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Loan origination is the process by which a borrower applies for a new loan, and a lender processes that application. Origination generally includes all the steps from taking a loan application up to disbursal of funds (or declining the application). For mortgages, there is a specific mortgage origination process. Loan servicing covers everything after disbursing the funds until the loan is fully paid off. Loan origination is a specialized version of new account opening for financial services organizations. Certain people and organizations specialize in loan origination. Mortgage brokers and other mortgage originator companies serve as a prominent example.
There are many different types of loans. For more information on loan types, see the loan and consumer lending articles. Steps involved in originating a loan vary by loan type, various kinds of loan risk, regulator, lender policy etc.
Applications for loans may be made through several different channels and the length of the application process, from initial application to funding, means that different organizations may use various channels for customer interactions over time. In general, loan applications may be split into five distinct types:
Retail loans and mortgages are typically highly competitive products that may not offer a large margin to their providers, but through high volume sales can be highly profitable. The business model of the individual financial institution and the products they offer therefore affect the decision of which application model they will offer
The typical types of financial services organizations offering loans through the face to face channel have a long-term investment in 'brick and mortar' branches. Typically these are:
The appeal to customers of the loan offered directly in branches is the often long-standing relationship that a customer may have with the institution, the appearance of trustworthiness this type of institution has, and the perception that holding a larger portfolio of products with a single organization may lead to better terms. From a bank's standpoint, cross-selling products to current customers offers an effective marketing opportunity, and agents in branches may be trained to handle the sale of many different types of financial products.
In a branch, customers typically sit with a sales agent who will assist the customer in completing the application form, selecting appropriate product options (such as payment terms and rates), collecting required documentation (new account opening compliance requirements must be met at this stage), selecting add-on products (such as payment protection insurance), and eventually signing a completed application.
Dependent on the institution and product being offered, the application may be completed on a paper application form, or directly into an online application through the agent's desktop system. In either case, this phase of application is mostly concerned with the accurate capture of customer's details, and does not incorporate any of the background decisioning work required to assess the suitability of the customer and the risk of default, or the due diligence that must be performed to mitigate risk of fraud and money laundering activities.
A major complexity for the branch origination channel is making the process simple enough that sales agents can be easily trained to handle many different products, while ensuring that the many due diligence and disclosure requirements of the financial and banking regulators regionally are met.
Many back-office functions of loan origination continue from this point and are described in the Processing section below.
Jobs the online application should perform:
The mortgage business consists of a few people: the borrower, the lender, and sometimes the mortgage broker. The people that originate the loans are usually the mortgage broker or the lender. Depending if the borrower has credit worthiness, then he/she can be qualified for a loan. The norm qualifying FICO score is not a static number. Lender guidelines and mitigating factors determine this number. Recent changes in the market and industry have made stated-income and stated-asset loans a thing of the past and full income and asset documentation is now required from the majority of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac backed mortgage securities.
Not only does one's credit score affect their qualification, the fact of the matter also lies in the question, "Can I (the borrower) afford this mortgage?" In most cases the borrower can afford their mortgage. However, some borrowers seek to incorporate their unsecured debt into their mortgage (secured debt). They seek to pay off the debt that is outstanding in amount. These debts are called "liabilities", these liabilities are calculated into a ratio that lenders use to calculate risk. This ratio is called the "debt-to-income ratio" (DTI). If the borrower has excessive debt that he/she wishes to pay off, and that ratio from those debts exceeds a limit of DTI, then the borrower has to either pay off a few debts in a later time and pay off just the outstanding debt. When the borrower refinances his/her loan, they can pay off the remainder of the debt.
Example: If the borrower owes $1,500 in credit card payments and has a gross monthly income of $3,000, his DTI ratio would be 50%. But if the borrower owes $1,500 in payments and has a gross monthly income of $2,000, his DTI ratio would be 75%. Both a 50% and 75% DTI ratio would be too high for most lenders, as a DTI ratio of 43% is generally the cutoff for conventional mortgages. All other factors aside, the higher the DTI ratio, the less likely the borrower will be able to afford a monthly payment, hence the more risky it is for the lender.
Pricing policy varies a great deal. While one probably can't influence the pricing policy of a given financial institution, one can:
Pricing is often done in one of these ways. Follow the internal links for more details:
Many of the customer identification and due diligence requirements of loan origination are common to new account opening of other financial products.
The following sections describe the specific requirements of loans and mortgages.
