Am I being a nitpicky about this refi?!?!?

Psyber

Senior member
Oct 27, 1999
677
0
0
final update
I decided to send my initially drafted message. After thinking about it more and getting input from you guys, I decided the mortgage guy does suck (actually I knew that in the back of my mind already) and that even getting a refi may not be a good idea unless I decide to sell in 7 years (which I'm not sure about, I may keep it as a rental property). I never really did take in consideration that rates might get really really high in 7 years so a HEL might end up with a higher rate than I have right now.

Thank you everyone for their input



Sorry about the length... I thought cliff notes might be biased.

I am getting a refinance from a 15 yr at 5.75% to a 7/1 ARM at 4.85%, but I was originally promised 4.65% on the estimate. I'm pretty upset about his service because he forgets things, has a short attention span (see his response), and doesn't call me back when he says so. It'll take me 4 years to make back the closing cost according to my spreadsheet and how I plan to pay it, but I'll be under less pressure since my required payment will be about 300 less. I kinda want to do the refi anyway since I do want to reduce my required monthly payment, but I'm still a bit pissed off at the guy. What do you guys think?

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Cxxxxx,
I was planning on calling you today, but I had my
wisdom teeth pulled so I?m not really able to speak.
I was thinking about my refinance experience so far
with you yesterday and became very upset. You seem
very professional with me over the phone, however,
there are a number of things that I felt I was ?taken
for a ride? on.

1. The one day I wanted to lock at 4.65% or lower.
You had told me that it was at 4.65%, but you would
see if you could get a lower rate. You told me that
you would call me back before 5:30PM. I waited till
6:00PM and did not receive a call. When I called you
back the next day (you didn?t call me), you told me
the rates went up.

2. When I filled out the application, I had told you
that I didn?t have a second mortgage, but had a HELOC
on the account. You told me that I should close it
and recommended that I open it with you guys
(otherwise we would have to wait for the
subordination). Since the cost was too high to close
the HELOC I decided not to close it, so you told me
that I would probably have to go with a 60 day lock.
I was OK with that. However, one week later (last
week) you told me we were ready to close and HAD to
close on Thursday (yesterday). After a barrage of
forms (which I didn?t have to fill out for my first
mortgage btw) and missing my lunch get another form
filled out I had everything that you requested filled
ASAP for you. On Wednesday you told we couldn?t close
because of the HELOC (you should have known about the
HELOC, it was on the app and we talked about it? 60
day lock remember?).

3. I had requested to get a copy of the closing docs
before closing. Even if we had closed on Thursday,
you wouldn?t have gotten the closing docs to me before
closing.

4. Rates? on your web site you list the 7/1 ARM as
4.25% and you claim that you can?t even get me less
than 4.85%. Two things? when we initially talked, the
bankrate rate (PCS mortgage listing) was at 4.5 and
your website rate was at 4.5 you gave me a GFE at
4.65. Currently, the bankrate average is 4.5% - it
was even less yesterday. I?ve called a few mortgage
companies today just to be sure (with my loan amount
of 90,000) and have always gotten quotes between 4.5
and 4.65.

So? Because of all the problems I?ve had, I had
actually wanted to cancel my refinance. However,
since you have spent some time working on this, I will
be willing to work with you and close this mortgage
only with the following conditions.
1. I get a rate of 4.65% or below and you will still
honor the same fees (no add?l) on the GFE
2. I receive the closing docs 2 days before closing.

If you can't accomodate me on this, you can cancel my
application. I think I have been overly patient.
It?s just been very upsetting when I think of all this
I?ve been through, I may decide to not even get a refi
at all anymore. Well, let me know what you decide.


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

His answer to my ultimatum in which he misunderstood my entire email. I don't think I was unclear, but maybe y'all could confirm


R********,

Let me say that I apologize if your experience with me so far has not been
what you expected. I've tried extremely hard to close your loan in a timely
manner with the information that's been provided to me. Please remember that
we have to adhere to all of the lender's rules and guidelines. Let me answer
the questions you have for me;

1. What I have is that you saw an interest rate of 4.5% and said that you
wanted that rate, but I explained to you that the banks have tiers for loan
amounts and that the loan amount of $92,000 would put you an .125% higher
than what we were offering. I said that the rates "may" go down the next day
but that I don't have a crystal ball, and that the decision is entirely
yours. You said that you wanted to see what the market was going to do the
next day(to see if they would go lower) as you had done several weeks prior.
Unfortunately the rates went up.

