Shopping for FHA loans with low interest rates – Be careful of what you read
.When shopping for mortgages for FHA loans or any other type of loan, you have to be really careful in what you read. As you can see in regards to the snapshot on the left, some companies are listing interest rates that don’t even exist. Or do they? Let’s look at each company’s ad.
1.) Take the first one that states “Today’s FHA rates” in blue. Do you even know if that rate is a fixed rate or a adjustable rate? Yes, there are actually FHA adjustable rates in the low 3′s, but a 30 year FHA fixed rate would be in the mid to high 4′s. Don’t get me wrong, you could get a 30 year fixed rate at 3.875%, but it would cost you around 7 to 8 points just for the interest rate itself.
2.) In regards to the second company, they state no social security number needed or no credit check. I could quote you an interest rate, but it wouldn’t mean squat until I asked you some questions and pulled your credit report. It doesn’t matter what lender you use, everyone needs your credit scores to help determine your interest rate. Besides, depending on your credit scores and what type of mortgage you are applying for, there could be pricing hits for your credit scores.
3.) Lastly, the third ad states that bad credit is welcomed for FHA loans. One would need to define bad credit. This is just a feel good type of statement to give some hope. Sure, there are lenders that can help with less than perfect credit on FHA loans, but it might take some massaging. Besides, look at part of the link in green, FHA.BestRates____.us In my opinion, when companies advertise best interest rates or lowest interest rates, it’s just to get the phones to ring.
Summary : As I mentioned, consumers need to be very careful when shopping for mortgages online. Just because someone puts a very low rate out there, doesn’t mean that you can get that rate.
There have been new laws for mortgage companies and banks when advertising interest rates. If a lender was going to advertise an interest rate for FHA loans, they would need to state the APR, a loan amount, the P&I, and the LTV. As we can see, none of this was done with the ads shown above. But there is a good reason why. The ads above are those from companies that generate leads that are sold to mortgage companies. So these companies don’t have to follow the laws that are in place for mortgage lenders. Again, why you need to be very very careful when shopping for FHA loans online or any other type of mortgage.
