California Wholesale Lender

If you’re refinancing your home loan in the State of California and are looking for a wholesale mortgage lender, there are several things you need to know about wholesale interest rates. Most homeowners do not understand how mortgage rates are quoted and overpay thousands of dollars every time they take out a home loan. Here are several tips to help you find a California wholesale lender without paying markup and unnecessary junk fees.

How Are Mortgage Rates Quoted?

In order to accurately quote a mortgage rate the lender needs to have sixteen factors of financial information from you. If you receive rate quotes without providing detailed financial information I can tell you whoever gave you the quote has no intention of honoring it. This is a common tactic of shady mortgage brokers practicing bait-and-switch scams. They’ll promise you the moon and when the deal falls through they switch you to a more expensive mortgage loan that brings them the largest commission.

Once you provide your financial details and get a quote you should know that you have a “retail” mortgage rate quote. Mortgage companies and brokers that deal with the public quote rates that include commission based markup. You might think that going directly to a wholesale lender will cut out the middleman and get you wholesale interest rates; however, these wholesale lenders all have retail divisions that deal with the public and only offer their best rates to mortgage companies and brokers.

What is Commission Based Markup?

When you take out a home loan from a mortgage broker you will pay an origination fee for the broker’s services. This fee ranges from less than one percent to as much as three or four percent. (One percent is a reasonable amount to pay the broker…any more and you’re being taken advantage of) The problem with commission based markup is that you’re already paying for the broker’s work. What your mortgage broker isn’t going to tell you (and frequently becomes angry or defensive if you question him or her about it) is that they are marking up your interest rate to get a kickback from the lender.

See wholesale lenders know that mortgages that have above market interest rates bring them huge profits when they sell your home loan to investors, so they reward mortgage companies and brokers for closing loans with above market rates. The higher your mortgage rate the higher the reward for the person closing your home loan. What does this mean for you? A higher mortgage rate means higher monthly payments and money that you’re throwing away on unnecessary finance charges. You’re already paying the broker for their services; on top of your fee they’re helping themselves to your money in the form of a higher mortgage rate.

This commission based markup of your mortgage rate is called Yield Spread Premium and will easily double, often triple the compensation your mortgage broker receives for your loan. Sounds sleazy right? Here’s an example to show you just how sleazy Yield Spread Premium is. Suppose you are refinancing a $300,000 home loan at 6.5% and the mortgage broker charges you 1.5% for loan origination. That means you have to come up with $4,500 at closing to pay the mortgage broker. What you’re broker isn’t telling you is that you actually qualified for 6.0% from the lender and that they’ve marked it up because the lender pays them 1% of your loan amount for every .25% you overpay.

In this example the broker receives an additional 2% or $6,000 on top of the $4,500 you’re already paying for their services. That’s $10,500 for a few hours work and you get stuck paying an above market interest rate.

Finding California Wholesale Lenders

The good news for you today if you’re refinancing in California or any other State for that matter, is that there are ways to refinance your home without paying Yield Spread Premium. (Or lender junk fees) You can find honest mortgage brokers willing to work for reasonable origination fees if you know how to shop for a mortgage loan.

You can learn more about comparison shopping for California Wholesale Lenders when refinancing and avoiding unnecessary garbage fees by registering for a free mortgage video tutorial. Register today; the videos are free and can save you thousands of dollars on your next mortgage loan.