What is a Mortgage Banker?
A mortgage banker is a real-estate financing professional who specializes in the origination of residential mortgage loans. Mortgage bankers actually close and fund mortgage loans with their own resources. They may service the loans or pass that on to wholesale lending sources. A mortgage banker acts much like an independent contractor working with (on average) as many as 40 lenders at any one time. By combining professional expertise with direct access to hundreds of loan products, your mortgage banker provides the most efficient way to obtain financing tailored to your specific financial goals, unlike direct lenders who have access to only one company’s loan programs. By performing many of the tasks themselves they also do so in much more cost-efficient manner than mortgage brokers, who must charge borrowers for the services they contract others to perform. Mortgage bankers share responsibility for the loan with the wholesale lender, unlike mortgage brokers, and are focused on maintaining compliance with state and federal lending laws as well as complete disclosure to borrowers that the loan they are getting is what they want and need. Community bank mortgage bankers exist to serve the mortgage lending needs of all the people in the communities that they, too, live, work, play, and worship in.
What Do Mortgage Bankers Do?
In the volatile home-lending market, mortgage bankers can serve as safeguards, offering their clients security, safety, and peace of mind. One of the mortgage banker’s most important functions is escorting your loan application through the entire process, constantly patrolling the component transactions for possible breakdowns. A professional mortgage banker can wade through the mountains of rate data and program options, researching current market conditions to find the most accurate and up-to-date information about cost-effective loan options.
Mortgage Bankers Handle the Details!
There are literally thousands of variables that can affect the outcome of your mortgage transaction. That's why you need a mortgage banker to act as a liaison between the title or escrow company, real estate agent, wholesale lender, appraiser, credit agency, the underwriters, the processors, attorneys, and any other services which may affect your transaction.
A mortgage banker also:
Discusses and explains financing program options
Informs you, in writing, of lock-in options
Explains all documents of the loan application
Explains all associated costs of the loan application
Explains the disbursement of all loan applications
Explains the loan process, from application to closing
Provides you with a good faith estimate of cost and fees
Communicates with you throughout the loan process in a timely manner
Coordinates the final closing of your transaction