Premium they get from marking up your mortgage rate.

Remember that a reasonable amount to pay for loan origination including origination points and fees should not be more than one percent of your loan amount. Ask your broker for an updated Good Faith Estimate on a daily bases; remember that mortgage rates are always changing.

Before you make the decision to lock your mortgage rate make sure you have an updated Good Faith Estimate from the same day.

Finally, after you’ve instructed your mortgage broker to lock make sure they email you the rate lock confirmation from the wholesale lender. This confirmation will show you the rate, points, and any Yield Spread Premium associated with your loan. You should have this confirmation within one hour of locking…if you don’t get it contact your broker immediately. Make sure that you get the rate lock from the wholesale lender. Don’t accept anything typed up by your mortgage broker on their own letter head as this is not a guarantee of anything and you want to see if there is any Yield Spread Premium included in your lock.

You can learn more about refinancing your mortgage with a wholesale rate while only paying a one percent origination fee by registering for my free mortgage refinancing videos.

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There are literally hundreds of mortgage lenders and banks out there offering mortgage loans. How do you choose the best lender for your situation?

Before I can answer this question it is important to understand the difference between retail and wholesale mortgage rates. Nearly all of the quotes you receive from banks and mortgage companies are retail quotes that include commission based markup. How can you get a wholesale mortgage rate? Many people think that if they contact a wholesale lender directly they can cut out the middleman and the retail quote. This simply isn’t the case…even if you contact a wholesale lender yourself you’ll be dealing with the retail division of that lender and will not get a wholesale rate. The only way to get a wholesale rate is by finding the right mortgage broker to originate your home loan.

How to Shop for a Mortgage Loan

Mortgage shopping means collecting quotes from dozens of lenders and comparing rates, points, and closing costs right? If the quotes you collected on the Internet and from local mortgage companies and brokers were correct this would be the right way to shop for a home loan. The problem is the quotes you receive are not accurate. Most mortgage companies will tell you exactly what you want to hear to get your business…and then switch you to a loan that charges what they want you to pay. How do mortgage lenders do this and get away with it?

Good Faith Estimates Are Not Your Friends

The Good Faith Estimate your banker or broker gives you is just that…it’s an estimate. Given in “good faith”…but what does that really mean? Absolutely nothing…shopping for a mortgage is a lot like dating. Mortgage companies always put their best foot forward to make a good impression and get you to go on that second date. Once they’ve got you that’s when you find out about all the excess baggage in fees and interest rate markup…often too late. What is this hidden interest rate markup? If you spent any amount of time reading the mortgage articles posted on this website you’ll have heard of Yield Spread Premium.

Hidden Commission Fees

Yield Spread Premium creates a hidden commission for your broker. Don’t think you can avoid this hidden commission going with a bank or credit union. While you won’t be paying for Yield Spread Premium with a bank mortgage loan you still have the same markup…only with a different name. When your mortgage rate is inflated by a bank or credit union the hidden commission is called Service Release Premium. Only in this case there’s nothing you can do about it due to a loophole in the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act. The only way to get a wholesale mortgage rate is with an honest mortgage broker.

You Can Take Out a Mortgage and Pay Only 1%

Paying one percent of your loan amount is a perfectly reasonable fee for the work your mortgage broker does on your loan. There is no reason whatsoever to tolerate any markup of your mortgage rate for Yield Spread Premium to go in your mortgage broker’s pocket. So what is Yield Spread Premium? Simply put, it is a percentage of your loan amount created when the mortgage broker locks and closes your home loan with an above market interest rate. Here’s an example to illustrate the concept.

Suppose your existing home loan is for $300,000. Your mortgage broker closes your new loan at 6.25%. What you don’t know is the lender behind your loan approved you for 5.5%. The spread between what you got and what you could have had creates a hidden bonus for your broker of 3% of your loan amount. This means your broker pockets $9,000 in addition to any of the fees they charge you for loan origination, processing, or other garbage fees found on your Good Faith Estimate. Where does this $9,000 come from? The broker receives a kickback of 1% for every .25% you agree to overpay. In the previous example you overpaid .75% (6.25%-5.5%=.75%) which created 3% of Yield Spread Premium.

