USAA for a mortgage?

[Pedro]

Did anyone get their mortgage through USAA? How do their interest rates compare? Is it easy to get away with a small down payment on a house, being in the military and all? Will I suffer in the long-run if I do that?


THANKS all

 

[PropStop]

if you don't get a mortgage through them, use their buyer referal program. even if you don't use the realtor they suggest, you get $600 just for using their program.

do NOT go through Navy Fed!!!!

 

[Crowbar]

I wouldn't recommend it. I tried to get a mortgage in 2002 through PHH (the company USAA is in cahoots with). They approved me for a whopping $102k. So I paid off some bills and called them a month later and they still said $102k. The next day I called Wachovia and got approved for over $160k (much more than I needed). It being a VA loan I didn't need a down payment either.

I will second using the USAA referral program. I got a check for $500 or $600 at closing. Which is nice to have when you're shelling out that much money at once.

 

[Schnugg]

USAA Mortgage

I got a mortgage through USAA no problem for my 2nd home last year. Got a lot more than I could have if I went VA.
Good service. Fast overnighting of documents and always just a phone call away. I e-mailed scanned documents and sent jpeg files of documents, no problems.

I would recommend them based on my experience.

I would say the split I made my decision on was...70 % based on rate, 30% based on USAA reputation and service I knew I would receive.

r/
Steve-O

 

[HooverPilot]

I am normally a huge advocate of USAA, but in buying 2 homes now, they have never been very good for me. I used Countrywide both times and have been very pleased.

 

[zippy]

It seems like USAA is pretty risk adverse when it comes to their mortgage lending. When i was looking to buy a place near DC, they were only going to approve me for 100 something thousand because they perfer your debt to income ratio to be around 28-30% or something low like that (Navy Fed is the same way, but their closing costs seemed to be a good bit higher). I ended up using the financing people of the builder and they were willing to take a debt to income ratio of 54% (I had no other debt but what the mortgage was going to be) and gave me a loan for $304,000. I ended up with my main mortgage through wells fargo after they bought it, and I have no problems dealing with them.

 

[Schnugg]

First house was with Countrywide VA Loan.

 

[smittyrunr]

PropStop- why not Navy Fed? I've heard good things about the VA Choice program.

 

[STA-21-INTEL]

I just closed a week ago on my house. I researched probably 20-25 different lenders/brokers and ended up with Wells Fargo. I got a VA 5 year ARM at 5.0%, far lower than most competitors. When talking to some of the brokers that represent multiple lenders, several of them even identified Wells Fargo as the the first rate they usually check because it is frequently the lowest. After all was said and done, I have absolutely nothing bad to say about them. We were on a tight timeline (as is frequent in the navy, I know) and got all the paperwork done in less than two weeks with my wife and I in another state the entire time. They were very proactive and helpful.

 

[Pedro]

Wow,
thanks for the great replies.

It's disappointing to hear that USAA is not too popular with lending, since they're so good at everything else. I'll definitely look into Wells Fargo when I start shopping around.

Question....

What's the VA ARM? Is that for military only? Also, can I get away with a small downpayment since I'm military??

Thanks

 

[zippy]

This link should help in your quest for knowledge: http://www.homeloans.va.gov/

VA ARM - The VA now gives you the option to taking out a loan in the form of an Adjustible Rate Mortgage (read, a lower rate is locked in for a set amount of time- 1/3/5/7yrs,not sure which the va uses, and after that period is up, the rate of the loan increases to current interest rates and can adjust yearly after that upto a certain percentage point above what you locked in at.)

VA is for military, yes

I could be mistaken on this, but VA only requires a small down payment if any.

 

[STA-21-INTEL]

I made zero downpayment and the VA funding fee was paid by the seller as part of the closing costs (part of the agreement). The VA has a 3 and a 5 year ARM that I know of, not sure past that. I went with the ARM because I knew I would be selling it in about 3 1/2 years. I would personally NEVER get an ARM if I thought there was any chance of holding on to the property for longer than the term of the ARM.

 

[zippy]

I made zero downpayment and the VA funding fee was paid by the seller as part of the closing costs (part of the agreement). The VA has a 3 and a 5 year ARM that I know of, not sure past that. I went with the ARM because I knew I would be selling it in about 3 1/2 years. I would personally NEVER get an ARM if I thought there was any chance of holding on to the property for longer than the term of the ARM.

A way ive heard of some people doing it is to keep refinancing their ARMs with Other ARMs at the end of the terms (it saves them in montly payments and they can use the money elsewhere). It kinda makes sense in some regard because they can reinvest their savings into other ventures. In some areas of the Country (HI, SOCAL, NE, DC etc) the back to back ARMs or Interst only ARMs are pretty common because montly payments would be hard to swing using a conventional mortage for a lot of people.

 

[STA-21-INTEL]

That makes sense, never really thought about refinancing and ARM with an ARM. I was buying in Memphis, where I know I'll never be stationed again, so I'll just unload it when I'm done there.

 

[Squid]

used USAA right now. working on the VA thing... 5.875 with 1/8 point, 30 year. not great, but not bad either. they said their 10 year ARM was a point lower.