The next step is to have a Real Estate appraiser appraise the borrower's property that he wishes to have the loan against. This is done to prevent fraud of any kind by either the borrower or the mortgage broker. This prevents fraud like "equity stripping" and money embezzlement. The amount that the appraiser from either the borrower's side or the lender's side is the amount that the borrower can loan up to. This amount is divided by the debt that the borrower wants to pay off plus other disbursements (i.e. cash-out, 1st mortgage, 2nd mortgage, etc.) and the appraised value (if a refinance) or purchase price (if a purchase) {which ever amount is lower} and converted into yet another ratio called the Loan to value (LTV) ratio. This ratio determines the type of loan and risk the lender is put up against. For example: if the borrower's house appraises for $415,000 and they wish to refinance for the amount of $373,500 – the LTV ratio would be 90%. The lender also may put a limit to how much the LTV can be – for example, if the borrower's credit is bad, the lender may limit the LTV that the borrower can loan. However, if the borrower's credit is in Good condition, then the lender will most likely not put a restriction on the borrower's LTV. LTV for loans may or may not exceed 100% depending on many factors.
The appraisal would take place on location of the borrower's property. The appraiser may take pictures of the house from many angles and will take notes on how the property looks. He/she will type up an appraisal and submit it to the lender or broker (depending on who ordered the appraisal.) The Appraisal is written in the format compliant to FNMA Form 1004. The 1004 is the standard appraisal form used by appraisers nationwide.
Document Preparation or Doc Prep is the process of arranging and preparing the borrowers closing contracts. These documents vary from industry to industry but generally contain a note, disclosures, and other documents describing and detailing the agreement between the borrower and lender.
An underwriter is a person who evaluates the loan documentation and determines whether or not the loan complies with the guidelines of the particular mortgage program. It is the underwriter's responsibility to assess the risk of the loan and decide to approve or decline the loan. A processor is the one who gathers and submits the loan documents to the underwriter. Underwriters take at least 48 hours to underwrite the loan and after the borrower signs the package it takes 24 hours for a processor to process the documents.
Lending is a highly regulated business, at both the Federal and State levels. Some of the main regulations that apply to lending are listed here. For more details, see Bank regulation.
Other related topics include:
Credit risk is the possibility of losing a lender holds due to a risk of default on a debt that may arise from a borrower failing to make required payments. In the first resort, the risk is that of the lender and includes lost principal and interest, disruption to cash flows, and increased collection costs. The loss may be complete or partial. In an efficient market, higher levels of credit risk will be associated with higher borrowing costs. Because of this, measures of borrowing costs such as yield spreads can be used to infer credit risk levels based on assessments by market participants.
In general, to pre-qualify is about passing or meeting an initial criteria or requirements before getting other opportunities opened up to such a person.
A reverse mortgage is a mortgage loan, usually secured by a residential property, that enables the borrower to access the unencumbered value of the property. The loans are typically promoted to older homeowners and typically do not require monthly mortgage payments. Borrowers are still responsible for property taxes or homeowner's insurance. Reverse mortgages allow older people to immediately access the home equity they have built up in their homes, and defer payment of the loan until they die, sell, or move out of the home. Because there are no required mortgage payments on a reverse mortgage, the interest is added to the loan balance each month. The rising loan balance can eventually grow to exceed the value of the home, particularly in times of declining home values or if the borrower continues to live in the home for many years. However, the borrower is generally not required to repay any additional loan balance in excess of the value of the home.
Predatory lending refers to unethical practices conducted by lending organizations during a loan origination process that are unfair, deceptive, or fraudulent. While there are no internationally agreed legal definitions for predatory lending, a 2006 audit report from the office of inspector general of the US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) broadly defines predatory lending as "imposing unfair and abusive loan terms on borrowers", though "unfair" and "abusive" were not specifically defined. Though there are laws against some of the specific practices commonly identified as predatory, various federal agencies use the phrase as a catch-all term for many specific illegal activities in the loan industry. Predatory lending should not be confused with predatory mortgage servicing which is mortgage practices described by critics as unfair, deceptive, or fraudulent practices during the loan or mortgage servicing process, post loan origination.
A home equity line of credit, or HELOC, is a revolving type of secured loan in which the lender agrees to lend a maximum amount within an agreed period, where the collateral is the borrower's property. Because a home often is a consumer's most valuable asset, many homeowners use their HELOC for major purchases or projects, such as home improvements, education, property investment or medical bills, and choose not to use them for day-to-day expenses.
Lenders mortgage insurance (LMI), also known as private mortgage insurance (PMI) in the US, is a type of insurance payable to a lender or to a trustee for a pool of securities that may be required when taking out a mortgage loan. Its purpose is to offset losses in the case where a mortgagor is not able to repay the loan and the lender is not able to recover its costs after foreclosure and sale of the mortgaged property.
The mortgage industry of Denmark provides borrowers with flexible and transparent loans on conditions close to the funding conditions of capital market players. Simultaneously, the covered mortgage bonds transfer market risk from the issuing mortgage bank to bond investors. Lastly, strict property appraisal rules, credit risk management by the mortgage banks, and tight regulations including the so-called 'balance principle', have also historically shielded mortgage bonds from default risk. High industry concentration and automatic stabilizers also play a role in maintaining stability.