What does this mean for you? On a 30 year mortgage at 6.25% your payment will be $1,850 when it could have been $1700. You’re throwing away $150 per month which is $1800 a year just because your mortgage broker lied to you for a commission. I don’t know how you feel about it but $1800 is a lot of money. The good news today is that you can avoid this unnecessary markup of your mortgage rate if you find the right broker to build a relationship with. Do this and you’ll have a win-win relationship for both of you…you get someone to originate your loans without ripping you off and your broker gets a loyal customer for life…clearly a win-win situation for both of you.

How to Find an Honest Mortgage Broker

There are hard-working mortgage professionals out there that don’t abuse Yield Spread Premium…you just need to know how to find them. By finding the right self-employed mortgage broker to originate your loan you’ll avoid garbage fees and commission based markup of your interest rate. You can learn more about finding the right mortgage broker for the job and avoiding all of the unnecessary crap thrown at you by dishonest mortgage companies by registering for my free mortgage video tutorial.

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Some people choose to refinance because of a financial hardship, others want to borrow cash against the equity in their homes; however, the most common reason is to get a lower monthly payment.

Here are several tips to help you get that lower payment and take back control of your paycheck.

How to Get Lower Mortgage Payments

The method you choose to lower your mortgage payment depends on your situation and your financial goals. Here are four of the most common methods used to get a lower monthly payment:

I. Extend the term length of your new home loan.

The easiest way to lower your monthly payment is to take your current mortgage balance and stretch it out over a longer amount of time. Suppose for example that you purchased your $300,000 home at seven percent five years ago and want refinance the balance of $280,000. Your current monthly payment is $1,200; however, refinancing with a 6.5% interest rate over forty years would lower payment to $850…a savings of $350. Keep in mind that by extending the term length of your loan you will be paying more to the lender in the long run for your financing.

II. Choose an Adjustable Rate Mortgage with a lower mortgage rate.

A short term fix for many homeowners is to choose an adjustable rate mortgage. If you expect your income to increase in the near future or plan on selling your home within a few years a hybrid ARM could be a sure fit. Hybrid Adjustable Rate Mortgages have the advantage of a fixed rate period that lasts as long as five years before the lender starts adjusting your mortgage rate. Hybrid Adjustable Rate Mortgages are an excellent way to take advantage of lower adjustable rate loans while protecting yourself from economic uncertainty.

III. Consider Interest Only or Option Adjustable Rate Mortgage Loans

If you’re interested in the lowest possible payment amount option ARMs, while risky, provide the lowest possible minimum payment. The problem with this type of loan is that if you only make the minimum payment amount every month you’re not paying enough to cover all of the interest due that month. The unpaid interest is simply added to your loan balance which results in a mortgage that actually grows over time. This is a bad thing. If you want to limit your risk but need a lower payment than a traditional ARM, consider an interest only loan.

IV. Borrow Against Your Equity to Take Back Your Budget

Cashing out the equity in your home to pay off other bills could be the solution for a budget that is out of control. When you refinance your mortgage and take cash back to pay off other bills you get to deduct the interest paid on this debt from your taxes.

Getting the lowest possible payment when refinancing can only happen if you qualify for the lowest mortgage rate. The mortgage quotes you receive shopping on the Internet and by calling your mortgage broker all include commission-based markup. If you want the lowest possible payment you’ll need to qualify for a wholesale mortgage rate…you can learn more about refinancing wholesale without paying junk fees with our free mortgage video tutorial. Register today while this is still a free offer; you’ll get immediate access to the videos on your PC and free live support to answer any questions you have.

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Banks vs. Mortgage Brokers

The first thing you need to know is that you should never take out a mortgage from a bank or broker bank. Banks are exempt from the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act and are not required to disclose their profit margins or markup of your mortgage rate. If you refinance your home loan with a bank you’ll never get a wholesale mortgage rate or anything close to it. The same is true of broker banks.

What’s a broker bank? This is basically a mortgage company or broker operating as a bank. Many mortgage companies and brokers changed their businesses when the law changed in order to take advantage of the same loopholes as banks. The only way to recognize if your mortgage company or broker is acting as a broker bank is to ask if they close on the mortgage in the name of the company or the wholesale lender. If the answer you get is that they close in their own company’s name you are dealing broker bank and cannot refinance with wholesale rates.

Mortgage Broker Secrets

The biggest