2. You never disclosed to me that you had an outstanding line of credit
which could be considered fraudulent if your refinance had gone through.
Lines of credit affect your debt to income ratios in addition to affecting
the lien placement of the lenders. Your loan was cleared for settlement on
3/12/04 and was scheduled to close on 3/18/04. That settlement would have
happened if not for me finding out through your insurance company that there
was another mortgage outstanding. At that point I had, in good faith,
followed through with my obligations as far as closing your loan. Once I
found out that you had a second mortgage and that mortgage would need to be
subordinated, I took the steps necessary to make sure your refinance would
go through. This involved moving the loan you had locked, in good faith,
from the lender that had approved your loan to a new lender. Although moving
loans between lenders is not our normal practice because it hurts our
relationships with our lenders, I did this in order to save you lock
extension fees that would need to be paid to the original lender while
waiting for the subordination letter to come in from Deep Green.

3. Upon finding out about the HELOC that needed to be subordinated, I
immediately called my lender to make them aware that the settlement was not
going to occur. Therefore, closing docs were never drawn up. The lenders
will not have closing docs drawn up until 1-2 days before settlement in case
there are last minute changes to the docs that need to be made. There is a
cost to the lender for drawing up docs and for making changes once those
docs are drawn that is why they wait until right before settlement to do it.
I did request that the docs be drawn early and assuming you settled
yesterday as planned, you would have been able to view them by Wednesday at
the latest. As I stated before, I cancelled the settlement on Monday.

4. At this time, based on market conditions and your original good faith
estimate, the current rate we are offering for your size loan and for a 60
day lock period is 4.875%. In response to the 4.25% we are advertising on
our website, that rate is based on a purchase loan amount of $175,000 locked
for 30 days as disclosed at the bottom of the webpage. All three of those
factors greatly affect the rate. In addition, the fees associated with that
rate are $2,899.00 which are much higher than what you were paying.

Once again I apologize if your experience with us has been anything less
than acceptable. I hope you still want to go through with us providing your
financing. Please let me know how you would like me to proceed. I wish you
all the luck and happiness in the future.

Best Wishes,

C*****

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PLANNED response. I'm going to sleep on it.
update I sent the message


I thank you for your time, but unless you can proceed with my 2 conditions, I'm just going to for-go a refi. I thank you for your time and effort. However, I do want to explain myself, I know you probably have a lot of clients and forgot some of the details.

1. The rate was already at 4.65% when we first talked (that was a month or 2 ago) and I said I'd go with 4.65%, but I'd prefer something lower. You told me that you would call me before 5:30 to let me know what you could do. I was more upset about you not calling me back (before 6 or even the next day) than you not getting the rate. I think you are getting confused with the times I've requested a float down.

2. I DID DEFINATELY disclose that I had a HELOC. We had a conversation about it (detailed in original email). Also, if you look at my signed application, I put it in the margin like you asked me to.

I am more upset about the forgetting and my calls not being returned than the actual rate
 

xSauronx

Lifer
Jul 14, 2000
19,582
4
81
sounds like a pain in the ass, such complications are keeping me from refinancing...at least for now, getting the first loan was aggravating, i really dont want to do it again

good luck with it
 

Go to a different bank.

Banks are competing for customers very heavily right now. If you think it's a waste of your time, it probably is.
Though, understand that the bank is out there to MAKE MONEY, not GIVE YOU money.
 

MojoJojo

Senior member
Jan 7, 2001
927
0
76
You have every right to be upset.

Brokers often do that to make a little moe rebate on the backend.

They may have gambled that rates would be lower, allowing them to make more money and it didnt pan out.

You should get what you were promised. Nothing less.

There are plenty of shops out there that will give you what you want.

 

Psyber

Senior member
Oct 27, 1999
677
0
0
Originally posted by: xSauronx
sounds like a pain in the ass, such complications are keeping me from refinancing...at least for now, getting the first loan was aggravating, i really dont want to do it again

good luck with it

I know my first mortgage lady rushed me through the whole thing. I hated it. I didn't even know what was going on... and fees up the wazoo
 

Mill

Lifer
Oct 10, 1999
28,558
3
81
Don't hassle with it. Just go to another broker that is willing to return your calls and push your loan through. I had a very complex situation when I went to get a mortgage, but I was able to get what I wanted and got good CS. I had major pre-existing relationship with my lender, but I'd like to think they still would have treated me with respect. Something I've learned is that if something doesn't feel right then run away. I don't know anything about subordinating a HELOC, but I do know that if you told him about it he should have discussed that with the lender. Go with someone else. What state are you in?
 

Psyber

Senior member
Oct 27, 1999
677
0
0
Originally posted by: SampSon
Go to a different bank.

Banks are competing for customers very heavily right now. If you think it's a waste of your time, it probably is.
Though, understand that the bank is out there to MAKE MONEY, not GIVE YOU money.

