I MEAN DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHAT THE HELL YOU ARE SIGNING?

your home is your biggest asset. I cannot believe some of you are stupid enough
to trust your assets to a stranger who picks up the phone and asks if you are looking to refinance your home.

Let me tell you something...I have been in the business for years ....

Here is the truth, the person calling your home asking if you need to refinance or shop for a better rate

is a guy with no more than a high school education,
wearing shorts and a tshirt in sunny california,
most likely in the city of Irvine (oh the mecca of the mortgage industry),
he sits there with his soda and doritos,
calls your house
and you give the man your information!
are you fcking nuts? (most of you are)

of course he moves on to finding a loan program that benefits HIM an puts the most money in HIS pocket by charging you
an obscene origination fee which you probably deserve for giving out your social security number to a stranger over the phone.

Not all of you are stupid, some of you get cold feet and that is when dorito eating, soda loving loan officer turns to his buddy and
asks him to 'second voice' your and you get a call from the "UNDERWRITER"
or his "manager" promising you this is the best loan for you and reminds you of the benefits of the loan.
ANY cash out refinance can be seen as a benefit, wake up and smell the coffee people!!!!

So of course the loan closes, loan officer makes 5-10K and you have no clue what you signed.
I often want to pick up the phone and remain anonymous and tell some of you just REALLY how much your refinance is costing you, it is no wonder most loan officers are faced with the TWO most important choices they
ever have to make: 1. Mercedez orrrr 2. BMW.


Old couples really break my heart, i have seen old couples get into the most f**d up loans EVER!
where are their kids? their grandkids? people, dont leave your old folks to handle a big finance transaction on their own!
I have been in this industry for years and i will not let any of my family members or friends feed the loan sharks, I do their loans myself!!!!
START A MOVEMENT PEOPLE, PROCEED WITH CAUTION, KNOW WHAT YOU ARE SIGNING, ITS A GREEDY INDUSTRY,
GET REAL AND DON'T TRUST THE GUY EATING DORITOS AND WEARING SHORTS ON THE OTHER LINE!!!!!

I would love to see borrowers begin to request a fckign resume and references from all these loan sharks. Their resumes would be something like this:
"um, i got a GED, worked at the mall, became a telemarkerter and now im refinancing your home man"

Then the good people in the industry (such as myself) would not rant about this crap just like i have.

kp2171

i think its proper to say financially illiterate.

when i first read this a couple of hours ago, i thought it a bit harsh. then, later, i thought the rant was ok if thats what you needed to blow off some steam. ive taught classes where if the student did x, y, and z theyd at least pass. and then when they came in, having done NONE of the above, id go mad... knowing it couldnt be laid out more clear.

so... i think you are in a position many people arent. you see all the angles and you know the pitfalls.

i have a relative whom i consider to be very talented. in many ways he is quite bright. but he is a financial disaster.

we teach algebra and geometry to students in HS, as well as english (here in the US) but we do NOT teach financial literacy.

successful people have been scammed by the nigerian scheme (or variations upon it) and those of us standing outside of it ask how in the world could that happen?

it happens.

as for the statement about where are the kids and grandkids when grandparents make awful decisions? sometimes i think they are in the dark... and not necessarily by their own fault.

my wifes father bought a home out of state. didnt talk to her about it at all. he wintered there, and decided to take permanent root. didnt consult the family at all, which is damn near a sin in an italian family.

well... turns out he made a fantastic decision. great buy. but he did it on his own... as if his kids input was not needed. he also bought $30K worth of home furnishing on unsecured debt.

after his passing, his daughter, my wife, was shocked. he was not a rich man, but hed always lived a fairly disciplined life financially. i think he just wanted to live a little more in the end. and honestly, since most credit co's settle for pennies on the dollar for debt like this, im not so sure he was even wrong there, from his perspective.

so... before i get too off topic... your frustration is valid. the only thing i would add is that it is financial literacy that is lacking... and its more common than we might want to admit.

kp2171

a much, much milder situation... but another "fine print" issue...

my mortgage co offers a program to pay down your mortgage early using payments every 2 weeks, half the mortgage payment due ea time. they send lovely letters with colored charts that show you how much you can save over the life of the loan. early payments decrease the interest charged. poof. less money payed.

true.

but they also, in the very fine print, charge you a fee for enrolling in the program. then there is another fee for using the electronic payment system. now... i can do the EXACT same thing using my banks FREE automatic payments plan.... and get hit with NO enrollment fees or monthly fees. hmmmm... which to do????

BUT... it took some really detailed looking, and a phone call to confirm, to understand that they were charging fees that really were not needed if i just spent 5 min online with my banks auto pay system.

now this isnt the same as losing your home, but another ex of reading the fine print...

so if the "legit" companies nickel and dime us, well... you know what the murkier co's are doing to us.

Dr D

The rant by starwarsgal, while a bit extreme, is justified. Far too many borrowers only listen to things that please them, such as: Yes, you can buy a house today, even with your crummy credit; Yes, your payments will be unbelievably low. In my 24 years in the mortgage business, I have never done a loan with a prepayment penalty or a Pay Option ARM. When I have explained to a borrower that it might be best to take some time to fix their credit, or that the current crop of Disneyland loans can be a time bomb, they too often let the slime bag from Benjamin Dover Mortgage do their loan. Some call me a year later, asking if I can fix the mess. Probably not.

Consumers should demand strict licensing and education requirements for Mortgage Loan Officers. Too many states (like AZ) have none. While not a complete fix, it would reduce the sleeze factor in our business. When the Sub-Prime loans that enabled anyone with a heartbeat to get a morgage came on the scene, I cried "What the hell are they thinking", to no avail. Mortgage fraud has been around since the begining, to one degree or another. There are plenty of laws on the books to punish the miscreants, but they are not enforced. Some years back, I saw the case of an LO who was caught red handed on at least 10 fraudulant (FHA) loans with "first payment default". Her "punishment" was that she was not allowed to do FHA loans for a period of one year. She should have been a shower attendant at a Federal Institution for many years.

Thank you - now I feel better.

NeedKarma

I do not do ANY business with any telemarketer EVER.

ScottGem

While I have never worked as a mortgage broker, I have worked for lending institutions of various types. I've also worked as a collector and had my own mortgages.

I do agree the starwarsgal's rant is justified but its not just in this area. Bottom line is people too often jump in to a lot of things without reading the fine print or considering all the consequences. Many times its conceit. They just think they know way more than they actually do. Other times its excitement. The desire to own their own home or purchase that new car or whatever clouds their judgement. A lot of the time its a matter of being too trusting. "The dealer told us there would be no problem waiting an extra week to make the payment", they tell us after the car was repo'ed.

PT Barnum told us there is a sucker born every minute. That is as true now as it was in his time. We've even heard from a couple of people who fell for the Nigerian scam!!!

Of course that's what makes sites like this a great resource. Because we have people like gal, and Dr D. who take pride in their work and try to do their best to look out for their customers. And we have volunteers willing to share their knowledge and experience for the benefit of others.