You can do most anything using technology. Shop for a car, a house, even take classes online. But how about refinancing your current home loan using the world wide web? You may have considered it but are concerned about someone appropriating your personal information and/or losing control of the process.

I can say first hand, that I found refinancing my home online to be a most satisfying experience. I became interested after finding a plethora of lenders with attractive refinancing rates. I was amazed at how many lenders were national in scope, having no physical state-limiting boundaries to their lending. This is due to the national scope and approval guidelines of the secondary market (i.e. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and the) as well as the growth in the lending industry buoyed by a thriving economy.

For my initial online mortgage search, I took my time reading the consumer information articles, programs and corresponding rates provided at many sites. But my interest piqued when I came across a mortgage lender who touted “let us shop for the best rates and points to suit your needs.” Needless to say, I completed the information requested and e-mailed it to them --income, debts, assets, and other information cursory to most loan applications. I had the option to receive the information by either e-mail or fax; but since I was planning to stay online, I chose e-mail.

Within approximately ten minutes, I received information on ten different loans. Although the initial information was somewhat sketchy (no data regarding whether the loans had pre-payment penalties, etc.) I could click on icons to go deeper for “the rest of the story” on each loan (which I did on several.)

After sorting out the information, I settled on two that seemed best. A final screen informed me that I would receive, via either e-mail or fax, a complete breakdown of the costs involved as well as further application instructions. I posted my fax number in the box provided and clicked on “fax it to me”.

Then it hit me. I was well into the early stages of refinancing my home and hadn’t met, let alone talked to, a real person! And I had shared personal information across cyber ether including my social security number and various pieces of my financial picture. Where was that information now and who was using it?

In Part II of this article, we’ll cover questions to ask before sharing information with lenders online, how to check out the lender (and the loan) as well as what to expect at a long-distance closing -- after all, that’s still the part.

See Part II of this article

Published: April 17, 2000

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Julie Garton-Good, DREI “The Frugal HomeOwner™” As a syndicated newspaper columnist, author and international speaker, Julie Garton-Good DREI, C-CREC™, is called “America’s Home Affordability Expert”, addressing more than 25,000 persons annually on topics of real estate industry trends and home affordability. She is the author of five real estate books and is the sole two-time recipient of the international "Real Estate Educator of the Year" award from the Real Estate Educators Association. In 1997, The National Association of Realtors® nominated Julie as one of the fifty most influential people in the real estate industry. She shared the list with only three other women.