Refinance Info Online Application Steps and Helpful Hints Get Started: Select a type of loan Select Refinance. The property you are looking to refinance must be located in Florida in order to utilize GTE Financial financing. Get Started: Create Login When you start a new loan application, you are basically creating an account for your loan application. You can stop your application at any time and then log back in to complete or review the status of an application. If your browser window closes or your computer actually shuts off for example, no problem. You can always log back in. Get Started: Electronic Communications & Disclosures Here you will choose whether you receive your loan communications and disclosures by traditional mail or by email. You must read the Electronic Communications Disclosure & Consent document before you can select the email/electronic option. You will then be prompted to enter and re-enter to confirm the email address you d like your communications and disclosures to be sent. Step 1: About You Primary Borrower: If you select a Marital Status of Married and your spouse will be on the loan, you will need to select Add Borrower at the bottom of the page. Under Current Address: After filling in your current address, you are asked your monthly payment. Please do not put the total amount of your home price. Input just your MONTHLY payment. Add Borrower: Look to the bottom of the page and click the Add Borrower button and fill in the fields with your spouse s information. Select the Joint Credit option that applies to you and your spouse/co-borrower. Make sure that your spouse or partner does indeed show up. You will then have to check the Credit Report Authorization box to continue. Step 2: About Your Home Home Value: If you re not sure, check online! Estimated Home Value is just that - an estimation. Prior to closing on your loan, we will have an official appraisal done on the home to determine its actual value. This is just an initial amount that you supply. There are several web sites online that can provide you an Estimated Home Value. None of these sites are endorsed by GTE Financial, so we cannot guarantee their accuracy; however, they are a good starting point. Additionally, it will not benefit you to inflate your home value. It s best to try and get as realistically close to your market value as possible.
If you get multiple different estimates of your home s value, it is our suggestion to use a value at the lower end of the spectrum in your application. Refinance Amount: Input a Refinance Amount that will be sufficient to pay off your existing mortgage(s) as well as any additional cash back you may want. However, you should not include the amount you need to pay closing costs (To calculate closing costs, learn more about our Loan Consultant tool.). Traditionally, the rule of thumb is that you can only Refi up to 80% of the current market value of your home (The market value today may not be what you bought the home for necessarily. You will need to use the current value though during the application). In other words, you need an 80% loan-to-value ratio (LTV) to qualify for a refinance. How to calculate your loan-to-value ratio: 1. Find out your home s market value. Let s use $200,000 (Even if you bought the house 4 years ago for $250,000, use the current value.) 2. Find out the balance of your existing mortgage. Your original mortgage was for $250,000, and you have paid $90,000 already, so your principal balance is $160,000 - what you still owe from your first loan. 3. Divide the balance of your original loan by your home value to get your LTV ratio. Your LTV ratio would be 80% ($160,000 / $200,000) indicating you have just enough equity in your home that you may qualify for a Refi. Simple LTV Calculators not provided by GTE Financial (accuracy cannot be assured) but here are some to try: BankRate.com > LTV Ratio calculator LetsRenovate.com > This calculator will break out 70%, 80%, 90% and 100% LTV Mortgage Balance, Monthly Taxes and Monthly Insurance You can normally find these items on your bank s or financial institution s monthly statement. You can leave blank if you do not know the answers. HOA Dues: HOA, or Home Owners Association, dues or fees are usually monthly fees used towards the preservation and management of common areas within a community. HOA fees can vary depending on the Property Type, Home Values etc. If unknown, average HOA fees in Florida are between $100 and $400 per month. Step 3: Employment and Income Overtime, Commission and Bonuses you don t have to worry about accidentally putting a Commission in the Bonus field for example. There is some acceptable ambiguity between definitions and answers. The main concern is getting a good idea of your total income, not really the category it falls under. If you have indicated a spouse or co-borrower on the refinance application, you will be asked to enter this information for them as well. Overtime: Historically, if you ve been compensated for overtime, even though that may fluctuate from year-toyear, enter an amount based on what you ve earned in the past consistently.
