Can we talk about getting a mortgage through a bank versus a broker?

For my first house in Phoenix, I went straight to my big bank because I had my checking and savings there for years. I figured it would be simple and they gave me a rate of 4.5% after a long talk. For my current place, I used a broker a friend told me about. She looked at over 15 different lenders and found a credit union offering 3.8%, which saved me a ton over the loan's life. The bank felt like a one-size-fits-all deal, but the broker really shopped around for me. It made me wonder if loyalty to a bank is even worth it for big loans. Has anyone else switched from one to the other and been really surprised by the difference?

2 comments

2 Comments

riley8607d ago

That jump from 4.5 to 3.8 is huge. Did the broker charge you a fee for that search, or was she paid by the lender?

barbara_hall97d ago

Brokers get paid by the lender when the loan closes. The joke is they'd probably charge a separate fee just for finding that rate, it was so good. Mine was just happy to make the deal work. Saved me a ton over the life of the loan, so everyone won.