Better Mortgage refi question

[2quiker]

So I have been looking to refi my current mortgage. I have gotten some quotes and Better Mortgage has the better rate with fees. I know they transfer your loan with 15-30 days and I have been trying to figure out who they sell the loan to. After searching for I have found that they sell the loans to various banks, AmeriHome Mortgage Company, Nationstar, BB&T but they all have reviews when i search online. Bad reviews makes a little worried about going through with Better Mortgage. Anyone have a mortgage with anyother of these banks that can share some experience?

[goblue102]

We used Better mortgage for a refi that closed in November. It did get sold quickly after, twice. We made our January payment to “The Money Source,” and since then it’s been with PennyMac ( https://www.pennymacusa.com/). In both cases I just made/make the payment online and haven’t had any need to communicate with them, so can’t vouch for their support. But, I also have no reason to complain. Better was pretty good to work with, even when things got a little complicated.

[2quiker]

Thanks for the replay and inco, PennyMac seems to have the better reviews. What rate and points/fees, prepaids and closing fees were required if you don't mind me asking. You can pm me if you don't want to post is, I am curious on what you got.

[Nate79]

Last year we did a refi with Better and they sold to Amerihome. There were no problems. We just did a refi with American Federal and there were no issues and waiting for the mortgage to be sold to see who will service.

I would go with whoever's is the cheapest. I shopped thru Costco as well as Mortgage Professor to find the best deal.

[need403bhelp]

So I have been looking to refi my current mortgage. I have gotten some quotes and Better Mortgage has the better rate with fees. I know they transfer your loan with 15-30 days and I have been trying to figure out who they sell the loan to. After searching for I have found that they sell the loans to various banks, AmeriHome Mortgage Company, Nationstar, BB&T but they all have reviews when i search online. Bad reviews makes a little worried about going through with Better Mortgage. Anyone have a mortgage with anyother of these banks that can share some experience?

I completed a refi with Better end of February. Loan sold to Mr. Cooper. Haven’t really interacted with them but payments seem fine. Initially, my loan went to Money Source, I did make one principal only payment and it was a little bit of a mess (or I was not patient enough) getting transferred to Mr. Cooper, but all is well now.

FYI, Better does have a $2,500 American Express credit after closing offer. Would do that if you haven’t locked yet.

[leviathan]

I recently refinanced my mortgage with better. It is still serviced by The Money Source (TMS). I made one payment. I don't see any indications about new servicer. But a few weeks after I closed the loan, I got a confusing letter from Fannie Mae that my loan was transferred to them. But it says they are not the lender nor servicer.
The quote you will get from better depends on what you get from other lenders. Better beat the offer I got from lenderfi.

[2quiker]

FYI, Better does have a $2,500 American Express credit after closing offer. Would do that if you haven’t locked yet.

What do you mean, they give $2,500 after you close with Better Mortgage?

[need403bhelp]

FYI, Better does have a $2,500 American Express credit after closing offer. Would do that if you haven’t locked yet.

What do you mean, they give $2,500 after you close with Better Mortgage?

Yes, on certain American Express cards (I think most personal non co branded cards). Also, appraisal fee is waived.

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/targeted ... etter-com/

[BrandonBogle]

Recent closings with Better have all pointed to it being serviced by "The Money Source" indefinitely during this current market climate. That is the vendor they always use initially for all loans they make, but with other banks cutting back on buying servicing rights for loans, the loans are sticking with TMS for the time being. Folks there are saying they usually know who the loan is going to once it comes out of underwriting, but right now, there have no direction beyond its initial handoff to TMS.

[PavlovsCat]

FYI, Better does have a $2,500 American Express credit after closing offer. Would do that if you haven’t locked yet.

What do you mean, they give $2,500 after you close with Better Mortgage?

And free appraisal.

[2quiker]

Recent closings with Better have all pointed to it being serviced by "The Money Source" indefinitely during this current market climate. That is the vendor they always use initially for all loans they make, but with other banks cutting back on buying servicing rights for loans, the loans are sticking with TMS for the time being. Folks there are saying they usually know who the loan is going to once it comes out of underwriting, but right now, there have no direction beyond its initial handoff to TMS.

Have you had problems with TMS?

[BrandonBogle]

Recent closings with Better have all pointed to it being serviced by "The Money Source" indefinitely during this current market climate. That is the vendor they always use initially for all loans they make, but with other banks cutting back on buying servicing rights for loans, the loans are sticking with TMS for the time being. Folks there are saying they usually know who the loan is going to once it comes out of underwriting, but right now, there have no direction beyond its initial handoff to TMS.

Have you had problems with TMS?

Too soon to tell. I'm in the recision period, so my loan isn't funded yet. My closing was yesterday and I sent my wire transfer earlier today.

[2quiker]

Recent closings with Better have all pointed to it being serviced by "The Money Source" indefinitely during this current market climate. That is the vendor they always use initially for all loans they make, but with other banks cutting back on buying servicing rights for loans, the loans are sticking with TMS for the time being. Folks there are saying they usually know who the loan is going to once it comes out of underwriting, but right now, there have no direction beyond its initial handoff to TMS.

Have you had problems with TMS?

Too soon to tell. I'm in the recision period, so my loan isn't funded yet. My closing was yesterday and I sent my wire transfer earlier today.

Thanks, I was getting a quote through lenderfi but there guy has not responded to my emails. Before the economy went south and Covid-19 I was in contact with them and never heard back from then until recently and now again they haven't responded to my emails. The last email i sent them was to them I had a offer from Better mortgage but Lenderfi never responded. To say the least I haven't been impressed with lenderfi.

