Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Bargaining For The Best Reverse Mortgage Rates

Reverse mortgage rates are not different form traditional mortgage rates, and when you are applying for a reverse mortgage you should make every effort to find the lowest reverse mortgage rates you possibly can. While comparison shopping takes time, you can help your own cause by taking advantage of the reverse mortgage calculators available on one of the many reversed mortgage Internet websites.

You will have to pay interest on your reverse mortgage loan regardless of whether you receive your money as a single lump sum, in monthly installments, or as advances on a credit line. In the US, reverse mortgage rates are tied to the US Treasury rate, and like all adjustable mortgages rates will fluctuate as it does.

The Margin Is The Difference

Because of this, any money you save on your reverse mortgage rates will be as a result of the competition among lenders. Their margin--the amount they charge in interest over and above the variable treasury-based reverse mortgage rate, will vary from company to company. Lenders can adjust their rates anywhere from once a month to once a year.

Fixed-Rate Reverse Mortgages

Fixed–rate reverse mortgages are the exception to the rule, although they have become more available in recent months. One limitation on a fixed-rate reverse mortgage is that the borrower must take his or her money in a single payment; monthly installments and lines of credit are not permitted. Fixed reverse mortgage rates, in early 2007, were hovering in the low end of the six percent range, not including the lenders’ margins.

Your fixed mortgage rate will have nothing to do with your credit history or your income. Even low-income senior citizens who have paid for their homes are eligible for reverse mortgages; they, in fact, are the individuals for whom reverse mortgages are primarily intended.

You can get a better idea of reverse mortgage rates by researching both online and brick-and-mortar reverse mortgage brokers; many brokers have both websites and offices. Find the best online rate you can, then take it to the reverse mortgage lenders in your area and use it as a negotiating tool if necessary.

You can find a list of legitimate reverse mortgage lenders close to you by doing a search on the National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association—NRMLA--website, searching by the name of the state in which you live, and then whittling down the results to lenders in your area. All NRMLA lenders are committed to upholding a Code of Conduct, which means they will deal with you fairly in the reverse mortgage process.

You can also find more info on Reverse Mortgage Calculator and Reverse Mortgage Companies. i-reversemortgages.com is a comprehensive resource to get information about Reverse Mortgage

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Avoiding Mortgage Problems

With foreclosures and mortgage defaults on the rise, lenders are tightening up lending standards. So, if you’re in the market for a mortgage, how does this affect you. There’s no doubting that the mortgage industry has taken a battering in recent months and there will be less credit on offer for the next few months while lenders assess the situation. It isn’t just first time buyers who are finding it more difficult to get mortgages, home equity loans, or borrowing against the value of your homes, are also being hit. Homeowners are expected to provide a lot more documentation and it is increasingly rare to borrow the full market value of your home.

Even though many of the loans going into default were granted based on well-proved credit scores, some types of loans offered had not been around in the past. Lenders had also been offering loans up to 100% of the home value and in some cases, up to 125. Lenders are becoming more circumspect about these high percentage loans and are carrying out a lot more investigation.

No doc or low doc loans are becoming a lot more difficult to get. These loans required no income verification from the borrower and the lending decision was based purely on the market value of the property. As property values have stagnated and in some areas are in decline, the risk to both borrower and lender has increased.

There are also fewer piggyback loans. A 2006 Standard & Poor’s study reported that piggyback loans were 43% more likely to go into default against first time mortgages of the same size. Lenders will require larger down payments to consider these types of loans.

Borrowers will have to face up to the fact that obtaining credit is not going to be as easy as in the past few years. The mortgage industry is licking its wounds at the moment and are staying away from the riskier types of loans. But for buyers who have a good credit score and a steady income will still be able to get some good mortgage deals. Interest rates are not expected to rise dramatically this year as the government is trying to help the housing market recover. House prices are falling and buyers can still take advantage of the current situation and pick up some real bargains.

Lindsay provides real life examples and tips on how to avoid disasters when securing your home loans or refinancing of your house. She provides more examples and guides at http://www.loansplanet.com

http://ezinearticles.com/?Avoiding-Mortgage-Problems&id=601513

The Ohio Home Mortgage and Making The Process Friendly and Easy

When looking for an Ohio home mortgage you should consider your options and pick a mortgage services provider that can provide you with friendly, professional, and caring Ohio home mortgage services you deserve.

