You need to be aware of two major pitfalls to using the services of an online lender. The first is the lender’s knowledge of a particular area, costs, customs, and the vendors needed to provide the mortgage. A nationwide lender that I once worked for used to take surveys of regional costs and use those figures to estimate the closing costs for their online customers. Often these costs were off by hundreds of dollars that the customer didn’t find out about until a day or two before closing. Appraisers, title companies, attorneys, and many more service providers need to be utilized to complete a mortgage. Local lenders know these people and have relationships with them. These relationships often allow the local lender to provide a better and smoother process than a lender from out of the area.

The second major concern with online lending is the security. Most people know about email phishing where someone will send you an email offering you some wonderful opportunity to save money on anything from flip-flops to European vacations. Fraudulent mortgage scams are just one of the multitudes of businesses represented by these parasites. Legitimate mortgage companies will NEVER use these tactics. Delete them - period. For more info here's a site from the FDIC with information on avoiding phishing. Here’s another site from our friends at the federal government.

However, I am always amazed at how many people are willing to surf the internet for the best deal on a mortgage and fill out a loan application (complete with all their financial information and personal data) without knowing who the lender is or even questioning where their information is going. These same people are meticulous about shredding their monthly bank statements and credit card receipts out of fear that someone is rummaging through their trash bags on pickup day. Yet by filling out the online application they have knowingly provided all their personal information to an unknown company or person. All you need to do is read this article about a Michigan company or this one from Consumer Reports about fraudulent mortgage websites that are put together by illegitimate companies so that they can harvest the information about unsuspecting "customers". This data is then sold to other criminal enterprises or stored for later use.

Imagine a scenario where you complete an online application and the lender quotes you rates and terms that aren't competitive. Do you think they are going to delete all the information you provided? Are they really licensed? Do you think they even intended to process a loan? Do they even really exist? If they do exist, is it even in the USA? All you can do is hope that they don't take advantage of the information you provided.

Many of the websites that tout the fact that multiple lenders will bid on your loan are actually sending your information to lenders that have purchased the right to obtain your information as a "lead" or prospect. You don't know who they are until they contact you. From there, those lenders can contact other lenders with your information or even hold the information. I've been involved with these opportunities before and I wasn't comfortable with the business model. However, the big thing to note is that never once was I expected to establish any credentials or demonstrate my data integrity and security! Imagine the amount of data an unscrupulous lender could obtain on people in a very short amount of time - and this data would be provided voluntarily.

We are a Michigan based and fully licensed mortgage banker. Anything you submit over this website is 100 percent, fully secure. And we never, ever sell it anyone -- that is, if you're giving us information you want us to use to get you the best loan, we use that information to tell mortgage lenders about you and convince them to loan you money. In turn, those mortgage lenders are bound by federal law to keep your information secure.

I'm not sure if you found this site by a referral or by surfing the web. If you got here by a referral then hopefully that referral will assure you that we are a legitimate company with a proven track record of meeting homeowners' financing needs. If you found us by accident then you need to know that Home Loan Specialists has been in business since 1997. Our parent company, Mortgage One is located in Sterling Heights, MI and has branches throughout much of Michigan. For those of you that need to finance a home outside of the southeast Michigan region, this network of branches provides me the ability to speak to people in those areas where we do business and get the most accurate information about the area possible. If you live or work in the metro Detroit area then I'd like to invite you to our facility. Either way I look forward to helping you with your home financing needs.