“That’s how you do it,” Jeff said as he pushed against his desk and shot across the aisle into my cubicle. Once inside he picked up a copy of my rate sheets. “Why do you read these? You won’t make money if you quote actual qualifying rates. Here. Check this out.” Jeff said as he handed me a sheet of paper from his desk. “I call it my “rock sheet.”
It was a rate sheet much like the one I had, but the page was blacked out. The only rate on the entire page was the lowest rate available to consumers. “I print it every morning and circle the lowest rate and most popular program. I sell it all day. This month I have 12 loans slammed, easy.”
“You can’t qualify everyone for a Neg-Am loan!” I said exasperated. “What about Equity? Credit? Income?”
“Chances are if they have some equity and they have fairly decent credit then I can find away to squeeze them in. All I say is, I can get you a 1% no problem as long as you get me your paper work by the end of the day.” He eased back into his chair and smiled. “Oh, lighten up.” Jeff said reassuringly. “What I do isn’t bad. The rates I quote are available. In many cases they aren’t available for my borrowers. But who cares? I get paperwork in, the loan process gets underway, and my borrowers are in too deep to get out. They sign every time.”
“How do you sleep at night?” I asked shaking my head.
“Easy. I have a house, a king bed, and I dream about my vacation to Indonesia in nine days,” he said as he leaned over and crossed another day off his calendar. Jeff’s phone started ringing. “Sweet, another call. I could use another ten grand before I leave.” He picked up his phone and spoke with a deep, trustworthy voice, “Hi, this is Jeffery. How may I help you today?”
In my mind I shouted to the borrower on the other end of the line. “Don’t believe him! He’s only telling you what you want to hear.” But I knew well enough. The borrower was so desperate he would cling hopefully to every word spoken. I sat and listened as Jeff commandeered the conversation and closed another deal.