First let's get the easy one out of the way:
If you were purchasing or refinancing a property with acreage that is probably the root of the problem. Most lenders won't admit it, but they have difficulty doing properties with acreage. The solution to that problem is to change Lenders. We've found we can do properties with up to 100 acres as long as the dwelling value is close to 50% of the value. We make our loans based upon dwelling value, if the majority of the value is in the land or other improvements then you need to contact a Land Bank. We can give you the phone numbers of several good ones.

If the issue isn't acreage property then it is a rare case that only one problem causes a turn down - usually it is a myriad of little things.

Usually it is poor documentation &/or presentation of the Borrower's information by the Lender. A weakness in one area leads the underwriter to look more carefully in other areas. Because they are now looking more negatively this could cause them to make mountains out of molehills or find multiple other issues.

You never want an underwriter actively seeking weaknesses. You want the Underwriter looking thru "rose colored glasses" expecting to find good things. Proper presentation of a borrower's information is the single most important duty of a mortgage company!!

In this section you will be looking for the general underlying cause, not a specific action. Once you discover the cause you can look for the action. Read or re-read Underwriting Guidelines for specific ways to address the cause. You can also give us a call at (817) 204-0028 or (972) 644-8244.

One thing out of your control is the reputation of the Mortgage company within the industry.

If your mortgage company habitually submits sloppily prepared files with insufficient or limited documentation the Underwriters become accustomed to having to very carefully scrutinizing ALL their loans.

Since no loan is perfect this could lead to a lot of picky approval conditions on even the cleanest of loans OR cause a turndown on a loan that might otherwise have been approved.

If you have had your loan picked apart or turned down for no apparent reason give us a call. The Underwriters know us and expect good things from our files and documentation. We have had better than a 95% approval rate since 1984 whereas national norms say most companies have over a 40% turndown rate. (see also Processing & Approvals)

Why we do it differently

In today's market, more & more prospective borrowers have special or not-quite normal situations requiring extra or expert attention.

A fair amount of the time these are not insurmountable problems, BUT since most mortgage companies are not set up to spend the extra time necessary to ensure a clean approval under the terms you prefer, it causes Buyers more than their share of heartburn. The nightmares caused by these problems can lead to stress, strain, blurred vision, and more than a few ulcers!

 

 

24+ years old & counting! FINANCIER$ Mortgage Group is a mortgage brokerage firm founded upon the principles of old fashioned integrity and hard work.

 

We are equipped to handle most loan situations & our rates are the same as or better than any of the competition. We have enough investors to offer very competitive rates on all situations from Mr. & Mrs. Clean to Fred & Wilma Slowpay. Our focus is personal attention to each individual loan and borrower.

 

We operate a little differently than the typical mortgage company. You'll find our Loan Officers do not focus on getting people to make a loan APPLICATION so much as getting people a LOAN. It is a subtle but significant difference which is responsible for our over 95% approval rate vs the national norm of only 66%. In other words you won't find that our Loan Officers are pushy Salespeople.

They have the responsibility of working with the Processor from the point of application all the way thru closing. We do it this way so you can be assured of having someone who knows all about your situation and someone who is very interested in the outcome of your loan involved from start to finish.

 

To further insure your loan does not get lost in PROCESSOR LIMBO we pay our processors a commission. They do not make a dime unless they can get your loan approved. This means that everyone at our company has a stake in getting your loan approved.

 

If we take the loan application you can be confident your loan has the maximum chance of approval. We know our system works because we only had 1 turndowns in 2006 and 2in 2007 even after the market cratered. As a matter of fact, our lifetime average is over a 95% approval rate compared to a national average of only 56%!

 

Rather than get everyone's hopes up unnecessarily, we will not even begin a loan application until after a Buyer has been thru a rigorous Evaluation and Discovery process that ensures we can get them a loan they will be happy with. This way property & Sellers will not be tied up for an indefinite period with an unqualified Buyer. This also means you will not surprised at the last minute with unpalatable loan options or higher interest rates.

