Their rates are competitive and if you sign up as a Premier customer you get 1/4 point off. The mortgage officers are a bit slow and not always on the ball. They don’t keep the mortgage and sell to FMA right away so they go by their standards. My criticism should be directed to FMA/FHA, but HSBC wants 25% down + 2 points for a 2-family, High Balance Conforming. These two items apparently are based on the FMA/FHA minimums, but that is a LOT OF CASH, and that’s excluding closing of 40K +.
I don’t know how it really work since we were told 20% minimum is needed for downpayment, first-time homebuyer and mean a certain income range. My sister-in-law and friend went thru the same program. Maybe the rules are different in NY.
I would go through a broker that doesn’t charge you a fee (they charge the bank). They are much more agile and generally can get the bank to work faster than going through retail. They should also be able to get you a slightly better rate.
I just went through them for a mortgage. It was tedious and annoying, but I got 4.75 w/ only 1/3 of a point (which would have been 0 points if it had closed faster).
I was denied a mortgage from them after the appraisal came in about 6,000 under, despite a 800+ credit score, and being a perfect candidate in every other respect. Weirdly, they wouldn’t reconsider even after the seller agreed to come down to the price they appraised it. Customer service was non-existent.
They did, however, happily waste my time and money. Having gone through this, I now wonder if I might have been better off using a broker.that since I was only putting 10% down.
Their rates are competitive and if you sign up as a Premier customer you get 1/4 point off. The mortgage officers are a bit slow and not always on the ball. They don’t keep the mortgage and sell to FMA right away so they go by their standards. My criticism should be directed to FMA/FHA, but HSBC wants 25% down + 2 points for a 2-family, High Balance Conforming. These two items apparently are based on the FMA/FHA minimums, but that is a LOT OF CASH, and that’s excluding closing of 40K +.
4.75% would be sweet. We’re looking at 5%, though with no points.
serpentor,
Here is the link:
http://www.us.hsbc.com/1/2/3/personal/home-loans/mortgage/mortgage-programs/first-time/community#top
I don’t know how it really work since we were told 20% minimum is needed for downpayment, first-time homebuyer and mean a certain income range. My sister-in-law and friend went thru the same program. Maybe the rules are different in NY.
I would go through a broker that doesn’t charge you a fee (they charge the bank). They are much more agile and generally can get the bank to work faster than going through retail. They should also be able to get you a slightly better rate.
I had a trouble free refinancing with HSBC at an excellent interest rate.
I just went through them for a mortgage. It was tedious and annoying, but I got 4.75 w/ only 1/3 of a point (which would have been 0 points if it had closed faster).
I was denied a mortgage from them after the appraisal came in about 6,000 under, despite a 800+ credit score, and being a perfect candidate in every other respect. Weirdly, they wouldn’t reconsider even after the seller agreed to come down to the price they appraised it. Customer service was non-existent.
They did, however, happily waste my time and money. Having gone through this, I now wonder if I might have been better off using a broker.that since I was only putting 10% down.
Zuffy, what is a community work rate?
Adam, I did search the forums for HSBC and found bupkiss. Better search topic?
I got their CommunityWork rate and able to refinance with them with the new CommunityWork so no complaints from me.