The three situations in which you would like an Ohio home mortgage:

* Buying a home

* Building your dream home

* Refinancing your existing mortgage

And when you are looking for an Ohio home mortgage you should consider all of the mortgage rates that are available.

Current Ohio Home Mortgage Rate for a one year ARM:

• * 1 ARM 5.25% - $250 closing costs

The 1 yr ARM for certain Ohio mortgage lenders is a very low rate 5.25% with a very low closing cost of $250. If you find this ARM in Ohio check to see if the provider allows it to have with a conversion option of locking into a fixed rate any time during the first 3 yrs of the loan for a fee of only $50.00.

These are some of the most popular Ohio mortgage loan programs you can get from local Ohio mortgage providers:

* * 5 ARM

* * 30 Yr Fixed Jumbo

* * 5/1 ARM Jumbo

* * 30 Yr Fixed

* * 15 Yr Fixed

These are the other Ohio home mortgage loan programs that are available from mortgage providers:

* Fixed Rate Ohio Mortgage Loans

* Adjustable Rate Ohio Home Mortgages: 1/1 and 3/1

* Ohio Home Mortgage Balloon Loans

* Ohio FHA Loans

* Ohio Mortgage Home VA Loans

* Ohio Permanent/Construction Loans

* Construction only Ohio mortgage home loans (builders or owners)

* Ohio Building Lot Loans

* Ohio Blanket Loans

* Ohio Jumbo Loans

* Non-Conforming Ohio Home Mortgage Loan Brokerage Services

* Ohio Home Mortgage Equity Loans/Second Mortgage

* Advertised Closing Costs May Not Apply With Some Provider’s Services

What the Ohio mortgage loan process should involve:

Working with your Ohio mortgage loan provider should be a pleasure and not a stressful situation. Every part of the process should be handled in a professional and timely manner. All of your questions should be answered to your satisfaction. Your provider should never make you feel like you are wasting their time. The process of getting your dream home or building your dream home should be friendly and easy.

Local Ohio mortgage loan providers will lend to you on several property types:

* Single family dwellings or condominiums (owner occupied and non-owner occupied)

* 2-4 family dwelling units (owner occupied and non-owner occupied)

* Multi-family dwelling units, up to 200 units

* Residential farm (home)

* Building lots or sites

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Prepare For The Mortgage (And The Shopping Will Be Easy)!

They're absolutely everywhere. Home buying guides and articles that all give potential home buyers information on how to prepare for the home buying process. And with a few exceptions, they all read pretty much the same:

  • Find a Realtor
  • Look at several houses
  • Negotiate with the seller
While all of this may be good advice, none of it addresses the single most important aspect of the home buying process, the mortgage. I mean let's face it, you could find a new dream house for every day of the week, but if you can't get the money to buy these houses then you're just wasting time. However taking the time to get your financing pre-approved before you go house shopping will make your shopping experience much easier and improve your negotiating power dramatically.

So what exactly do I mean by getting your financing pre-approved? Full pre-approval means that an underwriter from your lender has reviewed your application, your credit, and your income documents to determine how much money that they would be willing to lend you for the purchase of a new home. They would then issue you a credit approval letter which states the maximum loan amount, interest rate, terms, etc. These pre-approvals are usually good for anywhere between 20 and 30 days.

Now when you go shopping for that new dream home, you have an exact price range that you know you are approved for and (figuratively speaking) you have your check in hand. This will help speed up the home buying process by eliminating all of those houses that you simply cannot afford to buy. Also, you will improve your negotiating power with the seller by showing them that

  • You are a serious buyer
  • You have your financing in order and are much more likely to close on your contract should they accept your offer.
In some cases you may even be able to get the seller to accept less than what they originally asked for their home simply because they know that you have the financial ability to close on the transaction.

As you can see, it is important to prepare for your mortgage before shopping for a home. This principal holds true whether you're a first time home buyer or a seasoned real estate investor.

Now let's discuss for a moment how a lender will review and evaluate your loan file. The person in charge of reviewing and approving or rejecting your loan request is called the underwriter. When an underwriter looks at a loan file, they are trying to determine one thing:

"How much risk does this loan present to the lender?"

