"Online" mortgages - any good ones?

[Injuneer]

I'm in the market to refinance my mortgage. Just for the heck of it, I tried an online site that claimed it would get you at least four contacts for a mortgage. I was inundated by phone calls and e-mail. I couldn't believe the high pressure sales pitches, and misleading quotes. Only one or two of the companies gave me a quote that appeared to be "honest"... and both of them had substantially higher rates than the other sleezeballs.

Most of the quotes and alledged "good faith estimates" did not reflect the deal I asked for, and in most cases simply didn't add up correctly, typically with a loan value $2,000 to $10,000 higher than I wanted, after reflecting my current balance, a bit of cash out, escrows, and rolling in the legitimate costs, fees, title insurance, etc.

Virtually everyone I talked to claimed to be the only honest lender in the business, had the best/lowest rates, had the lowest fees, etc. The highest pressure pitch came from Quicken, and a quick visit to the Rip-Off Report website showed numerous customer complaints of fraud and dishonst deals.

Anyone have good luck with an online source? Or would I just be better off dealing with a local source, where I can look the person in the eye, and know where to find them if they try and screw me?

[Steel2686]

Actually, Fred... I just refinanced three months ago using Lending Tree. I also had a barrage of phone calls (at lkeast 20 in two days) from potential companies.

I had them all give me definitive quotes. The companies who wouldn't, were subsiquently crossed off my list. I narrowed it down to three companies, then two, then chose the best one as the last two had competing rates. I looked at things like consumer rating, bill pay methods (some companies charge fees unless you use their auto-pay system).

I came to a conclusion on one I liked a lot and am happy about the decision. So in short, I would do online mortgages again. Just do some homework and you should be fine.

Good luck, Fred.

[Dorie]

Our youngest son used ING and said he'd do go that route again.

Dorie

[Al 96 Ram Air T/A]

I had very good success with Ivy Mortgage. Did everything over the phone.

[Injuneer]

Tahnks for the feedback.

Al - Is Ivy in NJ?

[Al 96 Ram Air T/A]

I think they have offices in NJ...not sure. I wanna say Princeton based, but that was a few years back. I never met the guy I worked with, Craig Talerico. We did everything over the phone.

I like outfits like Ivy because they are mortgage brokers. When you deal with a specific bank, the can only get what their chain offers. With a broker like Ivy, they get the best rate from across the nation, regardless of bank. My note was sold four times already. Currently, Wells Fargo has it. I believe the original holder was a bank out in Wisconsin. As long as the bank is backed by FDIC, (and Ivy only works with FDIC banks), then it doesn't matter who gives you the loan. The APR is the only thing that matters.

Don't forget to ask about fees. There are more to re-fi's than just APR (rates). Some have hidden closing fees. My current rate is 5.25%.

[Mark B]

I did that lendingtree.com thing as well & had very similar results... TONS of phone calls from high pressure lenders. All of which seemed like rip-off artists. I ended up not re-fiing at all. Just too many hidden closing costs. I would have lossed about 10k in closing costs. That wasnt a hit I was willing to take. Next time I am looking for a mortgage, I will only be dealing with local banks that have someone that I can talk to.