Quicken easy
Written: Jul 30 '02 (Updated Jul 30 '02)
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Pros: Online financial services at their best: fast, cheap, and convenient
Cons: Don't get to drive across town to close my loan in some fasttalking lender's cubicle
The Bottom Line: This is what web services are supposed to be all about. A huge improvement over the old refinancing model of shopping for loans myself.
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| sundogg99's Full Review: Quicken Loans |
I've always been of the opinion that having more money is inherently preferable to having less money. It's a simple but satisfying financial model for me. And since my top line income isn't exactly going through the roof these days, about the only way to feel like there's more money is to reduce my expenses.
Since, like most people, a mortgage payment is my largest single monthly expense, it made sense to see if there was any wiggle room there. I've refinanced several times in the past, and although it's always been a tedious and time-consuming process, the effort has always resulted in a net savings, freeing up my money for more important things like beer.
Although I'm generally conservative about such things, preferring the predictability of a 30 year fixed mortgage, this time around I was prepared to be a bit more aggressive, particularly since the mortgage industry has done a good job of coming up with new loan programs that offer the buyer considerably more flexibility than in the past.
After doing a little research, I had decided that I was in the market for what's called a 5/1 ARM, a 30 year adjustable rate loan that offers a fixed rate for the first 5 years of its term. The attractive thing about this loan is that the interest rate for fixed portion of the loan is considerably below the fixed rate for traditional 15 or 30 year mortgages. My plans are to sell this house within the next few years, so the 5/1 ARM essentially buys me the security of a fixed rate loan for the time I need it, but at a lower interest rate.
A wealth of online resources made it very easy for me to get a sense of the market rates and associated refinancing fees for this kind of loan. Once I knew the type of loan I wanted and the general rate I'd have to pay, I went shopping for the lender who would charge the least to set up the loan for me.
Again, it was a relatively simple matter to compare lenders' fees. There are a number of websites that serve as a clearinghouse for loan applicants - by typing in the basic info (name, property address, type of loan, etc), I was able to get my requirements in front of any number of lenders, who then competed for my business.
This was the only part of the experience that was a little aggravating. I answered a lot of phone calls from people trying to sell me a loan, some of whom had a pretty hard sell approach. I quickly learned to interrupt their sales pitch and narrowed my questions down to specifics: For a loan of X dollars, what will my closing costs be, and what will my monthly payment be? By keeping all the extraneous information out of the conversation, I was able to fairly closely compare apples and apples.
Among the people I spoke to was the relentlessly perky Kelly from Quicken Loans. She quickly distinguished herself from many of her competitors by listening to what I wanted, addressing my needs, and doing so in lightning quick time. In addition, her company offered competitive rates and fees, and had the added advantage of her association with the Quicken name.
For these reasons, when it came time to decide on a lender, I chose Kelly and Quicken. Once we agreed to go, things went very quickly. I gave her my credit card number to cover a $500 deposit which was credited to my closing costs. With the deposit funds, Quicken arranged for a local appraiser to evaluate the house. The appraiser contacted me within a day and we arranged a time for him to evaluate the property. While he completed his report, Kelly walked me through the maze of paperwork that accompanies any of these transactions.
The loan documents were emailed to me with much of the boilerplate information pre-filled based on info I had provided in my original online application and over the phone with Kelly. I printed the forms, added a few additional bits of information, signed them, and faxed them back to Quicken.
A week later, when the appraisal was submitted, the title, the flood plain, and numerous other bits of minutiae checked out, the loan documents were completed and Kelly arranged for a notary to come to my house to get signatures on the final documents.
Bottom line:
My entire refinancing experience with Quicken Loans, from the time I decided to use them until the loan closed and the proceeds were in my hands, took about 3 weeks. My personal time investment was minimal - I had to sign a few things for the loan application, dig up my tax returns and pay stubs, etc, and take an hour on a Saturday morning with the notary to sign everything -- a total of maybe 3-4 hours.
My refinanced loan paid off my first and second mortgages as well as some high interest credit card debt and reduced my monthly cash outlay by almost $400 - not a bad return on my investment, even in these rollercoaster financial days.
Recommended:
Yes
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