I don't know if I even want to bother with it anymore. I just wanted to lower my required payments not really make any money on it. I break even at 4 years with this new loan if I implement my planned payment strategy.
 

Psyber

Senior member
Oct 27, 1999
677
0
0
Originally posted by: Mill
Don't hassle with it. Just go to another broker that is willing to return your calls and push your loan through. I had a very complex situation when I went to get a mortgage, but I was able to get what I wanted and got good CS. I had major pre-existing relationship with my lender, but I'd like to think they still would have treated me with respect. Something I've learned is that if something doesn't feel right then run away. I don't know anything about subordinating a HELOC, but I do know that if you told him about it he should have discussed that with the lender. Go with someone else. What state are you in?

PA
 

Originally posted by: Psyber
Originally posted by: SampSon
Go to a different bank.

Banks are competing for customers very heavily right now. If you think it's a waste of your time, it probably is.
Though, understand that the bank is out there to MAKE MONEY, not GIVE YOU money.

I don't know if I even want to bother with it anymore. I just wanted to lower my required payments not really make any money on it. I break even at 4 years with this new loan if I implement my planned payment strategy.
Either borrow now, or forever hold your peace.
 

Mill

Lifer
Oct 10, 1999
28,558
3
81
Originally posted by: Psyber
Originally posted by: SampSon
Go to a different bank.

Banks are competing for customers very heavily right now. If you think it's a waste of your time, it probably is.
Though, understand that the bank is out there to MAKE MONEY, not GIVE YOU money.

I don't know if I even want to bother with it anymore. I just wanted to lower my required payments not really make any money on it. I break even at 4 years with this new loan if I implement my planned payment strategy.

So you'd have 3 years to actually help you before you had to refinance, or are you planning to move after the ARM is done with?
 

Psyber

Senior member
Oct 27, 1999
677
0
0
Originally posted by: MojoJojo
You have every right to be upset.

Brokers often do that to make a little moe rebate on the backend.

They may have gambled that rates would be lower, allowing them to make more money and it didnt pan out.

You should get what you were promised. Nothing less.

There are plenty of shops out there that will give you what you want.

I'm 90% sure he can give me what I want, but I think he just doesn't want to lose out on commission. I even gave him leeway, most brokers are offering 4.5%, I'm asking for the original GFE of 4.65%
 

Psyber

Senior member
Oct 27, 1999
677
0
0
Originally posted by: Mill
Originally posted by: Psyber
Originally posted by: SampSon
Go to a different bank.

Banks are competing for customers very heavily right now. If you think it's a waste of your time, it probably is.
Though, understand that the bank is out there to MAKE MONEY, not GIVE YOU money.

I don't know if I even want to bother with it anymore. I just wanted to lower my required payments not really make any money on it. I break even at 4 years with this new loan if I implement my planned payment strategy.

So you'd have 3 years to actually help you before you had to refinance, or are you planning to move after the ARM is done with?

I plan to have more than 50% equity by 7 years and get a Home Equity loan to cover the rest if I plan to stay. If I sell, it really doesn't matter I guess...
 

Mill

Lifer
Oct 10, 1999
28,558
3
81
Originally posted by: Psyber
Originally posted by: Mill
Originally posted by: Psyber
Originally posted by: SampSon
Go to a different bank.

Banks are competing for customers very heavily right now. If you think it's a waste of your time, it probably is.
Though, understand that the bank is out there to MAKE MONEY, not GIVE YOU money.

I don't know if I even want to bother with it anymore. I just wanted to lower my required payments not really make any money on it. I break even at 4 years with this new loan if I implement my planned payment strategy.

So you'd have 3 years to actually help you before you had to refinance, or are you planning to move after the ARM is done with?

I plan to have more than 50% equity by 7 years and get a Home Equity loan to cover the rest if I plan to stay. If I sell, it really doesn't matter I guess...

If you sell within that 7 it won't matter, but if not what is to guarantee that you can get a loan with a decent rate based on equity? You might end up shooting yourself in the foot, or I don't know what the hell I am talking about. One of the two. I'd think a 15 year fixed would make a lot of sense... higher rate, but who knows what the market will look like in 7 years? You could end up with an ARM that keeps going up, and rates that will be really high on an equity loan.
 

Psyber

Senior member
Oct 27, 1999
677
0
0
Originally posted by: Mill

If you sell within that 7 it won't matter, but if not what is to guarantee that you can get a loan with a decent rate based on equity? You might end up shooting yourself in the foot, or I don't know what the hell I am talking about. One of the two. I'd think a 15 year fixed would make a lot of sense... higher rate, but who knows what the market will look like in 7 years? You could end up with an ARM that keeps going up, and rates that will be really high on an equity loan.

