Tune into this week’s episode of Money, I’m Home as Lynne is joined by Josh Summerfield and David Pendley of the Consumers mortgage department to learn about some of the many ways we will provide you with a custom-made mortgage.

0:00:06.5 Lynne Jarman Johnson (LJJ): Money I’m Home. Welcome in and I’m Lynne Jarman-Johnson with Consumers Credit Union from finance to fitness. We have it all. And I’ll tell you what we do have, we have the mortgage that is absolutely right for you. Josh Summerfield, he is our manager in our offices with our mortgage realtor teams, he’s working hard on the ground all day long to get you your house. David Pendley is our vice president of mortgages, thanks to you… You guys, what a great series we have going here.

0:00:38.6 Josh Summerfield (JS): It’s so fun. Absolutely been a lot of fun to talk about… Mortgage is obviously a little passion of ours.

0:00:44.6 LJJ: Mortgage is our passion, and Josh Summerfield and David Pendley are joining us again. I’ll tell you what, we have such a great series, focusing on how we can get you in your home. And I am really excited about today’s topic because, you hear the stories about someone who says, I don’t even dare apply for a mortgage because it’s just too complicated. Either A, too complicated, they don’t want to fill out a bunch of forms or B, they don’t think they can even apply because they can’t get one. Josh and David are here to tell you that that just is not the case. And I’ll tell you what I’m so excited, Josh, tell us about the fact that we really do custom-make mortgages for each member.

0:01:26.6 David Pendley (DP): Yeah, we are definitely not a one-size-fits-all mortgage shop by any means. We want to find the right fit for all of our members. You mentioned some people maybe think they can’t qualify because they’ve been told that elsewhere or whatnot, and maybe it’s just the fact that somebody didn’t really do a deep dive into their whole big picture, and we tend to do that. We want to find ways to fit people into our different products. We have a wide array of things that we have access to, and we’d like to hear the story, we want to hear the whole story and we want to get you into that dream home.

0:02:03.2 LJJ: So David, one of the things that you and I have talked about is that, that story that a person has, perhaps that’s even a journey on to their second home that they’re looking for. We like to really hear what it is that’s going on in their life to try to connect you to the products that we’ve got, ever since you’ve come, we’ve got even more products available for our members. Tell us about some of those.

0:02:24.5 DP: Yeah, to kind of look at the landscape, you’ve probably heard of mysterious entities called like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and FHA and VA, that’s where most lenders sell all of their loans. I came from a place that’s we sold like 99.9% to that. We have a different opportunity here, and then the fact that we can customize loans to groups like teachers or new medical professionals, maybe they don’t have a down payment, maybe they need something in this tight real estate market, something mysterious called a bridge loan, maybe they need to take some equity out of their current home to bridge to be able to buy their new house with their old house not yet being sold. We can come up with all sorts of products like that, that truly distinguishes us from other lenders and other mortgage companies in the marketplace.

0:03:15.6 LJJ: Well, it sounds to me, I just keep hearing in the back of my head the word “yes,” you’re really trying to get to “yes,” Josh.

0:03:23.8 JS: Yeah. We always want to find a way to say yes. And we’re able to do that a lot. We’d like to say yes, we do it a lot, but again, it goes back to finding the whole story, figuring out what’s going to be the best fit, maybe making a few tweaks or maybe coaching you through things a little bit, maybe we got to fix a couple of things on your credit or whatever it is, just to kind of get you to the point where we can get that yes for you and get you into that home.

0:03:49.8 LJJ: There are people still… And some of you may be listening and you think to yourself, “Well, a credit union, I can get my mortgage at a credit union?” which makes me smile, but really that is still a conversation that we’re having, isn’t it, David?

