Confessions of an Ex-Banker: How to Get Your Next Loan Approved, Guaranteed.

by Brandon

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Confessions of an Ex-Banker: How to Get Your Next Loan Approved, Guaranteed.

Do you wanna hear something not a lot of folks know about me? I used to be a front-end personal banker at a national bank. Yep, I was the guy who sat in the desk and took loan applications and tried to get you to refinance your house. Man, I hated that job. Really, it was awful. So much sales pressure, so many hours of staring at the clock. So many reminders that I should be out investing my money, rather than working for it. However, my job did give me some inside information about how the loan process works. Want to know what I found out?Loans were like a gun safe. They could be opened with the right code.  Every time. I titled this post with the word “guaranteed” NOT because I believe you will always be able to get a loan approved, but because I wanted to demonstrate that the lending process is not a mystery. It’s a lock that can be opened with a code. If you enter the right code, you WILL get your loan approved.  Can you enter that code today? Maybe, maybe not. Unlike the code to a gun safe, this code is not something I can simply tell you; it’s something you need to have. But I do know that IF you enter it right, if you have what it takes, you are going to get approved. Whether you are looking to buy your first home, purchase an investment property, refinance a current loan, or something totally different, this post will give you the tools you need to crack that code and hear a resounding “yes” from the banker, every time. As always, I’d love if you’d take a second to share this post on your favorite social media channel, and don’t forget to ask questions or leave a comment below the post! With that, let’s get to it!

Understanding How a Loan Works

Before getting into the details of just how to get your loan approved, let’s talk about the basics.How does a loan even work? Obviously, there are a lot of different kinds of loans and lenders. There are conventional banks, mortgage brokers, portfolio lenders, hard money lenders, private lenders, and more. Each is going to have their own system. However, let me make a few quick points about the loan process: Typically, the person who you are talking with is just a sales person (like I was). They are not the ones ultimately responsible for saying “yes” or “no” to your loan. When you go into a bank and sit down with the banker, most likely they are simply there to collect your information and be the contact person for you. The real decision-maker is in the “underwriter.” The underwriter is an individual trained to look at all the puzzle pieces that the salesperson gives them and approve or deny a loan based on facts. The underwriter knows all the rules, laws, and regulations and can make an informed decision. However, while the underwriter has all the power, the underwriter is usually not very creative and definitely not emotionally involved (purposefully). To get a loan approved, you must accomplish two things:

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About Brandon

has written 199 Awesome posts in this blog.

Brandon Turner (G+) is the BiggerPockets.com Senior Editor and Community Director and owner of RealEstateInYourTwenties.com. He is also an Active Real Estate Investor (Flips, Apartments, and Buy-and-Hold), Entrepreneur, World Traveler, Third-Person Speaker, and Husband. Come hang out with him on Twitter!

P.S. looking for hard money loans in California? Be sure to check out my friends over at northcoastfinancialinc.com. They have very competitive rates, can fund within a week and specialize in fix and flip loans and other hard money loans.

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