A mortgage broker acts as an intermediary who brokers mortgage loans on behalf of individuals or businesses. Traditionally, banks and other lending institutions have sold their own products. As markets for mortgages have become more competitive, however, the role of the mortgage broker has become more popular. In many developed mortgage markets today,, mortgage brokers are the largest sellers of mortgage products for lenders. Mortgage brokers exist to find a bank or a direct lender that will be willing to make a specific loan an individual is seeking. Mortgage brokers in Canada are paid by the lender and do not charge fees for good credit applications. In the US, many mortgage brokers are regulated by their state and by the CFPB to assure compliance with banking and finance laws in the jurisdiction of the consumer. The extent of the regulation depends on the jurisdiction.
Second mortgages, commonly referred to as junior liens, are loans secured by a property in addition to the primary mortgage. Depending on the time at which the second mortgage is originated, the loan can be structured as either a standalone second mortgage or piggyback second mortgage. Whilst a standalone second mortgage is opened subsequent to the primary loan, those with a piggyback loan structure are originated simultaneously with the primary mortgage. With regard to the method in which funds are withdrawn, second mortgages can be arranged as home equity loans or home equity lines of credit. Home equity loans are granted for the full amount at the time of loan origination in contrast to home equity lines of credit which permit the homeowner access to a predetermined amount which is repaid during the repayment period.
The loan-to-value (LTV) ratio is a financial term used by lenders to express the ratio of a loan to the value of an asset purchased.
A hard money loan is a specific type of asset-based loan: a financing instrument through which a borrower receives funds secured by real property. Hard money loans are typically issued by private investors or companies. Interest rates are typically higher than conventional commercial or residential property loans because of the higher risk and shorter duration of the loan.
A commercial mortgage is a mortgage loan secured by commercial property, such as an office building, shopping center, industrial warehouse, or apartment complex. The proceeds from a commercial mortgage are typically used to acquire, refinance, or redevelop commercial property.
In the consumer mortgage industry, debt-to-income ratio (DTI) is the percentage of a consumer's monthly gross income that goes toward paying debts. There are two main kinds of DTI, as discussed below.
The Home Mortgage Disclosure Act is a United States federal law that requires certain financial institutions to provide mortgage data to the public. Congress enacted HMDA in 1975.
Private money investing is the reverse side of hard money lending, a type of financing in which a borrower receives funds based on the value of real estate owned by the borrower. Private Money Investing (“PMI”) concerns the source of the funds lent to hard money borrowers, as well as other considerations made from the investor's side of the equation.
A mortgage loan or simply mortgage, in civil law jurisdicions known also as a hypothec loan, is a loan used either by purchasers of real property to raise funds to buy real estate, or by existing property owners to raise funds for any purpose while putting a lien on the property being mortgaged. The loan is "secured" on the borrower's property through a process known as mortgage origination. This means that a legal mechanism is put into place which allows the lender to take possession and sell the secured property to pay off the loan in the event the borrower defaults on the loan or otherwise fails to abide by its terms. The word mortgage is derived from a Law French term used in Britain in the Middle Ages meaning "death pledge" and refers to the pledge ending (dying) when either the obligation is fulfilled or the property is taken through foreclosure. A mortgage can also be described as "a borrower giving consideration in the form of a collateral for a benefit (loan)".
A Jumbo mortgage is classified in the United States as a residential mortgage or other home-equity secured loan in an amount greater than $650,000, although lenders differ on just what constitutes a super jumbo mortgage subject to their own internal investment criteria. Super Jumbo mortgages are made available to borrowers whose loan requirements exceed the guidelines commonly referred to as Jumbo loan limits, which apply to mortgage loan amounts in excess of the FNMA / FHLMC conforming loan limits of 417,000. Unlike Jumbo loan limits, the super jumbo mortgage category is not directly defined, controlled, or regulated by any of these aforementioned agencies. Instead, mortgage lenders internally and independently define their own parameters and criteria for what defines a Super Jumbo mortgage. The minimum loan amount for some lenders to classify a loan as Super Jumbo ranges from $500,000 to $1,500,000, with maximum super jumbo loan amounts generally running into the $10,000,000 to $20,000,000 range.
Mortgage underwriting is the process a lender uses to determine if the risk of offering a mortgage loan to a particular borrower under certain parameters is acceptable. Most of the risks and terms that underwriters consider fall under the three C's of underwriting: credit, capacity and collateral.
Loan modification is the systematic alteration of mortgage loan agreements that help those having problems making the payments by reducing interest rates, monthly payments or principal balances. Lending institutions could make one or more of these changes to relieve financial pressure on borrowers to prevent the condition of foreclosure. Loan modifications have been practiced in the United States since the 1930s. During the Great Depression, loan modification programs took place at the state level in an effort to reduce levels of loan foreclosures.
The mortgage industry of the United States is a major financial sector. The federal government created several programs, or government sponsored entities, to foster mortgage lending, construction and encourage home ownership. These programs include the Government National Mortgage Association, the Federal National Mortgage Association and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation.