Can we talk mortgages again? VA loan but I don't want it sold, help?

It's time for me to get mortgage #4 in my life, but the first one solo. The house is the one I've been renting since last October, and the sale is private party to private party, no realtors (title state so the title office can do all of the paperwork and escrow). I have VA loan eligibility and should have the necessary income/savings/debt to be approved. Who do I go through? My last one was with my local credit union, but they sold it to SunTrust (who can go DIAF) before the first payment was due. I bank with CapitalOne (who doesn't do mortgages apparently) and USAA (who are going through some things right now) as well.

Local broker? Another credit union? Online?

You don’t get to choose whether or not your mortgage gets sold. It belongs to the lender. 

Why avoid ones that sell it? What happened with suntrust? Mines been sold twice, and they gave me 2 months warning--the change took me all of 3 minutes of effort each time.

But to answer your question, Credit Unions will generally sell less than other originators, same if you go to an originator that buys a lot of them (Freedom Mortgage, Wells Fargo, BoA, etc.). Or, you can look for one that promises to continue servicing it even if they sell it.

Back In The Day when we bought our first and only house Fifth Third made a big deal about how they would always service the loan even though they expected it to be sold before the first payment was ever made.  It's been fine for the last 15 years.

mtn said:

Why avoid ones that sell it? What happened with suntrust?

Servicing hell. Specifically noon payment of property taxes and homeowner's insurance on time from the escrow, screwing up automatic payments, and SunTrust really messed up my ex taking over the mortgage solo. Took 5 months longer than promised and cost $17,000 more in closing than estimated. 

I’ve had a decent experience with National Bank of Kansas City. I’ve had my VA mortgage with them for about 6 years and they still have it. Refinanced once when the rates dropped.  Don’t know how they are with current rates because I haven’t paid attention to them, but they have been easy to deal with if you don’t mind doing everything online/on the phone. 

I am with Quicken Loans and they have been great and don't sell the mortgage.

So let's get specific. You don't want the 'servicer' to change. The servicer is who you make your payments to and who handles the escrow.

The owner of the debt can be a different person.

And I think it is safe to say that if you insist that the original owner of the debt never sell it to any other party in any way that you are probably significantly overpaying for the loan. My understanding is that most loans are eventually sold and packaged into mortgage backed securities, which becomes another revenue stream for the debt owner. If you don't want them to do that, you will need to at least expect to pay their opportunity cost of that lost revenue stream.

So I'm assuming you are looking for someone who services the loans they write indefinitely. Which still might be a hard bargain for you to drive, because a bank may have a policy now, but who knows what their policy will be in 10 years. Will they write mortgages that restrict them from making operational changes in the future? Not if they are smart.

For what it is worth, I have a mortgage with US bank. It is 5 years old and they are still servicing it even though they sold the debt within 45 days. Would I recommend them? Absolutely not. Their servicing is fine but their loan officers and underwriters that I experienced were incompetent up to and including not being able to copy the spelling of a name or address appropriately and THAT berkup seems small was certainly not when we noticed at closing.

Edited just a tad for fat fingers.

In reply to Robbie :

Thank you, and yes, I'm looking for continuous servicing (or at least an attempt at it) as opposed to the selling of debt (which I don't care about). Thank you for the warning on BofA, and incorrect address is a very serious concern in real property documents!

The foul up of your escrow account had nothing to do with the fact the SERVICER of your loan changed.  Somehow the original servicer wasn't on top of something that changed such as taxes and they'd have caught up with you regardless. 

VA loans are all made with the intention of being sold and most loans end up with a different SERVICER within a month or 2 of closing.  The SERVICER seldom has any relationship with the loan owner.

THERE IS NO REASON IN THIS MARKET THAT YOU SHOULD BE PAYING AN ORIGINATION FEE OR POINTS UNLESS YOU ARE GETTING A BELOW MARKET RATE OR A LENDER CREDIT.  I don't want to dis someone here, but...  this is something that can cost you a lot of money.

I've recently done 14 loans that the people began with someone else (Banks & Bankers) and we were from $3,197-$7,125 cheaper in closing costs and from .125% - .75% better in rate.  Check the fine print of your loan estimate or offer.  The Big Q is notorious for higher Closing Costs and slipping in points.  With that said, they weren't the worst offender.

CU as a whole are true middle men and rarely keep their loans and have some of the highest rates & costs.
 

In reply to carguy123 :

Dude thanks! Also, uh, where do you work? Are you a loan officer?

Javelin said:

In reply to carguy123 :

Dude thanks! Also, uh, where do you work? Are you a loan officer?

I'm in Fort Worth and have owned my own mortgage company for 35 years.  I can find you a good lender in your area if you'll send me a little info.

In reply to Javelin :

I’m sorry you had a bad experience. 

You seem to be getting really worked up. Everything you described could happen with virtually any company, even one that things have been going well with for a while. 

All of that can also be fixed. 

When you give a mortgage to a lender, it’s THEIR asset. They can do whatever they want with it. If they need to raise capital, they will certainly sell it. If they need to change servicing providers, they will. 

It’s just not worth getting stressed about- it’s out of your control. 

One thing to consider, the VA loan is the worst of the conventional, conforming mortgages. It has higher fees and interest rates compared to a Fan or Fred loan from the same lender. 

Best of luck on your purchase.