If in this Evaluation process we find your situation is such that an approval is not likely, we will show you your options and if none are satisfactory we will take the time to show you what can be done to allow you to purchase later. If you never address the issues, you may never be able to buy a home. Many times with only a delay of a week or more we are able to completely change the types of loans, interest rates and downpayment options available to you.

 

Every party to the transaction will be kept informed of a loan's progress by regular written Progress Reports that augment our regular phone follow ups.

We also attend all closings, not only to lend a caring & personal touch, but we are also there to keep any last minute questions from becoming last minute problems.

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EVALUATION & Discovery

The 5 P's - Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance - it's an old saw, but true nevertheless.

Our preparatory EVALUATION process is not the usual 3 question 5 minute "quickie" PQ that is so common. Nor is it a simplified formula of salary to debt calculation.

Evaluation is the first and one of the most basic steps towards getting the loan you want. The EVALUATION entails 30 to 90 minutes of in-depth counseling and discovering your options. We take the extra time and effort to check credit, explore stability factors as well as targeting all areas of the prospective your financial characteristics just as if we were submitting your loan at that time.

We try to look at all the same factors the Underwriter will use to approve your loan. If necessary we will even put your situation in front of a couple of Underwriters to clarify any issues. It's a lot more work for us this way, but if an Underwriter will consider these factors later in the approval process, we need to know about them NOW! If we find we cannot give you the loan type and interest rate you desire we will not proceed.

 

To put together an effective and approvable loan package, the loan officer must be aware of ALL of your strengths and weaknesses. Keep in mind the Underwriter is paid to turn down any questionable loans, even at the expense of some good loans. So we will be actively seeking negative information.

That does not mean we take a negative attitude, but we must first discover the weaknesses before we can do anything about them. Better WE discover them up front than have the Underwriter discover them at the last second. Please bear with us during the Discovery phase and remember we are not trying to be negative, only thorough. We need to gather the information that will allow us to emphasize the strengths, address the weaknesses and make a case to the underwriter for the logical approval of your loan.

 

The best starting point for a loan approval is not the loan application, but PRIOR to loan application.

 

Here is a list of the items an underwriter looks at and a little about what they expect to see: (which is why we include them in our EVALUATION process)

 

A) DETAILED Income information. HOW someone is paid can be more important than HOW MUCH.

B) Debt information. It is difficult if not impossible for a Buyer to give a mortgage company an accurate qualifying debt load because an individual does not know the guidelines under which we operate.

Mortgage companies calculate the debt load differently than the person paying the bills. YOU count how much you write the checks for each month but we don't! There are numerous debts we do not have to count and many others that are counted differently than you might expect. We will step you thru the process debt by debt and then if necessary, show you how to "adjust" your qualifying debt load with the minimum amount of time and $$ possible. We actively seek ways to approve people.

C) Credit History. Unfortunately mortgage companies have to count what is reported (right or wrong) rather than what is real. We pull the raw data credit reports (not the sanitized reports you and most mortgage companies receive) which lets us see HOW the erroneous data got on the report in the first place. We also take the time to help people correct their reports so they secure the credit scores they deserve and have the maximum chance of loan approval.

Let me give you an example of what a difference the raw data report and a fresh set of eyes can make. Recently we had some customers who came to us after being turned down at 3 different mortgage companies and 2 banks. BEFORE PROCESSING all companies had PreQualified them and told them they could get a loan with a low downpayment and low interest rate. AFTER PROCESSING everyone turn them down or offered them a 20% down, 14% "B" loan.

We looked at their file and found there was a credit problem and an appraisal issue.

It seems that many of the credit card companies are now reporting credit card information not only on the cardholder's credit report but also reporting it on all the authorized users credit. THEY CAN'T DO THAT!  They were authorized users on a company card with a huge balance and a few lates and he was an authorized user on one of his Mother's accounts that, although was paid in a timely manner, it had a 5 figure balance. A couple of phone calls and we had letters removing them.