[BrandonBogle]

Thanks, I was getting a quote through lenderfi but there guy has not responded to my emails. Before the economy went south and Covid-19 I was in contact with them and never heard back from then until recently and now again they haven't responded to my emails. The last email i sent them was to them I had a offer from Better mortgage but Lenderfi never responded. To say the least I haven't been impressed with lenderfi.

Ouch, that sucks. I warn you that Better isn’t the greatest at returning emails and phone calls, but I’ve found that if I reach out to the right person there for certain things, it still happened quickly. For instance, to change my loan program, I reached out to the assistant to the loan officer. For progressing the docs and such, I reached out to the “processing expert”. The “closing expert” was by far the easiest to work with. She usually responding to my emails within 12 hours, often far sooner, and I twice got her on the phone quickly — the second time being while at closing and had a question.

[2quiker]

Thanks, I was getting a quote through lenderfi but there guy has not responded to my emails. Before the economy went south and Covid-19 I was in contact with them and never heard back from then until recently and now again they haven't responded to my emails. The last email i sent them was to them I had a offer from Better mortgage but Lenderfi never responded. To say the least I haven't been impressed with lenderfi.

Ouch, that sucks. I warn you that Better isn’t the greatest at returning emails and phone calls, but I’ve found that if I reach out to the right person there for certain things, it still happened quickly. For instance, to change my loan program, I reached out to the assistant to the loan officer. For progressing the docs and such, I reached out to the “processing expert”. The “closing expert” was by far the easiest to work with. She usually responding to my emails within 12 hours, often far sooner, and I twice got her on the phone quickly — the second time being while at closing and had a question.

Honestly Better has been better about responding to me, at least from my experience. I couldn't get a hold of the processing expert at first but I told the person who answered my phone call that was going to lock with another lender, the processing expert called me within 10 mins telling me that she wasn't sure if they can change my lock rate after it's been locked. I am not sure if that is true or not or how many times they can change your rate? At first they offered to give me $3k lender credits and 3.375% but I was more interested in the rate than credits, Lenderfi offered 3.125% with 1440 $ lender credit, then Better offered match the rate 3.125% and $1,446 credits beating lenderfi by $46 in credits.

[BrandonBogle]

Honestly Better has been better about responding to me, at least from my experience. I couldn't get a hold of the processing expert at first but I told the person who answered my phone call that was going to lock with another lender, the processing expert called me within 10 mins telling me that she wasn't sure if they can change my lock rate after it's been locked. I am not sure if that is true or not or how many times they can change your rate? At first they offered to give me $3k lender credits and 3.375% but I was more interested in the rate than credits, Lenderfi offered 3.125% with 1440 $ lender credit, then Better offered match the rate 3.125% and $1,446 credits beating lenderfi by $46 in credits.

When you lock, you are locking the entire rate table. You can switch between them as much as you want until closing (though if you do so after your initial closing disclosures after underwriting, you will need to push back closing since you just wait 3 days before closing when you get the ICD). However, you will lose visibility into the rate table once you lock. Your loan officer is the one who can switch you over. If you haven’t locked yet, I would take screenshots of the variation rate/point options for each of the 15-year, 30-year, adjustable, etc. loans you would be interested in.

For me, they nearly matches a 2.875% rate on a 15-year, which I locked. Then I decided to pay the 0.98 point and switched to the 2.625% about a week later.

[famousmortimer]

Question for those of you who have refi'd with Better.com—did your mortgage paperwork include any kind of agreement not to refinance again for 6 months or something similar? Or is that a term of the Amex deal? I know some servicers do this. I'm closing soon to get the Amex deal, but might want to refi again later this Fall as interest rates seem to be falling any further. But I obviously won't if it means I'd have to pay a penalty or something similar.

[Hoosier CPA]

Question for those of you who have refi'd with Better.com—did your mortgage paperwork include any kind of agreement not to refinance again for 6 months or something similar? Or is that a term of the Amex deal? I know some servicers do this. I'm closing soon to get the Amex deal, but might want to refi again later this Fall as interest rates seem to be falling any further. But I obviously won't if it means I'd have to pay a penalty or something similar.

I just closed with better today and didn't see anything like that in the paperwork.

[BrandonBogle]

Question for those of you who have refi'd with Better.com—did your mortgage paperwork include any kind of agreement not to refinance again for 6 months or something similar? Or is that a term of the Amex deal? I know some servicers do this. I'm closing soon to get the Amex deal, but might want to refi again later this Fall as interest rates seem to be falling any further. But I obviously won't if it means I'd have to pay a penalty or something similar.

I just closed with better today and didn't see anything like that in the paperwork.

No, there is no such requirement. You are free to refi immediately, though I find it easiest if you wait 45 days so the new mortgage starts to report on your credit report. Makes it easier when applying elsewhere as they already see your mortgage vs. requesting a copy of your closing disclosures to prove the new debt.

[exigent]

From the sound of things in this thread, most/all of Better's mortgages go to The Money Source, at least initially. That's what happened to ours, as well. For those of you who used Better and had your mortgage transferred to The Money Source, did they keep it or re-sell it? If the latter, how quickly did that happen?

Fwiw, I really don't care who services our loan, and we waived escrow so there's not too much for the servicer to screw up -- knock on wood... Just trying to get a sense of what to expect going forward.

[presto987]

For those of you who used Better and had your mortgage transferred to The Money Source, did they keep it or re-sell it? If the latter, how quickly did that happen?

Mine got sold to PennyMac about a month after funding.