Brandon M. Peterson, NMLS #1435058

Why MinnTrust was the Right Fit for Me, and I’m the Right Lender for You.

I’d like to share my story, how I got to work for MinnTrust Mortgage, and why I feel I’m the best person for your home or commercial financing needs. Let me start by sharing that I’ve worked for a couple of the top 5 mortgage lenders in the country over the last half-decade or so. I won’t go into detail about my experiences with either, other than to say that they were great opportunities, and I wish my former colleagues the best. I learned a lot, most importantly that I love working in mortgage. However, I’ve come to the conclusion that working directly for large, national lenders is not the right fit for me.

The issue with large lenders is that you have a different “resource” for every question, scenario, or situation... which is code for having to reach out to a thousand different departments for information on things. In addition, you have conflicting information everywhere about everything from PTO use to underwriting guidelines. There are too many cooks in the kitchen, and very few of them know what’s for dinner. In addition, their overhead makes it very difficult to provide competitive interest rates and APR’s.

Last month, through a mutual acquaintance, I had the opportunity to meet with Jill Brown, President of Minntrust Mortgage, LLC. I have to be honest, I didn’t know much about brokered real estate loans prior to our meeting. Mainly, I didn’t understand how a Mortgage Originator at a brokerage company can offer better rates than a direct lender. Wasn’t their fee going to make the loan MORE expansive?

As it turns out the answer is usually no. Brokers can often offer better interest rates and APR’s, because they have access to the “wholesale rates” of the lenders they work with. Essentially, if a broker does a loan for “Bill’s Bank,” the money that “Bill’s Bank” saves on it’s own costs to originate and process a loan more than makes up for the broker’s fee. The end result is that the broker’s price/rate to do a loan for “Bill’s Bank” is often superior to what you’d get if you walked into “Bill’s Bank” and applied for the same loan with “Bill” himself. It’s a simple example, but hopefully you get the general point. If you’re a glutton for super-exciting mortgage information like me, you can get a more detailed look at the difference between a mortgage broker and a direct lender by clicking here.

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