0:04:04.2 DP: Yeah, it’s funny, a lot of times I’ll be at a social event and my friends will be talking and they’ll say, “What is a credit union? What’s a credit union?” And it’s… We’re an entity, very similar to a bank, but we’re owned by our members, we return our profits back to the members in the form of lower fees and better rates, so it’s a real blessing to work at a credit union, because we can walk into our… We’ve been having committee meetings the last couple of weeks of what products do our members need? No other bank is asking that question right now, and we’re able to not only ask it, but answer it. So it’s a lot of fun. And when you talk about portfolio lending, what is portfolio lending, that’s where we come up with creative loans that fit our members the best. And so we can sometimes word it as good loans that other people can’t do, there’s a lot of situations that don’t fit the Fannie Mae and the Freddie Mac or the FHA or VA type of lending. And… But we see it as a very good loan, so we will make that loan. Yes!

0:05:10.2 LJJ: David, you just mentioned focusing on portfolio, and what that means to me is you said the word loan, and I think sometimes people, when you hear the word mortgage, you all of a sudden can be a deer in headlights because it seems so big, and sometimes something that you’re just not quite sure all those terms that you’re using, but Josh is it really as simple as it is a loan, it’s probably one of the biggest ones you might ever do, but Let’s take it at face value for what it is.

0:05:37.2 JS: At the end of the day, it’s a loan, but it’s secured against the house that’s our collateral, right. So that’s where that we’re mortgaging the house, we’re using your house as collateral, but at the end of the day, like I said, it’s a loan. We’re going through the same kind of concept, we would if we called an auto loan, it’s just a little bit bigger of scale, so we’re going to maybe look into a little bit more things than you would otherwise for any other type of loan, right? Just because it is larger and a little bit more risk for us, but… Yeah, so we’re going to look at the bank statements and the pay stubs and the credit history and where your cash is coming from, all those things kind of play into it, but having an experienced loan officer in your corner that’s going to go through and guide you through that, it really simplifies the process, and we do a great job of that here, of coaching our members through from start to finish, just kind of making it an easier process for them.

0:06:27.0 LJJ: I will say I have had so many people who have come to me and asked, “Hey, who can I get a mortgage through and who can be my loan officer?” And the one thing that I am more proud about than anything else is the ending. When it’s all said and done and all of a sudden, I get a thank you note, that talks about the fact that someone actually cared to sit down and listen and know that there might be some issues, but “Hey, we can get through those together”. David, have you found out that that’s really the most important thing that happens in this entire journey?

0:07:00.7 DP: It really is. I’ve done this for decades, and I’ve seen the good times in the housing market, and I’ve seen the bad times in the housing market, and we always ask the question, “Do we want to put our member in a situation to fail?” And… So true story, we had a house, and the house was rather dilapidated, a young couple was buying it, putting very little money down, and I’m questioning, “Do we do this loan or not? just having experience with dilapidated houses. I said, Tell me the story. So, they wrote a beautiful story, our parents live next door, they’re going to help us out with the repairs, we have a budget here, and they forwarded the budget, and I’m like, “Oh my gosh, what a great loan, I love making this loan. Yes, of course, we’ll do this loan”. And that’s what I love about consumers, it’s not just a black and white answer, it’s like, tell me the story if it makes sense, and if you’re going to win on the deal, let’s do it.

0:07:51.5 LJJ: And I do love the fact that you just said, “Yes, let’s hear your story.” And sometimes there might be “Hey, let’s pause, but why don’t we try a few things to get you where you’re going to get to”. Is that what you see too, Josh?

0:08:04.9 JS: Yeah, there’s no doubt. We definitely do things differently here in that regard, we want to dig into the story, we want to hear about your financial history, your background, how you got to where you are, and what your plans are going forward, like the story David mentioned, just really getting the whole big picture of the why that you want this house, why are we moving to this area, why are you up-sizing? Are you having a family, why are you downsizing, are the kids now out of the house and now we’re moving to a condo or whatever it is. The stories are the fun part of this job, and there’s a story behind every single loan, and we love to hear them.

0:08:45.2 LJJ: Well, we’d love to hear from you. If you’re considering getting a new house, selling your home, don’t forget a credit union is a wonderful place to be. Consumers Credit Union. Yes, we are going to get you in that house. I am Lynne Jarman Johnson, thanks so much, Josh and David. And thank you, Jake Esselink for your production skills, I hope everybody has a great week. Yes, get that mortgage.