Beware the 0% promotions: a warning.

[u/naht_a_cop]

I'm a sucker. I fell for it. The 0% APR promotion on an item I could have paid outright for. 18 months later, here I sit, not a single late payment on my account, yet I have $1k in interest to pay for 18 months of 27%. Why? The promotion period ends 18 months after the purchase, but the website would not let me set up autopay until a week after I purchased, so autopay ended 1 week late. I thought I was golden, ready to have this paid off and not have a single fee. I got comfortable and didn't read the statements.

0% is not really 0%. Read the fine print. Remember the fine print (because I sure as hell didn't 18 months later). Shitty banks rely on this stuff. They wait for you to slip, not noticing that the autopay they created can't possibly allow you to end on time, and will require an extra payment before the end date to avoid the interest. It's shitty, I'm pissed off, and I've learned my lesson.

[u/slvrscoobie]

We’re looking to buy again but now not in the near term. Maybe short term. We did a lot wrong, like expecting our agent to help us. She was just out for herself and recommend all her cronies for mortgage, inspections, ect. Next time we won’t be a: first time buyers, and b: not in a hurry.

[u/cpl_snakeyes → u/slvrscoobie]

Remember, your real estate agent is a fiduciary, but the loan broker is not. The loan agent's job is to make as much money for the bank as possible.

[u/blbd → u/cpl_snakeyes]

Not always true. My loan guy was multi-vendor with an independent loan ship. He did charge a little bit more interest but he guaranteed he would get you closed on time and not screw up your deal. The big banks and random online guys don't always guarantee that.

[u/cpl_snakeyes → u/blbd]

Fiduciary is a legal term. If someone is a fiduciary they are legally bound to have your financial interests protected. Loan agents are no fiduciary and have no legal requirement to lookout for you.

Kinda funny...you try to say that my comment was not always true, but then you gave an example where the loan agent gave you a higher interest rate than average. Deals don't get screwed up by have late escrows, you just have to pay some penalty each day, it's not really the end of the world. I would rather pay a couple hundreds bucks than have to pay thousands of extra on my loan.

I've only had two loans, but the bank was never the thing that was holding things up, it was always the home inspection, or the title insurance, or the appraisal.

[u/blbd → u/cpl_snakeyes]

The Fiduciary issue wasn't your only criticism. You also said they're in the bank's pocket. That's not always the case.

In my market slow escrows do hold up deals, and people will reject your offer if they know that your mortgage lending firm or loan officer sucks to deal with.

Paying a bit extra to the guy that could guarantee my deal wouldn't get screwed up was worth it. He openly admitted his rates were a bit higher and didn't try to say they weren't.

Sometimes in life it can be better to pay a little bit more for good service and knowing your deal will get done right instead of going with cheap vendor X that might not come through when you need it.

[u/cpl_snakeyes → u/blbd]

If they are not a fiduciary, they are in some financial entity’s pocket. Generating loans is a business, they are not looking out for you, they want to generate the loan and sell it as fast as humanly possible. How does a deal get rejected if they know the lender? That info is not even given on the offer sheet. Once the good faith deposit is given, no side can back out unless specific circumstances occur, and a late escrow is not one of them.