When you are shopping for a home loan, it is very important to choose the right kind of lender. This choice must be made after careful scrutiny because it is about getting into a long term repayment commitment with the lender. With the plethora of options available today, making this choice can be an intimidating one. Here’s a quick guide that will help you make a wise choice.
- Ask for recommendations
Chances are that many people around you, be it relatives or friends have taken home loans. When you are in the market shopping for home loans, make sure you have a frank chat with some people you trust about their home loan experiences. Those who have taken home loans recently will be able to give you the best idea.
- Do your own homework
Once you have taken recommendations from trusted sources, it’s time to do your own homework. Check the credentials of the lenders you have shortlisted and read as much as you can about them. The internet is a goldmine of information where you will find everything that is relevant to lenders, at least the more reputed ones. Make sure you read a good number of reviews to find out the experiences of other customers with the lenders in question.
- Take note of the way the lender responds when you make your first call
This can be a critical consideration when you are seeking out lenders. Make a mental note of how the representatives behave when you are making your first enquiries. Are they ready to give you a patient hearing? Are they courteous enough or do they cut you off rudely? Are they willing to explain or educate you about the various home loan products? On the other hand be cautious if they are overfriendly or pushy and are willing to send customer service executives to your home or workplace based on the one cold call you have made.
- Do not be too impressed with the job titles
When you are choosing the right lender and make a visit to the bank or a housing finance company with the intentions of opting for a mortgage, chances are an ‘expert’ will be assigned to explain the details of the various products you can choose from. In this day and age these so called experts will come bearing a lot of fancy titles such as ‘Loan Officer’, ‘Consultant’ and various senior versions of the same designation. Don’t get carried away if they sound like they are offering you the best deal ever. Without any hesitation clear your doubts and ask for estimates and other indicative calculations in writing. At the end of the day they are all salesmen who will try and do their best to get you on board as a customer. So if the representative is trying to avert tough questions, you should see red.
Making a right choice of a lender will ensure that not only your loan approval and disbursal happens smoothly, but is also a guarantee of the fact that you will have no problem servicing your loan.