Why Sacramento Credit Union Mortgages Can Be More Difficult

Borrowers don’t see what goes on behind the scenes with credit union mortgages.

Let me go on the record as saying I have nothing against credit union mortgages or credit unions in general, as I am a member of a credit union in Sacramento and also Hawaii. However, as a Sacramento listing agent, I am rarely overjoyed to see a preapproval letter from a credit union. For about the same reason as when an institutional bank prepares a preapproval letter. These preapprovals are generated by a salaried person, not a person earning commission.

Salaried individuals have little incentive to hit benchmarks and some do a poor job communicating. That’s not to say none perform nor exceed expectations because they do. Just as it’s not to say that all commission-based individuals rise to the occasion, either, because half do not. Just generally speaking, the incentive is not really there. It always depends on with whom you’re dealing, and not just for credit union mortgages.

For example, when I was leaving Hawaii, I knew that my baggage exceeded 50 pounds. It weighed more than that leaving SMF. Even with juggling stuff around, shoving heavy items into my laptop rolling luggage, abandoning beauty products at the hotel, I feared my luggage would not pass the maximum weight test. So when I noticed I could print out a baggage tag for my luggage online, supposedly to save time, I pondered this process. Seemed like a no-brainer to attach a pre-printed luggage tag and skip the luggage handling. Except for the fact I would be handing my luggage to a surly mouth-breather, a $10/hr clerk, whose sole job is to grab luggage from stuck up first-class passengers, weigh it, and follow airline policy.

Or, I could engage with the smiling, friendly reservation counter clerk — the woman with the Tahitian flower tucked behind her ear, the person with a manicure who deals strictly with first-class passengers and quite possibly enjoys her elevated status, not to mention is paid more than the luggage handlers — and let her weigh my bag. She will undoubtedly raise an eyebrow when she discovers my bag weighs over the limit. However, she will let me off with a small tsk-tsk, just a warning, mind you, then break into a wide grin and send my baggage on its merry little way down the conveyor belt. Which is precisely what happened.

Some worker-bee employees jump on little power trips when they have no real power in their lives. If I had let a luggage handler weigh my bag, I would have been yanking my bras out right then and there. I also cannot count the number of times I have tried to extract information from credit union employees about pending credit union mortgages and they simply do not respond. If they do respond, it’s generally to say they cannot provide any information and I need to call the buyer’s agent to extract an update.

All my seller and I want to know is whether the appraisal came in fine and the date the file will close. We’re not asking for personal information on the borrower. But they don’t seem to care. On the other hand, at least they are not placing my name on a direct mail list and hounding me to death with spam emails, like so many other mortgage brokers in town. It’s just a very different interaction.

Mortgage brokers keep both sides (listing and selling) informed all the way through the transaction; in some ways they are relentless with their communication efforts. Most of this is in hopes the listing agent will recognize what a truly superior human being is behind this effort and then send all of her buyers in that direction, which is not gonna happen with this Sacramento Realtor. But credit union mortgages are the opposite. It can be like pulling teeth to find out what’s going on. No wait, yanking out teeth is easier.

On top of this, there is no real urgency to close. Mortgage brokers will feel the personal responsibility and sometimes smooth over closings by offering financial incentives to those affected by delays, but generally not credit unions offering credit union mortgages. They work on their own timeframe, and delays are often inevitable.