Wholesale clubs truly are becoming one-stop shops for everything you need... giant boxes of cereal, lawn furniture, bulk toiletries, and now… mortgages. After testing for a year, Costco is launching a full-service mortgage lending program on its website, in conjunction with First Choice Bank and 10-other lenders. To date, the lending partners have issued over 10,000 mortgages to Costco members. That number is expected to grow substantially once they begin aggressively marketing the service to their millions of members.
Club members can go to the company’s website and enter their information, and within minutes, receive offers from four lenders. Everything is known upfront – rates, terms and closing costs. You may remember hearing about this offering from Costco a few years ago, but their chosen service provider would not disclose enough details about dealing with the Costco members, so Costco started from scratch, partnering with First Choice Bank. While the Costco site gathers offers from multiple lenders, the identity of the Costco member is not revealed until a lender’s offer is officially chosen.
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