If the loan is too risky, then it is rejected; if it is within acceptable risk perimeters, then it is approved with certain interest rates and terms offered.

Your Personal Credit

One of the most important elements of your mortgage file is your personal credit. Even if your loan is approved, it is still assigned a degree of risk. The higher a lender's level of risk, the higher the interest rate offered for that loan. A borrower's credit is usually the best indictor of the lender's risk on a particular loan. Credit is graded "A, B, C, or D." These letters usually line up with your credit score.

  • "A" grade tends to be scores of 680 and up; with several, previous well established credit accounts and a good pay history.
  • "B" grade tends to fall between scores of 620 to 680. Sometime referred to as Alt-A, this credit grade may show some late payments or possibly even a small open collection account.
  • "C" grade covers scores between 580 and 620. More commonly referred to as sub-prime, this credit grade usually has some problems in recent history (several late payments, maxed out credit lines, some open collections, or even a judgment).
  • "D" grade covers scores of 580 or less. Borrowers with recent bankruptcies and foreclosures as well as large numbers of collection accounts and late payments usually fall within this credit grade.
"A, B, and C" credit can usually obtain financing, depending upon their entire financial picture. Interest rates and terms will generally get worse the lower your credit grade is. "D" credit borrowers usually have a very hard time find financing and even if they can get a loan approved, they have to put up a large down payment and accept very high interest rates to get the deal done.

Documentation

The next area of your loan file that we'll discuss is the level of documentation that you will provide the lender. The purpose of providing documentation is to show the lender that the information you put on your loan application, for employment, income, and assets, is correct and valid. There several acceptable documentation levels available for borrowers. Here is a list of some of those levels and what is verified (or documented) with each.

  • Full Documentation (Employment, Income, and Assets are all verified thru your documentation)
  • Stated Income (Income is accepted as stated on the loan application; Employment and assets are verified)
  • No Ratio, AKA No Income (income is not disclosed on application; Employment and Assets are verified)
  • No Doc (Employment, Income, and Assets are all accepted as stated on loan application; nothing is verified).
Generally the less documentation you can provide, the higher the risk your loan will pose to the lender and the worse your interest rates and terms will be.

Full Documentation will provide you with the best rates and terms as well as the best chance for getting your loan approved. The documentation needed for this level include:

  • W-2's for the last two years (full tax returns if you're self employed)
  • Your last two pay stubs (YTD profit and loss statement if you're self employed)
  • Your bank statements for the last 2 months
If you have this documentation available to you, then it is always recommended that you use this documentation level.

Income/Debt to Income Ratios

Simply put, you can only buy as much home as your income will support. If you make $25,000 per year, don't expect to be able to purchase a $150,000 home, unless you have a 30% to 35% down payment. Your debt to income ratio (DTI) will be one of the key items that the underwriter will look at when evaluating your loan file. DTI is calculated by taking your total monthly debts (car loan payments, credit cards, student loans, child support, alimony, etc), plus the extra debt of the proposed mortgage payment, and dividing it by your gross monthly income (before taxes income). The purpose of this is to see if your current income can handle the extra monthly debt of the new mortgage. "A" paper lenders like to see DTI's no higher than 36% to 38%; "B" credit lenders will usually allow up to 50% and sub prime lenders ("C" credit grade) will allow up to 55% DTI.

Assets

While passive assets (real estate holdings, long term mutual funds, etc) will make you look all the better to an underwriter, what a lender is really interested in is your liquid assets (in other words, your cash on hand). Do you have enough ready to spend cash available to cover the costs of your loan plus have enough left in the bank to cover 2 to 6 months of mortgage payments. Even if you are obtaining a no down payment loan and all of the costs are being paid by the seller, it is still necessary for you to have a few months worth of reserves sitting in the bank. Regardless of whether the lender requires it or not, it is an excellent idea to have yourself a safety net in case you run into some hard times financially.

Shopping for a new home can be a lot of fun, but let's face it; having to go thru the mortgage process can take that fun out of the situation for many. That's why it is important not only to understand how your mortgage request will be reviewed, but to also take care of that mortgage request before you go shopping. Having the knowledge of how much home you can afford and your mortgage is already taken care will make the home buying not only smoother, but that much more enjoyable as well.

