I used to work for mortgage companies, but not too long ago I gave up what I thought at one time was my dream job. Why? The way they get paid just doesn’t agree with my ethics, and it’s just too hard to find a good moral loan officer to work for because it’s just too easy for them to take advantage of a consumer who thinks they can’t do any better.

Back in March we talked about the subprime lending crisis, but there’s another side to that. Some loan officers actually put clients in jeopardy on purpose because it’s just a paycheck to them. The way everything is set up, it’s in their best interest to charge you as much money as they can convince you to cough up. Between the mortgage fees and interest rate, they can swindle thousands of dollars from you, right under your very nose.

The fact of it is, you don’t have to pay any kind of origination fees or origination points or broker fees or anything of the like for them to get paid - by the way, all those fees I just mentioned is money straight from your pocket into theirs. They don’t have to charge you that. In fact the lender pays the loan officer - or mortgage broker, whatever they want to call themselves - based on your interest rate, and how big of a difference there is between what the lender says you can get, and what the loan officer sells you.

There’s a lot more that factors into this, but that’s the root of the equation. So when you go get any kind of mortgage or home loan, from a bank or otherwise, keep in mind the person on the other side of the desk is not your friend, no matter what they tell you. They are there to sell you, and take you for all they can.

Some, not many, but some of these so called financial professionals are moral decent people, and there are definitely ways to arm yourself against the ones that are not. One of those ways is to stay glued to LoanShak - because we can educate you, and an educated consumer is their greatest fear.