6 Warning Signs of A Bad Mortgage Loan

In the world of Real Estate, there are two very important professionals that the client needs to deal with when purchasing a home. A lot of real-estate agents and mortgage originators team up together to help the client with finding a home and financing the home. As a real-estate agent, you should be aware of the 6 signs to a bad mortgage so that you make sure your client is getting offered the best products around. (Especially if you are working with a mortgage professional that you aren’t familiar with)  As a mortgage originator, you should be aware of the 6 signs so that you aren’t putting your client into a bad mortgage or you can advise someone who is about to get into a bad mortgage.

1. Tells the client that they can be “creative” with the financing. Well, if “creative” constitutes falsifying information then there could be jail time, fines and possibly the full note called due at that time. Unfortunately, there has been a lot of press on mortgage professionals and clients falsifying documents to get the transactions done. Be leery of “creative” financing. Find out all the details and make sure nothing is fraudulent.

2. Being pushed into too high of a payment. The client needs to sit down and make a budget. Lenders don’t account for every little bill the client may have when qualifying them for financing. There are certain items not calculated into the debt ratio that may effect whether or not they can actually make that payment. Lenders also use gross income which the client only has net income to cover the bills.

3. Make sure the borrower is given the proper disclosures. A mortgage professional is required by law to give the borrower a copy of the Truth in Lending (which discloses the APR) and a Good Faith Estimate (which is a breakdown of the estimated closing costs). These documents must be given to the borrower within 3 days of application. Make sure the borrower understands these documents and if they don’t make sure they seek out their mortgage professional to explain them in detail to them so they do understand.

4. Be very careful of those professionals who promise one thing and then deliver another just before closing. If you are using an experienced mortgage professional, there should be no surprises just before the signing. Sometimes situations do come up throughout the process of the loan. However, the borrower should be notified immediately of any issues and how their loan will be changed so together they can decide if the mortgage still meets their budget.

5. Asked to sign blank papers. This is NEVER ok. Nobody involved in a financial transaction such as a mortgage should be signing any blank papers. You need to advise the borrower to put an X thru the document and then sign. If that is unacceptable by the mortgage professional then they need to report that person to his/her superior or the MLD.

6. Won’t give copies of signed paperwork. The borrower has a right to have copies of the initial signed paperwork so they can review them at their convenience. These documents are preliminary numbers in the beginning of the transaction. There should be nothing to hide by the mortgage professional and if they won’t give copies of signed papers, the borrower needs to ask “What are they hiding?”.

These are 6 of the most common red flags that come up when people are applying for financing. It is important that professionals in the real-estate industry are aware of these things, in case, it happens to their client. This way we can all protect the consumer from a bad loan. Bad loans only hurt the industry and the consumer in the long run. It is our job as professionals to help stop this from happening when people are trying to finance their dream home. We all want our clients to realize the dream of home ownership now we need to make sure that their dream doesn’t turn into a bad nightmare with the wrong financing.

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Mark Madsen

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