Commissions: Commissions usually apply to sales. Sometimes commissions are in addition to your salary or you may work off of straight commissions. Estimate an amount considering what you ve earned in the past consistently. Bonuses: A Bonus is typically a reward for a job well done, for example a holiday bonus. If this is a habitual source of income, estimate an amount considering what you ve earned in the past consistently. Step 4: Assets Assets are economic resources that could be converted into cash (although cash is also considered an asset). Assets include: Bonds, Certificates of Deposit, Checking Account, Gift Not Deposited, Mutual Funds, Other Non-Liquid Assets, Retirement Funds, Savings Account and Stocks. PLEASE NOTE: An asset DOES NOT INCLUDE a vehicle or property. Also, if entering Retirement Funds as an asset, please enter an estimate equal to 70% of the account s current value. List of Assets: Click the Add Assets button at the bottom left to add an asset. You are required to enter at least one asset (such as a checking or savings account balance). Real Estate Owned: Verify that your home s Market Value, Mortgage, Rental Income (if applicable) and monthly mortgage payment information is correct. If this information needs to be edited, simply click Edit. For refinances, you must select at least one mortgage to be paid off. Select the Add Mortgage Liability button on the top of the page to add your current mortgage. You will then input your mortgage information. Step 5: Liabilities This section is important. Please review the liabilities (debts) that appear on this page for accuracy. We recommend reviewing all of the information appended to a specific liability by clicking Edit. Check the Pay Off box to the left of your mortgage liability and select a Lien Position (whether the loan is a first or second mortgage), unless the property to be refinanced has a balance of $0.00, meaning you have already completely paid off your original mortgage. If you need to add another mortgage to the list, click Add. If the property to be refinanced has a $0.00 balance, again meaning you have paid off your original mortgage 100%, return to the Your Home page and enter $0.00 in the Mortgage Balance field for the property that is being refinanced. This scenario will be very unlikely. If you do not have a balance on your original mortgage, you probably will not be refinancing that mortgage unless you want to tap into your home s equity for cash back.
If any debts appear on this page that do not belong to you or that have already been paid off or closed, please check the Pay Off box in the 1 st left hand column. Step 6: Declarations This page simply asks you to answer Yes or No to specific questions. For h: Is any part of the down payment borrowed? This just asks if you re paying your down payment with anything other than cash, such as with a credit card. For i: Are you the co-maker or endorser on a note? Another word for a co-maker is a cosigner, someone who assumes full responsibility for a debt if the borrower does not or cannot repay a promised obligation. An endorser is the borrower. A note is a promise in writing to pay a sum of money to another party either at a fixed or determinable future time or on demand under specific terms. For m: Have you had an ownership interest in a property for the last 3 years? Because you are refinancing, implying you already have a mortgage on a home, you will need to mark this question as Yes. Declarations Explanations: You will most likely select Principal Residence meaning that s where you live most of the time If you said you were married, and have a co-borrower, you will need to specify that the Title is Held Jointly with Spouse. If you selected co-borrower at the beginning, but are not legally married to your co-borrower, you can select Jointly with Someone Else. Step 7: Your Loan This page will have you answer specific questions related to your current loan and if you indicated an interest in FHA or VA Loans earlier in the application. Options From Your Loan Consultant This is the important page that summarizes your loan refinance options. You will want to review your options and Select a loan product. You will have to select a loan before you can move forward in the application but this doesn t mean you are locked into this selection. All you are doing is applying for a pre-approval of an initial amount and initial loan option - a $150,000 10 yr Fixed Rate mortgage, for example. You can change the amount and the loan product later if you need to. For details on a specific loan option, simply click the Details button that corresponds to the loan. After selecting a refinance product, you will be asked whether you would like to finance any refinance closing costs. Review the Adjusted column in Step 7 related to the refinance product you ve selected. If you decide you d like to make another selection and recalculate, click the Restart Pricing link at the bottom of the page.
Step 8: Disclosures We are required to provide these documents to you and recommend that you review them. After you view each one, the Viewed box will be automatically checked. Once all documents have been viewed you can Accept and Continue with submitting your application. You will need to have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your computer or tablet, or download the free program in order to view the disclosure documents. Step 9: Information for Government Monitoring Purposes This information is for government monitoring purposes with the majority of fields being totally optional. Only identify what you feel comfortable providing. If you wish to skip this page simply check the box under your name stating you do not wish to provide this information. Finish: Submit Application If you d like to submit your application for review, click the Submit Application button at the bottom of the page. A GTE Financial Mortgage Specialist will call you within 48 hours. You can also print a copy of your application from this page. Once you submit your application, you will see a time page that indicates your application is being processed. This process can take up to 5 minutes, so if you need to walk away from your computer for any reason, navigate away from this page or even close the window, you can log back in at any time using your Login ID and Password to view the status of your application. You do not need to start over. Application Status Page: A Congratulations message means your loan application has been credit approved. If you do not see this message, that does not mean you have been denied. A GTE Financial Mortgage Specialist will contact you within 48 hours to discuss your application. Or, you can reach GTE s Member Home Loans at 813.871.2690, ext. 40407. For those that are Approved immediately: Approval Letter - You should print this document. This shows your loan application has been credit approved. If that document is not yet available to open and print, these documents will be emailed to you. Disclosures - You will receive an email when your disclosure paperwork is available. You can then log back into your account using your Login ID and Password. The Disclosure button will turn blue when it is available to click on. If your application status shows In Review, a GTE Financial Mortgage Specialist will contact you within 48 hours.