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Origination Fee and Points

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Many homeowners absolutely dread refinancing their mortgage loans because they don’t fully understand how the loan origination Fee and discount points work.

In fact, the loan origination fee and unnecessary discount points are one of the reasons homeowners in the United States will overpay well over sixteen billion dollars this year alone when refinancing their mortgage loans according to the HUD Secretary. Here are several tips to help you avoid being a part of this statistic when refinancing your home loan AND save you thousands of dollars in the process.

Your Loan Origination Fee Can Make or Break Your Deal

Let’s get started with the loan origination fee. Sometimes called “origination points” this a fee you will pay to the person arranging your new loan. This person could be a discount mortgage company or a broker. A reasonable amount to pay for loan origination is one percent of your loan amount; however, it is not uncommon for mortgage brokers to charge as much as five percent. If you follow the system outlined in the free underground mortgage videos on this website you can find a loan broker willing to work for one percent without padding your best mortgage rate for a commission…but more on that later.

What About Discount Points?

There is another flavor of mortgage points you need to be aware of and that is the so called “discount points.” This is a form of pre-paid interest paid by you at closing in exchange for the lowest mortgage rate. One “discount” point is the equivalent of one percent of your mortgage amount and should lower your mortgage rate by .25%. Some lenders will require you to pay points to get a specific low mortgage rate; however, in today’s market you can get rock bottom rates without paying discount points.

If you have less than desirable credit you might not be able to get around paying points…whether or not it makes sense to refinance in your case depends on how long it will take to recoup your points and closing costs from your savings on the new loan. You can easily calculate the break-even point when refinancing by determining how much lower your new monthly payment will be each month and dividing your total closing costs including points by the amount of your savings. This will tell you how many months it will take to recoup your expenses from refinancing; if you can live with the length of time it takes to get your money back then refinancing your home loan probably makes sense in your situation.

This is a much more intelligent method of determining if refinancing is a good idea in your situation than relying on that old wife’s tale known as the two percent rule. (The two percent rule states you should only refinance if the best mortgage rate is two percent lower than you existing rate. A real bonehead came up with this rule…you’d never want to be seen with him and he’d embarrass you at parties.) Getting back to points in most cases you will want to avoid paying discount points whenever possible because mortgage rates are so low right now.

What About Mortgage Broker Markup?

That’s the million dollar question…what about all these sneaky mortgage brokers that mark your interest rate up to get a commission from the lender? I’ll bet you didn’t know they did that? In fact, many brokers become defensive and angry if you ask them about this markup, insisting that the fee they receive from the lender is “none of your business…it’s between me and the lender.”

Well, I’m here to tell you that this “fee” known as Yield Spread Premium is your business and you should be very concerned as to why the lender pays the broker for marking up your mortgage rate. Mortgage lenders love loans that close with higher than market mortgage rates. Your online mortgage lender actually makes the majority of their profits selling loans to investors on the secondary mortgage market and home loans with higher than necessary mortgage rates make them the most profit. This is why mortgage lenders reward brokers that overcharge their customers with a commission known as Yield Spread Premium.

Most homeowners have never heard of this markup and don’t know how to spot it in their loan documents. You’ll probably never see it on your Good Faith Estimate because many brokers leave it off completely. The lender is required by law to disclose it in the HUD-1 statement; however, if you don’t know what you’re looking for at this point it’s probably too late and you’ve already paid too much.

Better luck next time around right? Well, fortunately for you, you’re probably not that far along in the closing process and have time to learn how to avoid this unnecessary markup of your discount mortgage rate that results in overpaying thousands of dollars every year that you keep the mortgage loan. Another little known fact when refinancing your home mortgage loan is that you actually have three days to change your mind and put the brakes on before your lender funds the loan. This is known as your three day rescission rights…you can bail on a shady lender at any time until your loan is funded three business days after closing.

How to Avoid Overpaying the Loan Origination Fee

You might be thinking to yourself I know how to avoid all this on line mortgage broker trickery… I’ll just refinance my home loan with my bank or credit union. Guess again, banks have their own tricks due to a little known loophole in the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act. Refinance your home loan with a bank and I guarantee you’ll pay more than you have to AND will never know how the bank overcharged you. The best deals when refinancing your mortgage without overpaying come from finding the right mortgage broker for the job.

Your Mortgage broker works for a commission, you’ll never get around this and they do have kids to feed like everyone else; however, they should not be taking advantage of people just to make a hummer payment. There are honest mortgage brokers out there who are willing to work for a one percent loan origination fee without taking Yield Spread Premium on the loan; you just need to know how to find them.

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Check out my free Underground Mortgage Refinancing Videos and you’ll discover how easy it is to save thousands of dollars getting the best refinance rates without paying unnecessary markup or lender junk fees.

  • Free Underground Mortgage Videos

Here’s a sample to get you started paying less for the loan origination fee from today’s best mortgage lenders

{ 1 comment… add one }
  • pablo magana February 26, 2012, 8:46 pm

    thank you so much for all this info.on it has really opened my eyes, you think you can tell me about an onest broker that i can talk to about a mortgage loa here in the coachella valley ca. thanks again pablo

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