Mortgage brokers can find you the best mortgage among many lenders. Or your real estate agent can log on to a computer listing of lenders and learn about the mortgages they offer. Mortgage applications can even be filed by computer. These are the traditional, but no longer the major, mortgage lenders. Often they are the most flexible regarding whom they will grant a loan, and the amount, because many hold on to the mortgages rather than sell them to investors.
Mortgage bankers Providing mortgages is their only business, so they offer many types.
Their standards vary, however, because they sell their loans to investors, whose expectations about return also vary. They do business with virtually any lender, collecting fees on each deal. These online services, accessible in the offices of many mortgage brokers and real estate agents, list all mortgage programs, rates and fees offered by a variety of lenders. CLON also may enable online mortgage application. Credit unions These savings institutions make loans to their members, who have purchased a share in the credit union.