The Chairman of this committee is Rep. Barney Frank, and both Capuano and Lynch serve on the committee.
I know we can outflank the self-serving lobbyists if we all call our Congresscritters (and it can’t hurt to call people not in your district either) and tell them not to sit on this legislation – to make this the law it ought to have been for decades. How can anyone make a major financial decision without having all the information at their disposal? This is unfair to the consumer.
Rep. Barney Frank:
(202) 225-5931
(617) 332-3920
Rep. Michael Capuano:
(202) 225-5111
(617) 621-6208
Rep. Steven Lynch:
(202) 225-8273
(617) 428-2000
Please share widely!
Why don’t they shop around? Why would anyone think that the mortgage broker is “working for you”? A mortgage broker is a salesman.
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When you buy a car, do you think that the salesman is working for you?
to ask for a rate disclosure on the largest purchase you’re likely to make in your lifetime?
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The practical result of this is far too many pad the interest rate. Shopping around might help you, but it might not, if enough people are doing it. And trust me, enough are.
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It would be much easier to shop around or to make sure you aren’t getting screwed if you had all the information to work with. We would never expect a business to get a loan for which it doesn’t have the full disclosure regarding, so why is it any less important for consumers?
It is right there on paper, that you sign to show that you have read.
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I suspect that this legislation will produce another piece of paper chock full of legal- and government-ese that nobody reads at their closing.
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The simplest document of them all is the note: it has the sum borrowed, and the interest rate.
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Yeesh, it isn’t rocket science.
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If you’re not sure that Agent X is getting you the best rate, it makes sense to see Agent Y.
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Trust you that the entire mortgage industry isn’t disclosing the interest rate on a loan? Please.
…One thing that you might want to consider is that, when someone hears the term “broker,” one usually thinks of an intermediary, not an agent working for one party or the other. With a real estate agent it’s known that the agent is working for the seller. With a mortgage broker it’s probably not so well known.
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For a reason that I’m not sure of, it’s unclear why a mortgage brokerage business has not developed in which both parties to the mortgage pay for services rendered, with the fees disclosed up front.