why upload the actual document? why not let users enter only numbers?
Because it is an (likely illegal) lead gen scam
You can see they have a page for mortgage lenders to sign up for the other side
Show HN: Free mortgage analysis tool to avoid getting screwed by closing costs
151–160 of 175 posts
Re: Show HN: Free mortgage analysis tool to avoid getting screwed by closing costs
#152What actions can you take by the time you are at closing ? I'm a licensed real estate agent, I actually got my license not just to learn about the business but to be able to save myself on agent commissions if I want to make an offer (if you can pass a CS data structures class you should be able to get a real estate license online in a matter of months), and I still would not try to optimize on closing costs. Do I sh…
hmm. I don't see why not optimize closing costs. I have done so on 4-5 mortgages myself. When sourcing your lending options, if you are a good borrower at least, you will have multiple options. I always asked for a full closing cost estimate and compared. Usually saved $2000-5000 through a combination of: - effectively shopping around items like title insurance, appraisals, etc by pointing out differences b/c competi…
This business is a thinly veiled mortgage lead gen scam
Its going on nearly 20 years I have been watching this train wreck
Re: Show HN: Free mortgage analysis tool to avoid getting screwed by closing costs
#153A side business I have is people who contact me because they just got scammed or need help knowing if something is a scam. One of the things I tell them is to never upload financial documents containing personal information unless: - The company they’re uploading it to is well known like a major bank and the domain in the address bar matches. - They know the company they’re dealing with - which means a business addre…
Hi @trollbridge, thank you for the valid points.
I'm glad to take you up on your consulting offer.
Re: Show HN: Free mortgage analysis tool to avoid getting screwed by closing costs
#154Earlier quoted context omitted.
Hey, Aaron the builder here. The scamming that happens to homebuyers is not even comparable to the risk in uploading docs to a website which promises they won't share user data with anyone. This is genuinely a pro buyer tool with no association with any 3rd party. The tool has already helped many people negotiate and get a better deal on their mortgage. Please before judging understand that 70% of buyers overpay in t…
It is fair to describe the pains of not getting analysis on mortgage loan estimates, but what I think folks are looking for is some kind of authentic answer to the problem posed. For example, you could advise the person uploading to remove PII prior to the upload, and link to pdf editing tools that allow them to do that. You could say that not including PII like full name(s) found on just about every loan estimate do…
Thank you for these suggestions, I'm going to advise users to remove PII before uploading and eventually allow users to purge their data.
Re: Show HN: Free mortgage analysis tool to avoid getting screwed by closing costs
#155I redacted my personal information from my loan estimate and your system couldn't process it. I don't see why you need that information to pull the closing cost numbers?
The processing could fail for a bunch of reasons. I'm working on making the upload more fault tolerant including of redacted information.
Re: Show HN: Free mortgage analysis tool to avoid getting screwed by closing costs
#156Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's a really new tool I quickly launched last week, there's a terms of service and privacy policy that gives info. https://closing.wtf/terms-of-service https://closing.wtf/privacy-policy I plan to go through SOC 2 / other compliancy certification in the near future. Happy to answer other questions
What, exactly, does SOC 2 have to do with anything? Can you answer the question of why this tool doesn’t work when redacting irrelevant personal information? I took my own info, redacted personal information you don’t need, and it doesn’t work.
The upload often doesn't work with redacted information because redacting sometimes changes the pdf's structure and can make the text extraction less reliable. I'm working on making the pdf processing more resilient.
Re: Show HN: Free mortgage analysis tool to avoid getting screwed by closing costs
#157There's a number of threads here about privacy/security concerns. I'm curious what should be the bar for grassroots/bootstrapped projects like this?
Having recently taken a company through ISO 27001:2022 it's a pretty expensive and time consuming process, that doesn't seem reasonable to do early on in a projects creation - you don't yet know if you have product market fit.
However, you're wanting people or companies to trust you with their data - so it starts to feel a little chicken/egg
What's the best middle ground here for building trust whilst acquiring your first users?
Re: Show HN: Free mortgage analysis tool to avoid getting screwed by closing costs
#158There's a number of threads here about privacy/security concerns. I'm curious what should be the bar for grassroots/bootstrapped projects like this? Having recently taken a company through ISO 27001:2022 it's a pretty expensive and time consuming process, that doesn't seem reasonable to do early on in a projects creation - you don't yet know if you have product market fit. However, you're wanting people or companies…
ISO 27001 implementation and certification doesn't have to be overly expensive if you have the right team to help you. It also doesn't have to be time consuming as you can outsource a good deal of the work.
I work as ISO 27001 auditor and I help companies get ISO certified. For a small company the combined cost of certification and external provider support ranges from $5k to $8k. Of course if you are a larger organisation the cost will go up, but not drastically.
Re: Show HN: Free mortgage analysis tool to avoid getting screwed by closing costs
#159There's a number of threads here about privacy/security concerns. I'm curious what should be the bar for grassroots/bootstrapped projects like this? Having recently taken a company through ISO 27001:2022 it's a pretty expensive and time consuming process, that doesn't seem reasonable to do early on in a projects creation - you don't yet know if you have product market fit. However, you're wanting people or companies…
ISO 27001 implementation and certification doesn't have to be overly expensive if you have the right team to help you. It also doesn't have to be time consuming as you can outsource a good deal of the work. I work as ISO 27001 auditor and I help companies get ISO certified. For a small company the combined cost of certification and external provider support ranges from $5k to $8k. Of course if you are a larger organi…
That makes sense, but simply isn't viable cost wise IMO if you're trying to bootstrap a side project - until you have your first users and a sense that you have something people are willing to pay for, spending thousands on compliance certifications seems pretty risky.
I'm interested in what the best strategy to build/establish trust when you can't yet afford to pay for certification is.
Re: Show HN: Free mortgage analysis tool to avoid getting screwed by closing costs
#160Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think it's actually refreshing to see the top comments and constructive criticism be about privacy concerns. It shows that even for little "Show HN" projects, there is growing intolerance of half-assing it. Not saying OP in particular is half-assing it, but it's good to see these questions being regularly asked front and center. I honestly wish the Tech Media paid more attention to privacy and security instead of j…
My opinion is that the OP shouldn’t even half-ass it. Ignore anybody who has complaints about privacy and 0-ass it. People just love complaining and telling other people The Right Way To Do Things.
As the OP, I wasn't even complaining about privacy of the app or site per se. It was just feedback on how that part of the landing page copy made me, a potential consumer of the product (I'm in the process of buying a house rn) made me feel in the moment. Could be a quick copy change to fix.