I think you may be right. I never thought of it that way. With a 15 year I definately won't be able to break even without the rate dropping to at least 4.5% and I don't think that is going to happen anytime soon. I had made the assumption that a HEL would always be lower than the mortgage rate, but I guess that isn't neccessarily true. Maybe I should just cancel the loan and cut my losses at $75.

However, on the other hand, the ARM does help me lower my required payments (by about $275), it's tough being single with a 15 year mortgage. I thought about the refi a month ago when my company was doing layoffs; I was worried having such a big mortgage payment. In 7 years, I was thinking I'd be married (dual income) and be able to deal with whatever happens.
 

Mill

Lifer
Oct 10, 1999
28,558
3
81
Originally posted by: Psyber
Originally posted by: Mill

If you sell within that 7 it won't matter, but if not what is to guarantee that you can get a loan with a decent rate based on equity? You might end up shooting yourself in the foot, or I don't know what the hell I am talking about. One of the two. I'd think a 15 year fixed would make a lot of sense... higher rate, but who knows what the market will look like in 7 years? You could end up with an ARM that keeps going up, and rates that will be really high on an equity loan.

I think you may be right. I never thought of it that way. With a 15 year I definately won't be able to break even without the rate dropping to at least 4.5% and I don't think that is going to happen anytime soon. I had made the assumption that a HEL would always be lower than the mortgage rate, but I guess that isn't neccessarily true. Maybe I should just cancel the loan and cut my losses at $75.

However, on the other hand, the ARM does help me lower my required payments (by about $275), it's tough being single with a 15 year mortgage. I thought about the refi a month ago when my company was doing layoffs; I was worried having such a big mortgage payment. In 7 years, I was thinking I'd be married (dual income) and be able to deal with whatever happens.

What about maybe a 30 year fixed? Higher rate and longer term and interest, but at least when you get a dual income you can pay extra toward the principle. I think that if you manage your money wisely and do get married a 30 year would be your safest bet. A 15 year and an ARM would be riskier. I am just very conservative when it comes to this even though I made a bad choice recently concerning a car loan. I think you should err with the safest idea, because any savings are based on a gamble unless you were able to get the dual income and rates didn't rise. 15 might push the payment too high, but a 30 gives you breathing room, and of course you can pay the extra principle when you get married. I'm honestly not the person to talk to about this. PM Vic, and send him a link to this thread. He's a mortgage broker and helped me a lot.
 

Corn

Diamond Member
Nov 12, 1999
6,389
29
91
First things first, shop that rate around to other lenders and see what's out there.

A HELOC is technically a 2nd mortgage, BTW.

Did you sign a rate lock agreement? Next time get your promised rate in writing. Do not be greedy, when rates are low just lock the loan. Any loan officer that says "rates may go lower tomorrow" is just being lazy. No one knows what rates will be like "tomorrow", except for Friday where for some reason they always go up an .125% from Thursdays rate. :D

Bottom line is that there are too many incompetent loan officers in the business. No suprise since most states require no licensing for the individual sales people, only the broker. My function is to protect my employer from the truly clueless and/or criminals. I get to deal with the really ugly side of the business.....
 

Vic

Elite Member
Jun 12, 2001
50,422
14,337
136
My advice is that you shouldn't refi at all. Converting a 15 fixed to an ARM with a 30 year amortization makes absolutely no sense at all, especially when you're only saving 1% in rate and even more so when competitive 15 year fixed refi's can be had at the same or similar rate. I think that's why you're so upset about the process. Not only does your loan officer suck, but there's no actual value in this deal for you, and somewhere in the back of your mind you must know that.
I mean, think about it. Do you really want it to take another 15+ years to pay off your loan and pay tens of thousands more in interest over the life of your loan just to save that $300/mo?
Let me be blunt: unless you had some type of personal and/or financial emergency that required that you lower your payment right now, I would not do that loan you want for moral and ethical reasons.
You should cancel your loan. Unfortunately (and I know this business well), I know that the negative emotion you have for your loan officer at this time is going to drive you to do the refi anyway (with him or more likely someone else), unless someone splashes you with the cold water of reality.
Consider yourself splashed.
 

Mill

Lifer
Oct 10, 1999
28,558
3
81
Hah! For all I said I didn't even read the part where Pysber said he already had a 15 year. Doh.
 

Psyber

Senior member
Oct 27, 1999
677
0
0
final update
I decided to send my initially drafted message. After thinking about it more and getting input from you guys, I decided the mortgage guy does suck (actually I knew that in the back of my mind already) and that even getting a refi may not be a good idea unless I decide to sell in 7 years (which I'm not sure about, I may keep it as a rental property). I never really did take in consideration that rates might get really really high in 7 years so a HEL might end up with a higher rate than I have right now.

Thank you everyone for their input