Shopping for a mortgage or home loan can help you get the best financing deal -
. A mortgage - whether it is to finance a new home purchase, refinancing of an existing mortgage, or obtaining a home equity loan for home improvement - is a product, so the price -
- and terms are negotiable.
, fees, and closing costs involved in obtaining a mortgage. Shopping, comparing, and negotiating can save you significant dollars.
Thursday, May 27, 2010 -
Financial overhaul targets lending practices of mortgage crisis.
Included in the sweeping financial legislation being considered by Congress are little-publicized provisions aimed at preventing a repeat of the mortgage meltdown that ultimately doomed global financial markets.
The provisions are designed to curb abusive lending practices that lured people into ill-suited mortgage loans prone to foreclosure.
The provisions would change the way loan officers are compensated, hold lenders responsible for the mortgage loans they make, require them to extend mortgages only to borrowers who can repay them and limit penalties for those who pay off their loans early.
A key provisions deals with the compensation of loan officers and mortgage broker. The provisions would bar lenders from sweetening compensation for mortgage loans with higher rates or other features, such as prepayment penalties.
It would bar prepayment penalties on adjustable-rate
mortgage loans, subprime mortgages and mortgages, for instance, that have excessively high fees or interest rates. For standard fixed-rate mortgages, the penalties would be allowed only in the first three years. Lenders would have to document a borrower's income and assets, and so-called “no documentation” loans would be prohibited.