Lenders! Help us help you!

Recently, I have been seeing more and more lenders lamenting on social media that buyers/agents are wasting their time. Scenario… A buyer may reach out to them for a last-minute pre-approval letter on the weekend. The lender drops everything and cancels plans to work on said pre-approval. Buyer goes under contract. Surprise! Buyer switches lenders due to lower rate. Lender is upset because they lost the client after going above and beyond and is annoyed that the buyer doesn’t understand what the implications are for the lender.

Here’s the issue. Most of the general public has no idea how lenders get paid. I’ve been doing this over 18 years and I’m even a little fuzzy. I know some lenders are on salary plus commission and some are on just salary plus bonuses and I’m sure some are on another plan entirely. Point is - there is no way the buyer could have know they were imposing on the lender if the lender does not provide context. As far as the buyer is concerned, the lender is just working their “shift” and is happy to prepare loan pre-approvals as part of their job.

Education and expectations are key. People don’t like to talk about money, but this entire industry is built around money. We have to be crystal clear with our needs and our expectations. We can’t expect people to read our minds or know how any of this works.