As many of you know, I was a mortgage broker up until approximately 2 years ago. Since then, I have converted to being a banker (correspondent lender) because it was more beneficial for my clients, and enabled me to get their loans approved & closed faster, with better pricing & rate options.

Here are the main differences, as I understand them:

• A Broker is an independent mortgage consultant who selects a lender/loan program for a client, and then submits the loan to the lender's wholesale department. I used to be a broker, and loved it, but in the last few years, many bank wholesale divisions have left the business, and the ones that are left no longer provide brokers with the kind of service I used to get. I stopped being a broker because I could no longer guarantee my clients that their loans would close on time.
• A Bank is a financial Institution (like Wells Fargo or B of A) that offers mortgages, in addition to other services from checking & savings accounts to investment portfolios. Banks offer stability, but, for my taste at least, they tend to be large and impersonal. While there are some very good loan officers working for big banks, the rule seems to be that the banks attract less experienced, less motivated loan officers, as bank loan officers are not required to be licensed. Many of my Realtor partners have told me that they are very slow (compared to me) in getting loans approved and closed.
• I decided to work for a Mortgage Banker (correspondent lender) because, for me, it combined the best of both worlds. Unlike a big bank, we specialize in mortgage loans - that's all we do. We have the wholesale relationship to lending sources, which makes the rates very competetive. We're also closer to the customer, tend to form long-lasting friendships with our clients, and take a more personal interest in their success with their home purchase/financing. We have the freedom and independence of a broker, because we have correspondent relationships with 6 different lending institutions - so we're able to provide our clients with the best available loan programs and pricing by shopping not only programs, but the major lending sources as a free service to the client.

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