The appraisal issue was just as easy to correct. 10 minutes on the phone with the appraiser and we had a more positive way of saying the same thing and the Underwriters loved it. Remember that both the person and the property have to be approved to get a mortgage loan.

We increased their credit scores by over 50 points, lowered their debt ratios by almost 20% and got the property approved. In so doing we were then able to offer them a 3% down "A" loan and lowered their interest rate over 6% from what they had been offered.

D) Residence - Underwriters want to see stability and would prefer no more than 2 addresses in the past 2 years.

E) Employment History - Underwriters want to see stability and would prefer no more than 2 addresses in the past 2 years.

F) Liquidity - They will inspect your cash flow history and are looking for the flow of cash, not isolated incidents of cash infusion. They are looking for your ability to manage money and any suspicious deposits.

G) Cash Reserves - because of the costs of the move they will typically look for you to have at least 2 months payments in reserves.

As you can see many factors other than income and debts influence an underwriters' opinion of a loan package. Income to debt ratios are less than half of the approval process.

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Why was my loan Turned Down?

What did you hear when you asked that question of your other mortgage company? (By the way, this is not a question many people have ever had the occasion to ask FINANCIER$ Mortgage)

Regardless of what you hear, here are some of the more common reasons for loan turndowns:
(BTW You won't hear these excuses from us, remember we did an EVALUATION and determined you could get a loan you were happy with BEFORE we even took the loan application.)

 

"You didn't fit loan criteria"

Solution: We have numerous investors instead of the usual 2 or 3 so we can closely match the appropriate Underwriter to your situation. We made an accurate match because we did a thorough EVALUATION & INVESTIGATION before we took a loan application. If needed, we passed your situation by an Underwriter(s) at that time so that we could find out which Underwriter would be the most sympathetic & ensure we discovered & documented all the hidden intricacies.

We've been on your side of the fence as Sellers/Buyers/Realtors/Builder/ & Loan Applicant! Therefore we have tried to structure our company to minimize turndowns & eliminate those last minute surprises.

By the way, we also try to fully disclose all costs to you so you don't get to closing and have a heart attack. Title companies tell us the average buyer is surprised with an EXTRA $2,000 in closing costs. On the other hand, we are disappointed if we are more than $200 off.

 

"Poor Processing?"

Solution: Many times a Loan Officer said this to shift blame from themselves and put it on the processor's shoulders. Our system is different, our processors and Loan Officers work together. The Loan Officers stay involved from Application to Closing and even do a portion of the processing.

Since the Loan Officer knows the Buyer's situation more intimately than the processor, verifications can be done during the time frame that best suits the Buyer's needs & problems can be handled immediately. Further, we send regular written Progress Reports to all parties so everyone is updated on the status of the loan and can help us resolve problems early in the transaction so no one is surprised at the last second.

Approximately a third of our business has already been turned down elsewhere so we are accustomed to cleaning up other company's messes in the minimum amount of time.

The one thing we cannot guard against is a change in the Buyer's situation. Over the years we have seen many things develop during processing such as a job changes, late payments, collections or additional debts. Those are items outside a mortgage company's control and can completely change the Buyer's approvability. BUT many of these things can be overcome with a little judicious extra processing and documentation.

 

"You were submitted under the wrong loan program."

Solution: This goes back to the very beginning. Once again, the 5 P's of our thorough preparatory INVESTIGATION of the your situation has let us determine the appropriate program for you before we even begin loan application. If there are any uncertainties as to the appropriate loan program you will be aware of this before we begin. We will give you the necessary information to make an informed decision as to whether you want to proceed. We will strive to get you the most advantageous loan program, but if we can't, we will have an acceptable (to you) back up program that will not be a surprise to anyone.

With that said there is one circumstance that could force any mortgage company to have to make a last minute change. Sometimes a "special" loan program can be withdrawn from the market with little or no notice.

