Must have an amex to add offer to your account. Details:
Unlock even more as an
American Express® Card Member with an exclusive mortgage offer from Better.com
Better.com is making the homebuying and refinance experiences more rewarding, with a $2,500 statement credit and more, exclusively for eligible Card Members. See offer terms below.
https://www.americanexpress.com/u...-OfferHub2
EDIT information from Better.com!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hello,
I work with Better,com and wanted to see if you could please add in the following information to your post on Amex/Better,com deal as it reads incorrect as it stands, especially regarding eligibility. We want to make sure the offer is stated as accurately as possible:
1) Mortgage rates of any specific customer, stated or otherwise, should not be taken as indicative of a mortgage rate available to all customers. Pricing is based on a number of factors, including the individual credit profile of a potential borrower.
2) The offer is only available to those borrowers who have been marketed to directly by American Express, and those who have not received the offer on their Amex portal or via email are not eligible.
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06/15 - 06/19: Rate shopping with Better, LoanDepot, and LenderFi.
06/19: Better's concierge matched and I authorized a hard credit pull to continue.
06/25: Appraiser came and took measurements and pictures.
07/08: Appraisal report finished.
07/15: Title work finished.
07/20: Initial closing disclosure received, along with request to input Amex credit card number.
07/23: Final closing disclosure received.
07/24: Closing.
07/28: Disbursement.
Final Costs for a 2.75% 30yr mortgage:
A: $0, B: $61, C: $3,150; Lender Credit: $4,650
With the $2,500 credit, this will be a net ~$4,000. Fantastic deal.
06/15 - 06/19: Rate shopping with Better, LoanDepot, and LenderFi.
06/19: Better's concierge matched and I authorized a hard credit pull to continue.
06/25: Appraiser came and took measurements and pictures.
07/08: Appraisal report finished.
07/15: Title work finished.
07/20: Initial closing disclosure received, along with request to input Amex credit card number.
07/23: Final closing disclosure received.
07/24: Closing.
07/28: Disbursement.
Final Costs for a 2.75% 30yr mortgage:
A: $0, B: $61, C: $3,150; Lender Credit: $4,650
With the $2,500 credit, this will be a net ~$4,000. Fantastic deal.
https://www.americanexp
Amex deal sounds sweet. Don't have it so cant take advantage.
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Quote has it $800(lender insurance and settlement fee), but notary fee was added after title was ordered.
It is now $925 with notary added. Is this correct? Feels like bait and switch that they add notary fee after quote was given.
Quote has it $800(lender insurance and settlement fee), but notary fee was added after title was ordered.
It is now $925 with notary added. Is this correct? Feels like bait and switch that they add notary fee after quote was given.
Sent it over to better and they matched it.
This is for 2.625% 30 year fixed.
I'm eligible for the $2500 amex credit. After title fees, i'd be getting about $3k in pocket.
Is this a decent deal? I've seen others here with more lender credit, not sure if i should try to get loan cabin to beat better and then go for another round.
Quote has it $800(lender insurance and settlement fee), but notary fee was added after title was ordered.
It is now $925 with notary added. Is this correct? Feels like bait and switch that they add notary fee after quote was given.
06/15 - 06/19: Rate shopping with Better, LoanDepot, and LenderFi.
06/19: Better's concierge matched and I authorized a hard credit pull to continue.
06/25: Appraiser came and took measurements and pictures.
07/08: Appraisal report finished.
07/15: Title work finished.
07/20: Initial closing disclosure received, along with request to input Amex credit card number.
07/23: Final closing disclosure received.
07/24: Closing.
07/28: Disbursement.
Final Costs for a 2.75% 30yr mortgage:
A: $0, B: $61, C: $3,150; Lender Credit: $4,650
With the $2,500 credit, this will be a net ~$4,000. Fantastic deal.
Rates are normally quoted in a spread, where you pay points to get the rate down, or receive credits to take a higher rate. Points are about 1% of the loan amount. If you get quoted a rate of 3% on a 30 year on a loan of $250K, then 2.75% you'd pay $2500, and at 3.25% you'd get lender credit of $2500.
Someone borrowing $500K is both paying more and receiving more lender credit.
At any point in time, there is a par rate that lenders offer where they offer the rate with no "points" or percentages of the loan amount for that rate. If you want a better rate you have to "buy down" which means to pay those points, BUT if you take a worse rate than par, the lender will give you a "credit" for taking that worse rate. What many do in an environment like this with declining rates, and especially when they aren't in a property where they plan to stay for the duration of the loan, is to take a rate that is worse than par along with the lender "credit" which offsets some of the unavoidable loan costs (title, credit check, appraisal fee if an appraisal is necessary...). If the lender credit is big enough, it will also begin to cover some or all of the prepaid amounts you need to give the lender at closing since every lender wants to have a certain level of prepaid amounts for your homeowner's insurance and property taxes.
Using myself as an example, my particulars enable me to get 2.5 or so with no points and no origination fee at the most competitive lenders. But since I plan to sell this house a in a couple years, I decided to take 2.75% with a $5K lender credit. Since my actual loan costs (title and credit pull fee, i.e., my A+B+C Loan Estimate costs) come out to $1000, I am being essentially given $4000 extra dollars to close this loan - that money will be deducted from my prepaids (E+F+G), leaving me with very little to bring to closing. While it feels like that $4k is being sucked away by my prepaids, the reality is those are REAL costs that have nothing to do with closing this loan. These constitute homeowner's insurance and property taxes I have to pay. And guess what? When I close the loan, all of the escrow balance from my prior lender - which will roughly equal the prepaids required for my new loan -- is given back to me via a check cut to me. So it's indirect, but it's still pure profit. Better's additional gift is the $2500 which gives me essentially $6500 in profit to close this loan.
In a declining rate environment, taking a worse rate, getting a lender credit as large as you can get (there are rules that limit how high they can go, but that's too deep for this post), and then refi'ing again as rates drop further, can actually make you decent money. And with lenders like Better who don't care whether you immediately refi (which is a big no-no with many other lenders), folks are banking it. In short, you are being paid by the lender to take a worse rate. Again, this is a tactic used in declining rate environments, since in most cases, you'd like the best rate you can get, especially if you plan to stay awhile in the home you are refi'ing.
I personally think we are starting to see the bottom in rates as rates start to re-couple with the 10-year treasury yields - for the last few months, the pandemic has caused havoc in normal market movement - so the takeaway from me is that if you are in your forever home, get the best rate you can, but if you are in a home you plan to sell in a couple years, take a nice lender credit. There are calculators all over the internet to calculate your "break-even" point, which is when (i) any amount you've spent to get the rate you want breaks even with the savings that rate gives you per month or, from another angle, (ii) when the lender credit you took in exchange for a worse rate gets eclipsed by the savings you'd have with a lower rate. Again, in my example, the difference in monthly payment between the 2.625 I could get and the 2.75 I took is about $60/month. Given that I made $6500 on taking the higher rate (versus nothing at 2.625), my break-even point would be $6500/$60 = 108 months, or 9 years. If I stayed past 9 years, the 2.625 would have been the better option, but as I mentioned, I'll be out of here way before that.
Why I spent time explaining this in such detail, I don't know. But there you have it. I should note that a veteran member Shahhere has created an invaluable post that folks should take the time to READ. It explains much of these as well as provides datapoints regarding various providers.
Is it Radian TItle insurance? WHats best contact?
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