Banks and private mortgage companies are called retail or direct lenders. They lend their own money and have their own respectful place in the financial industry. They both provide a service for specific clientele who’s financial situation fits neatly into their preset parameters or guidelines. If your situation doesn’t quite fit into their guidelines, you’ll need to start over looking for another lender, who again, may or may not have guidelines that work for you.

I am a mortgage broker. Instead of lending their own money, a broker connects borrowers with the right wholesale lender that has guidelines that fit the borrowers unique needs. As a broker, I work with over 150 wholesale, residential and commercial lenders. Each of them have their own guidelines and each bring varying degrees of flexibility as far as what borrower scenarios they’re comfortable working with. This gives borrowers who work with brokers choices and options that largely are not available at banks and private mortgage companies. As an added bonus, in addition to offering choices and options, the interest rate a borrower can get by working with a broker is usually better than when working with a retail or direct lender.