Notice I said "special" program, we are not talking about any of the more common loan types but something more on the line of a 100%, No Income, Investment loan at 3.75% or something equally esoteric. Special loan programs are usually available only for a limited amount of time so a build job or some other lengthy closing circumstance could put you in jeopardy.  Other than a quick closing I know of no solution for this problem, because even locking the loan doesn't protect you if the loan is no longer available.

We have almost three hundred loan programs spread out over many investors whom we know very well. The right program and investor for the buyer means more approvals and more importantly, We will never practice any BAIT & SWITCH tactics which unfortunately are common in our industry. But then again, most Loan Officers are Sales People.

 

" Debts caused excessive ratios."

Solution: Basically all this means is that the buyer doesn't qualify for a loan. Once again you need to ask yourself, why is this problem just now being discovered? Why wasn't everyone told this BEFORE loan application? Why was this loan even being processed? This costs everyone involved a lot of unnecessary time, money and aggravation. Once again, our EVALUATION process will eliminate most problems like this before the loan application is ever made!

Once the problem exists, one solution might be a reduction in debt or maybe a switch to a different loan type. If you have the money, we can help you make the best use of it. It is not always necessary to pay a debt off to eliminate it's impact. In a lot of cases all that is necessary is a reduction in the balance. If debt reduction isn't an option, alternative financing may be your only hope.

We have many different types of alternative financing from mild to wild. Many do not even have a penalty in rate or term! If you must take a loan with a higher rate, some of our programs automatically lower the Buyer's interest rate after they make 12 on-time payments

 

"You have a judgment/charge off or collection item with a balance."

Solution: Here I go again, I don't mean to sound like a broken record, but there is rarely a problem on the tail end that cannot be traced to inadequate preparation on the front end.

Unless the collection happened or was reported during the loan process, this is something that should have been discovered in an initial INVESTIGATION long before you tied yourself, property & credit lines up with a worthless contract. Why is this just now becoming an issue? This could have been corrected a long time ago when there was ample time.

Presuming you need a quick close, at this late date there may be only one solution (at a reasonable interest rate) - the balance must be removed! BUT DON'T JUST GO OUT AND PAY OFF THE BALANCE!!! IT HAS TO BE DONE THE PROPER WAY OR IT CAN DESTROY YOUR CREDIT AND CHANCES FOR ANY TYPE OF LOAN APPROVAL!!  We can explain to you the best way to remove the balance and, in most cases, help you obtain the most favorable credit report possible by showing you how to get the collection totally removed from your credit reports so there is little or no impact upon your credit scores.

WARNING!! Simply paying the balance off can make your credit worse!! There is more to it than paying the balance! I know it sounds crazy, but you must learn to work within the system. See the section on Credit and Credit Scores to understand how this can happen.

 

"We can approve you, but at a 'High-Risk' rate (i.e. 12-15% or with a 1 month ARM with a low teaser interest rate & maybe even throw in a little negative amortization so the mortgage company can make some more money)."

Solution: Did you notice that the only one being penalized for the mortgage company's failure to do their job is you? We have found that in most cases, with just a little extra work, we can effectively reduce your risk factor and submit you to a lower rate lender. This is what processing a loan is all about, not just collecting data, but structuring the data so that you are presented to the Underwriter in the best possible way. If your risk factor cannot be reduced sufficiently, we have lenders that will accept higher risk buyers at much more competitive rates than 12-15%.

What really happened? There was no EVALUATION of the Buyer's situation before loan application! At most mortgage companies their cookie-cutter loan process ensures a file is never looked at from a qualifying standpoint, until it is submitted to an underwriter. Which explains why there is approximately a 44% TD ratio nationally. This makes for a lot of last minute, ulcer causing, problems that need to be resolved. You are more than a number to us.

Another Solution: Continued involvement by our loan officers assures quality processing. Our initial Evaluation & Investigation will highlight potential concerns and problems. This allows us the maximum amount of time to work with you to determine the best possible course of action and gives us the time to resolve any issues. We tell you right up front what you CAN DO right now, what you CANNOT DO under any circumstances, and what you NEED TO DO to enhance your chances for approval. This saves everyone's valuable time.

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