John Worley is residential/commercial loan officer with over 5 years experience in the real estate business. His background includes residential real estate appraisal and residential/commercial real estate investing. For more information on John's current mortgage services and other helpful informational articles, log on to http://www.rtlgeorgia.com/

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Is It Time to Refinance Your Adjustable Rate Mortgage?

If you purchased your home with an Adjustable Rate mortgage and your loan is scheduled to reset soon you might consider refinancing. Many homeowners with Adjustable Rate Mortgages are concerned about the possibility of payment shock when the lender adjusts their interest rate. Here are several tips to help you decide if mortgage refinancing is right for you.

There are several ways you could benefit from refinancing your Adjustable Rate Mortgage. Refinancing your loan could get you:

A Better Margin

If your credit score is higher or you have higher income than when you took out your Adjustable Rate Mortgage, refinancing could get you a better margin. Mortgage lenders base the size of their margin on your credit and financial details at the time of your application. Better credit and more income will not only get you a better mortgage rate but a lower margin.

Payment Stability

The downside of Adjustable Rate Mortgages is that there is always the risk of payment shock if your payment or mortgage rate goes up too quickly when the lender adjusts your loan. Refinancing to a fixed rate loan or an Adjustable Rate Mortgage with better caps could protect you from the possibility of payment shock. Caps limit the amount your interest rate or payment can go up.

Shorter Term Length or Equity Loan

If you’d like to build equity in your home at a faster rate, consider refinancing your mortgage to a loan with a 10 or 15 year term length. This shorter term length will build equity in your home more quickly and you will pay less to your lender for the financing. Another option available to you when refinancing is cashing out equity in your home. You’ll get cash back at closing which you can use to consolidate your bills or make a large purchase.

You can learn more about refinancing your mortgage while avoiding paying too much with a free mortgage video toolkit.

To get your FREE Mortgage Refinancing Video Toolkit, visit RefiAdvisor.com using the link below.

Louie Latour specializes in showing homeowners how to avoid costly mortgage mistakes and predatory lenders. To get your hands on this free "Mortgage Refinancing Toolkit," which teaches strategies for finding the best mortgage and saving thousands of dollars in the process, visit Refiadvisor.com.

http://ezinearticles.com/?Is-It-Time-to-Refinance-Your-Adjustable-Rate-Mortgage?&id=603883

Understanding The Benefits of Reverse Mortgage Loans

If you are one of the millions of senior citizens approaching retirement with less financial security than you had ever imagined possible, you may be overlooking one of your biggest financial assets--your home. If you have paid off your mortgage completely, or almost completely, you can consider taking out a reverse mortgage loan.

A reverse mortgage loan will allow you to get cash, a monthly payment, or a line of credit based on your home’s appraised value; you will continue to live in your home; and the loan will not have to be repaid until you leave your home permanently or sell it. A reverse mortgage loan is not the same as a home equity loan, and the older you are, the more of your home’s appraised value will be available to you as a reverse mortgage loan.

Precautions

While a reverse mortgage loan sounds too good to be true, however, there are precautions you must take when applying for one. Many applicants for reverse mortgage loans fall victim to unscrupulous loan brokers or lenders who attach undisclosed fees to their services. Those unfortunate applicants end up with far more less money than they expected.

You owe it to yourself to become educated in the entire process which accompanies reverse mortgage loans, so that when you do apply for one you will recognize any warning signs before it is too late.

In order to qualify for a reverse mortgage loan, you need to be at least sixty-two years of age. As mentioned above, you should have completely, or very nearly, paid off any outstanding loans on your house.

Those who do owe money on an existing mortgage or home lien will have to use their reverse mortgage loans to pay those off before they can spend it one anything else. And reverse mortgage loans are binding, so if you find after committing yourself that you were unhappy with the terms, you will have no recourse.

Finding A Good Lender

The best way to ensure that you will be happy with your reverse mortgage loan is to work with a trustworthy lender. You can easily find the names of several lenders in your area on the National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association--NMRLA--website; just enter the name of the state where your home is located, and sort through the large list of names which comes up to find lenders near you. All the reverse mortgage lenders on this site have agreed to operate under the Code of Conduct established by the NMRLA for the protection of senior citizens.

