Hard money lenders California—With all the options available nowadays, it can be hard to realize who is a legitimate lender, and which ones are scams. Some relatively new laws in California are geared towards protecting borrowers.

Hard money lenders California—It has happened way too much in the past. A person with too low of a credit rating wants to follow his dream and open his own business. He can’t get approved for a loan from a traditional lender, so he has to find a hard money lender to approve him.

But there are so many! Who do you trust? Who is legitimate? Is there any way a person can weed out the bad so you can just choose from the good and not have to worry about being a victim of some elaborate scam?

Yes.

How You Can Protect Yourself From Fraudulent Hard Money Lenders in California

There is no way to weed out the bad from the good completely, but there are ways in which you can bend the odds in your favor that the guys you are choosing from are not going to cheat you:

• Federal Licensing: Lenders in California have to be licensed by national and local agencies to conduct business. Licensing is one of the easiest things to check on and something you should always ask about. If they have it—great—but if they don’t or try to give you some excuse as to why they don’t, it may be time to try someone else.

• Law 6500 of Consumer Protection on balloon loans: One of the ways lenders can make hard money loans more appealing is by making the payments smaller. However, when they do, they are also making the balloon payment you will have to make at the end of the loan term that much higher. What this law does is limit balloon payments by not allowing them to mature in less than five years.

• Negative Amortization Bans: One of the negatives involved with hard money loans is the higher interest rate. After all, lenders deserve to be compensated for their risk. But what this refers to is banning interest rates that are so high that they cause undue financial hardship on the borrower (negative amortization).

• Predatory Loans: In the interest of approving a loan application faster (which is a big selling point for hard money lenders) the step involving income verification is sometimes overlooked. Either that or the lender knows the borrower can’t pay back the loan but makes it anyway so they can eventually seize the property used as collateral. Whether it is by accident or on purpose, it is considered predatory lending—which is illegal. Federal law now requires lenders verify the ability to repay a loan before approving a loan.

• Upfront payments: Some hard money lenders in California and elsewhere will require borrowers to make a pretty large payment up front to possibly cover interest and an advance installment fee. Federal law keeps a lender from making it too large (no more than two reasonably sized payments depending on the structure of the loan).

Dennis Dahlberg Broker/RI/CEO/MLO
Level 4 Funding LLC
Arizona Tel:  (623) 582-4444
Texas Tel:      (512) 516-1177
Dennis@level4funding.com
https://level4funding.com
NMLS 1057378 | AZMB 0923961 | MLO 1057378
22601 N 19th Ave Suite 112 | Phoenix | AZ | 85027
111 Congress Ave |Austin | Texas | 78701

About the author: Dennis has been working in the real estate industry in some capacity for the last 40 years. He purchased his first property when he was just 18 years old. He quickly learned about the amazing investment opportunities provided by trust deed investing and hard money loans. His desire to help others make money in real estate investing led him to specialize in alternative funding for real estate investors who may have trouble getting a traditional bank loan. Dennis is passionate about alternative funding sources and sharing his knowledge with others to help make their dreams come true.

Dennis has been married to his wonderful wife for 42 years. They have 2 beautiful daughters 5 amazing grandchildren. Dennis has been an Arizona resident for the past 40 years.