# Mortgage Refinance On Line: Stupid? Secure? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 14, 2002, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mortgage-refinance-on-line-stupid-secure/142711 "2002-12-14T08:08:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2002, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mortgage-refinance-on-line-stupid-secure/142711/1 "2002-12-14T08:08:41Z")
Interest rates are low. Currently I’m paying 7.85% on a 30 year mortgage. I know there are mortgage brokers out there who will offer a better deal. I see ads where you can do it on-line, but to be honest, I am not all that sure I want to put all the personal info out there. Am I being paranoid? Has anyone done this with success? Should I just go to a couple of local banks and do it in person? Statistics and/or real life experience would be helpful. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2002, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mortgage-refinance-on-line-stupid-secure/142711/2 "2002-12-14T13:42:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by DMark \* > \*\*Interest rates are low. > Currently I’m paying 7.85% on a 30 year mortgage. > I know there are mortgage brokers out there who will offer a better deal. > I see ads where you can do it on-line, but to be honest, I am not all that sure I want to put all the personal info out there. > > Statistics and/or real life experience would be helpful. \*\* > [@](#): > > Am I being paranoid? - Yes - And you think your personal info is not out there already? If you have a problem with yielding up personal financial data for someone to make a loan decision on you willl have to get over it or pay for the privilege. > [@](#): > > Should I just go to a couple of local banks and do it in person? In personal or over the phone it makes no difference if you have good credit. If you were hard to finance a personal visit to explain the context of your credit might be useful, but if your credit is golden they could really care less about “seeing” you they just want your business. See a few mortgage websites for guidance. Many times you can complete the app and most of the process by mail. (I did for a Wells Fargo refinance) here are three well known companies > **[Home Loans and Current Rates from Bank of America](https://www.bankofamerica.com/mortgage/)** > > Find competitive home loan rates and get the knowledge you need to help you make informed decisions when buying a home. [www.wellsfargo.com](http://www.wellsfargo.com) [http://www.ditech.com/home/](http://www.ditech.com/home/) Here is a [Here is a mortgage calcualtor](http://www.bloomberg.com/money/loan/mtge_calc.html) > [@](#): > > Has anyone done this with success? Sort of [Dopers with mortgages - How to possibly save a few hundred bucks or so](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=143949&highlight=fargo) ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2002, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mortgage-refinance-on-line-stupid-secure/142711/3 "2002-12-15T00:35:25Z")
I am in the process of refinancing with Bank of America and initiated the whole process online. You shouldn’t be too concerned with providing information to a reputable bank online, although you should always be concerned with providing information to a company you don’t know, online or otherwise. I would stay away from any finance company that advertises with spam. If you pick a reputable bank and they happen to do business online, you should have a fair amount of confidence in providing personal information. ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2002, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mortgage-refinance-on-line-stupid-secure/142711/4 "2002-12-15T02:02:54Z")
I have refinanced twice with online-only brokers. It’ s been fantastic. Turnaround was half the time of the brick’n’mortar guys who handled my original mortgage loan (and I’ve knocked 2% off my original rate). ---
**Author:** ![CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crankyasanoldman/32/11670_2.png) [@CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrankyAsAnOldMan)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2002, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mortgage-refinance-on-line-stupid-secure/142711/5 "2002-12-15T04:55:37Z")
We refinanced online from leads we got at [lendingtree.com](http://lendingtree.com). The process went fine. It felt a little weird refinancing with a bank that is from another state, but they simply faxed all their stuff to a mail boxes etc. near me and paid one of their employees (they are all notaries) to come to our house and get our signatures in the 20,000 places we had to sign. ---
**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2002, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mortgage-refinance-on-line-stupid-secure/142711/6 "2002-12-15T07:24:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by CrankyAsAnOldMan \* > \*\*We refinanced online from leads we got at [lendingtree.com](http://lendingtree.com). The process went fine. It felt a little weird refinancing with a bank that is from another state, but they simply faxed all their stuff to a mail boxes etc. near me and paid one of their employees (they are all notaries) to come to our house and get our signatures in the 20,000 places we had to sign. \*\* You only had 20,000 places to sign? It sounds like they have been streamlining the process. Some relatives of ours just refinanced at eloan and were happy with it. I just noticed that they have a phone number to call if you are worried about doing this on the web. There are also mortgage brokers not on the web that will handle things by phone. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Duality](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.duality/32/4098_2.png) [@Mr.Duality](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Duality)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2002, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mortgage-refinance-on-line-stupid-secure/142711/7 "2002-12-15T16:14:04Z")
I tried Priceline. Looks as though a local mortgage broker has a better deal. ---
**Author:** ![glilly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/48db29/32.png) [@glilly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glilly)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2002, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mortgage-refinance-on-line-stupid-secure/142711/8 "2002-12-15T18:49:37Z")
FWIW, I’ve read some complaints about Lending Tree. Nothing fraudulent, just that the process took a long time and more information had to be typed in than what was required at local mortgage places, and that the offers that came in weren’t as good as they got at the local bank. Best bet is to get a rate/terms from a local mortgage broker or bank along with the online places. ---
**Author:** ![MSU\_1978](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac8455/32.png) [@MSU\_1978](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MSU_1978)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2002, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mortgage-refinance-on-line-stupid-secure/142711/9 "2002-12-15T20:06:25Z")
If you really love getting phone calls from persistent salesmen, go for an online quote. I got some quotes on line but the rate difference was not enough to have me bypass our local lenders. I’m refinancing again from 7.5% to 6.0%, perhaps you can beat that online but I know the lender will not sell the mortgage and they let me do my own escrow and I don’t need PMI. I vote for local lenders. ---
**Author:** ![ratatoskK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ratatoskk/32/2987_2.png) [@ratatoskK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ratatoskK)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2002, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mortgage-refinance-on-line-stupid-secure/142711/10 "2002-12-16T14:01:36Z")
I used Home Finance of America and it went fine. ---
**Author:** ![Bongmaster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Bongmaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bongmaster)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2002, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mortgage-refinance-on-line-stupid-secure/142711/11 "2002-12-16T19:22:50Z")
Just remember to be careful with all of this. There are (unfortunately) many scams about that masquarade as legitimate lending sites only to take your personal info and run. I get emails about once a month that I know are shady.