A good faith estimate is an estimate of a mortgage scenario from a lender. Lenders are required to give potential borrowers a written Good Faith Estimate (GFE) of closing costs within three days of an application submission. Read here for more information about good faith estimates and mortgage costs.
Mortgage Lender Won’t Send Good Faith Estimate
A mortgage lender approves a borrower but does not say it in writing. The borrower calls and writes the mortgage lender. The mortgage lender does not respond to the borrower. What can the borrower do?
Down Payment Amount Varies With Good Faith Estimate
What's an appropriate amount of earnest money or down payment? When you're buying a home you'll likely pay some earnest money to show your good faith - that you're really interested in the home. But how much money to put down as earnest money, which can later become your down payment, varies depending on the area where the home is located and the real estate market.
Good Faith Estimate For New Construction
When you're buying new construction you'll have to make a down payment, or a good faith estimate to show that you're interested in the property. Developers set their own standards for down payments or good faith estimates. To get the best deal on new construction it's good to hire a buyer's agent so you don't go into negotiations unprepared.
Closing Cost Hell
One of the biggest complaints consumers have about the loan process is that the good faith estimate (GFE) is so often wrong -- and wrong in a big way....
Ilyce Glink on WSB Radio – January 29, 2006
Ilyce starts the show by talking about "good faith estimates" and continues a discussion on mortgage fraud. Ilyce then takes calls on topics from "cleaning up" a credit report to establishing credit.
PMI Changes At Closing
A home buyer received a good faith estimate including an estimated amount for the private mortgage insurance. At the closing, the PMI amount was different. By choosing a different type of loan or increasing your loan amount, they could have affected the amount of the monthly PMI payment. However, the home buyer could have avoided PMI all together with an 80/10/10 loan.
Mortgage Broker Forgets Refinancing Fee For Title Company
When you close on a mortgage refinancing you have to pay closing costs again. Among those closing costs may be a fee for a title company. What happens if your mortgage broker forgets to tell you about the title company fee until after the closing? Is it your responsibility to pay the title company fee after closing? No, it's not the responsibility of the mortgage borrower to pay for the mortgage broker's omission.
Lender Baiting And Switching Mortgage Rate
A lender agreed to give a homeowner a certain interest rate when they signed a good faith estimate. Now the rate is higher and the borrowers are being told they never locked in the low rate with the lender. The lender may have pulled a bait-and-switch with the interest rate.
Reporting A Bad Lender
If a lender won't provide you with a good faith estimate, or any other important information you ask for, they might be trying to do some shady dealings. After discovering closing costs are too high and canceling the loan, a borrower asks about where to file a complaint against a lender. To find a better lender, always interview at least four or five different types of mortgage lenders at the same time, and try to compare the loan programs on an apples-to-apples basis.
Mortgage Broker Refuses Good Faith Estimate
After paying a $300 loan application fee, a homeowner has yet to receive a good faith estimate from the mortgage broker. Ilyce states that The Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) requires lenders to provide the good faith estimate in 3 days.