As an extra precaution, you would be wise to have an attorney familiar with reverse mortgage loans review any contract before you actually sign it.

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Mortgage Leads - Avoid the Recycled Junk

If you are a mortgage broker or loan officer that is considering buying mortgage leads from an internet provider, make sure you do your research and avoid buying recycled junk.

Here are a few things to look for when considering buying internet mortgage leads.

The first thing you want to do is get a sales representative on the phone and find out exactly how the mortgage lead company is acquiring their mortgage leads.

Here is the one and only thing you will want to hear before proceeding any further. You will want to hear that the mortgage lead company acquires their mortgage leads through web sites that they own and operate.

Because if they don’t, than the mortgage leads are being acquired somewhere else by someone else. And most likely those leads are being sold to multiple mortgage lead companies. So by the time you get your hands on the lead it has already been sold to a dozen loan officers before you.

Also, make sure that what you will be receiving is a genuine mortgage lead and not some information based on a survey some customer filled out.

I know from first hand experience what it is like to call a potential customer only to have them tell you that they thought they were filling out a survey.

As you can imagine, I was not happy.

If the mortgage lead company you are considering does acquire their own mortgage leads through their own web sites than you will want to find out how they are driving customers to these sites.

What you will want to hear is that they use advertisements on major search engines to drive traffic to their lead generation sites.

Avoid companies that use bribes to acquire mortgage leads such as offering gift cards to home stores if the customer fills out an on-line application. These customers are more interested in the free gift card than they are the mortgages, so steer clear.

In the end, you work hard for your money, so find the mortgage lead company that acquires their leads on their own through the appropriate channels.

Jay Conners has more than fifteen years of experience in the banking and Mortgage Industry. He is the owner of http://www.jconners.com, a mortgage marketing and resource site, he is also the owner of http://www.callprospect.com, a mortgage lead co.

http://ezinearticles.com/?Mortgage-Leads---Avoid-the-Recycled-Junk&id=603344

How To Sell Against The Pay Option Arm Mortgage

Hey Mortgage Folks, have you ever asked yourself: “How does one sell against the negative amortization perceptions with the Pay Option Arm?” One of the first things I would suggest is to make sure you explain the Index you are using.

One of the worst things you can do is try to explain ALL the indexes. I would focus on one, maybe two, but that's it. Learn to explain it in the most simplistic way possible and relay it to your borrowers. One thing that most LO's don't get is that the non-mortgage world doesn't understand the same things we do, so therefore we need to make our descriptions and terminology more on the "every day conversation" side of things.

Does that make sense? As far as the perception of negative amortization being “bad”, first find out what the borrower knows and doesn’t know. Find out what they are thinking about “neg-am” before you assume you know what it is, then sell against that particular thought process. Most of the negative stuff out there is coming from people who want to put the blame on something besides the market, so the Pay Option Arm, because of the words "negative amortization", is a good fit for them to fall back on.

Also, there are brokers out there who haven't a clue as to what they are talking about with the Pay Option Arm. They only look at what they can make on the back end and don't focus on future business. Those folks don't stay in business long anyway, but they keep showing up to make the fast buck.

So your mindset shouldn't be to sell against the neg-am, change your mindset and sell against the people who don't understand the product and what they have done (bad) with the product. If you approach the neg-am thing with the mindset of it being a great thing to have, your chances of getting the deal will greatly improve.

Andrew has sold and has trained other Mortgage Professionals on how to sell the Pay Option Arm. He is the author of the E-Book: The A.R.M. Factor: Guide to Understanding and Selling the Pay Option Arm. He writes a free weekly newsletter called "The Mortgage Mailbag".

http://ezinearticles.com/?How-To-Sell-Against-The-Pay-Option-Arm-Mortgage&id=605650

What Are Bridging Loans Used For?

The bridging sector is extremely competitive, which is good news for borrowers. The days when bridging loans were used solely for the purposes of purchasing a new house prior to the sale of the old one are long gone. With the bridging market believed to be worth ?2.5 billion and increasing by 25% each year. We now live in a world where bridging loans can be arranged for just about any purpose, residential or commercial.

