If you’re considering refinancing your home mortgage loan with Quicken Loans there are several things you need to know before closing. Direct lenders like Quicken Loans are quick to point out that mortgage brokers are a middleman which results in higher costs for the homeowner; however, they don’t talk about what happens behind the scenes with your home loan which could result in paying more than you need to. Here is my Quicken Loans Review to help you make an informed decision before refinancing your home.
Quicken Loans Review
Visit the Quicken Loans website and you’ll soon find that Quicken Loans is the self-proclaimed #1 online lender in America. They also claim to be the #5 retail mortgage lender which an interesting point and I’ll get the “retail” nature of their home loans in a bit. The bragging doesn’t stop there…they also claim to have the best customer service in the mortgage industry; however, there is nothing on the website to back up their customer satisfaction numbers other than an “A” rating from the Better Business Bureau.
Glancing at the Frequently Asked Questions on the website there is a non-refundable deposit unless your State is one on the list that prohibits Quicken Loans from keeping your money if you elect not to do business with them. There’s also a little blub in their FAQ bagging on mortgage brokers…more braggart for how much “better” direct lenders are. They don’t say exactly how much the non-refundable deposit is but state it is used to run credit reports, pay for an appraisal and to “lock your interest rate.” There is a range given of $400-$750 for this fee. I can tell you the mortgage rate lock fee is a fictitious junk fee used to boost their profit margins at your expense. There isn’t a wholesale mortgage lender in the business that charges a “mortgage rate lock fee.”
The Truth About Direct Mortgage Lenders
Direct Mortgage Lenders like Quicken Loans like to brag about how they’ve cut out the middleman giving you the best deal for your home loan dollar. What are direct mortgage lenders and where did they come from? Quicken Loans is quick to point out that mortgage brokers act as a middleman reselling home loans from wholesale lenders but they don’t talk about how they got their start in business. It all started in the early 90s when the Banking Lobby spent millions of dollars lobbying your Congressional Representatives to have the disclosure laws known as the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) changed to exclude banks. (Lobbying is the politically correct term for bribing public officials in this country.)
You see banks didn’t want to have to disclose their markup and profit margins of your home loan like mortgage brokers do under the current legislation giving the banks an unfair advantage. To make a long story short the Banking Lobby was successful in their bid to change RESPA laws creating a lucrative loophole for the banking industry. This loophole led to the birth of the “Broker Bank” and direct lenders like Quicken Loans looking to cash in on this loophole enjoyed by mortgage bankers. Because these so called “Direct Lenders” fund their home loans with their own money like a bank, they are also exempt from RESPA legislation and are not required to disclose any of their markup or profit margin on your home loan.
What Is Service Release Premium?
Banks and other Direct Lenders don’t make their profits simply by collecting the interest on your home loan. In fact, most Direct Lenders dump your loan immediately after closing. These loans are sold to investors on the secondary market. They may continue to service the loan meaning they send you bills and have a flashy web interface for you to sign in and make your payments; however, the direct lender no longer owns your loan. They do this because the banks and direct lenders make the majority of their profits selling your home loan to investors on the secondary market. Home loans with higher than market mortgage rates bring them a premium profit known as Service Release Premium. Because direct lenders like Quicken Loans are exempt From RESPA laws they’ll never tell you about the markup of your mortgage rate or their profit margin on your loan. The only way to spot this markup for your self is to compare the mortgage rates and fees offered by wholesale lenders to those from Quicken Loans.
What Are Wholesale Mortgage Rates?
Most mortgage bankers like those you’ll find at Quicken Loans are quick to tell you that the average homeowner cannot get wholesale mortgage rates. Remember I told you Quicken Loans claims to be the #5 retail mortgage lender? Like any other retail market Quicken Loans marks up their loan products to make a profit when their home loans are sold. Do you have to accept this undisclosed markup of your mortgage rate when refinancing your home? Absolutely not! You don’t have to be a financial guru to get a wholesale mortgage rate and I’m going to show you to do it. (And no I’m not trying to sell you anything; all of the information on RefiAdvisor.com is free) Wholesale mortgage rates are known in the business as Par Mortgage Rates. Par means the mortgage rate has not been marked up to create a profit for the person or company arranging your home loan and you don’t have to pay a fee like discount points to get the rate. Before I get too far into refinancing your home with a wholesale mortgage rate let me finish my review of Quicken Loans, which is why you’re here today.
Quicken Loans Contact Information
We’ve already established that Quicken Loans is a nationwide Internet lender. They do business online as Rock Financial which is located in Michigan and One Reverse Mortgage out of San Diego, California. I found four websites, a dozen phone numbers, and a number of customer complaints and lawsuits.
Quicken Loans on The Web:
http://www.quickenloans.com
http://www.onereversemortgage.com
http://www.rockfinancial.com
http://www.onereversemortgage.com
Quicken Loans Contact Numbers:
(800) 251-9080 Main Sales Number
(800) 981-6144
(800) 731-7625
(800) 226-6308
(800) 603-3922
(248) 427-3300
(313) 359-0170
(248) 451-5400
(216) 586-8900
(313) 359-2012
(248) 312-1600
(734) 462-1431
Quicken Loans Fax Number: (734) 805-7073
Quicken Loans Address: 20555 Victor Pkwy Livonia MI 48152
Should You Refinance Your Home With Quicken Loans?
Only you can make this decision for yourself; however, searching the internet for “Quicken Loans Complaints” reveals 27,200 results in Google. There are various customer complaints, lawsuits, and even a former employee warning homeowners to avoid Quicken Loans stating their costs are too high. The Better Business Bureau assigned Quicken Loans a rating of “A.” The BBB rates businesses on a scale of F- to A+. The BBB lists 654 customer complaints against Quicken Loans during the past 36 months. Should you take out a mortgage loan from Quicken Loans? I personally would not…any company that pushes interest only mortgage loans on their customers while charging rate lock fees is a bad lender in my book.
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Very enlighting post. Nice video too. It’s sad to see how corruption works in our society. Corrupt practices always lead to economic bubbles that lead to drastic recessions. As regular people suffer, banks get bailed out and the corrupt CEO’s still end up getting the money they use to spend for their lavish lifestyle.