For a long time many bridging finance lenders viewed the market as a lucrative opportunity rather than focusing on the long term possibilities. As well as an absence of innovation, a lack of clarity and tortuous small print are the most common criticisms levelled at the bridging industry. In the past this left many would-be customers disillusioned and prepared to sacrifice an opportunity rather than risk paying extortionate fees on bridging loans. However times are changing and the bridging finance market is rapidly re-branding itself as a cost effective tool to help property developers and investors seize opportunities.

Winning the trust and confidence of potential customers is something that new entrants to the bridging finance market have spent a lot of time and money on. A new company launching will have invested heavily in PR and advertising to the broker community to establish a clean image.

With this increased competition the range of choice for borrowers is constantly growing. It is now possible for an individual or business with a bad credit history to pass the credit check stage and arrange a bridging loan at competitive rates and terms. Some of the more common uses of bridging finance include:

Auctions:
When purchasing property at auction the borrower usually has a deadline of 28 days to complete the process. Although it is not uncommon for borrows to be told that it is possible to complete purchase using conventional finance in practice the funding is rarely available in time. Having paid a 10% deposit it is vital that completion takes place within the deadline. This is where bridging loans are most useful, once the valuation has been received legal completion can often take place within a few days.

Buying Property at Undervalue:
Approaching a mainstream lender with a proposal to purchase a property at under value is pointless as they will only consider the purchase price. However bridging loans can be raised against the value of the property and not the purchase price. This means that theoretically it is possible to purchase a property at discount without putting any money into the deal.

Debt Relief:
Business people often get into financial difficulties due to cash-flow problems. These can be a result of trading problems or even unexpected tax demands, where there is equity in a freehold property bridging loans are an ideal solution.

Currently there is no Code of Practice, or indeed any self- regulating body to govern the activities of bridging lenders, although there have been several attempts to form one. The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) will accept bridging finance lenders as members, as will the National Association of Commercial Finance Brokers (NACFB) but neither organisation is geared to examine the specifics of bridging loans. Where the loan is required to assist with the purchase of a family home the Financial Services Authority (FSA) have very strict controls over who can lend money and under what terms.

One of the things to look out for with bridging loans is the practise of charging penalty interest if any payments are late. The penalty rate can more than double the original rate, so care should be taken to ensure that late payments are avoided. Again, increased competition has forced lenders to reconsider this practice, but it still exists.

Borrowers should also be aware that many bridging lenders will have a minimum loan term, usually this will be between 1 to 3 months. It is worth being aware of the exit or redemption fees as some lenders will try to increase their profits by charging excessive amounts. It is also worth keeping an eye on the legal and survey fees as these can be an opportunity for lenders to try to make more money.

Most bridging lenders are now well organised, customer focused organisations, the on-going threat of increased regulation has seen the death of some of the unsavoury business practices which means that bridging loans should continue to be a valuable tool.

Find out my about bridging loans by talking to a commercial finance broker. Spectrum Business Finance have been arranging bridging finance for over 5 years and have the experience to accommodate most circumstances.

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Understanding Mortgage Terminology

It is important to understand mortgage terminology, since the home buying process can leave your head spinning.

The following list comprises some mortgage lingo that will help new homebuyers choose the best mortgage possible as well as understanding the entire home buying process.

Annual Percentage Rate (APR) shows the monthly cost of the mortgage, which includes points, interest and mortgage insurance in a percentage format.

Adjustable Rate Mortgage (ARM) is a type of loan that begins with a lower interest rate for an introductory period (usually three years), and later adjusts to whatever the current interest rate is at the time of the adjustment.

Credit Report is a record of your credit history, including payments, previous debts, and other financial details, all of which are given a score. These scores are binding to getting approved for your mortgage.

Fixed-Rate Mortgage is another type of loan where the monthly payments stay the same throughout the life of the loan.

Mortgage Broker is an individual or a company that originates and processes loans for many different lenders. These people will 'broker' the mortgage for you.

Mortgage Lender is a financial institution that loans you money for your home or refinance needs.

Mortgage Insurance is purchased by the buyer to protect the lender in the event someone defaults on the mortgage and/or payments.

The Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) is a law that protects consumers during the home buying loan application process. Among other things, it requires lenders to make full discloses about settlement costs and conditions.

Lindsay provides home mortgage loans and debt guides for various home buyers. You can find more refinancing information at http://www.loansplanet.com

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