Okay this is a rant. I just got off the phone with a mortgage lender. We've been receiving tons oof mailers about refinancing at a lower rate. So I called. Who wouldn't like a lower rate. And yet it's as convoluted as ever. When I first came to this country I was amazed at how hard everything was, and just how much I had to learn. And this whole housing market crash. In the beginning I thought it was a mess created by the the people themselves. Why buy when you can't afford. And yet, and yet as the days passs, I learn just how much the banks are to blame. I still believe that each person should be held accountable for buying beyond their means, it's the people who were swindled that I feel sorry for. I'm good with finance, and I find it so hard to get through the muddles. My simple rule is - If it's too hard to follow then don't do it. A known evil is better than an unknown. I wonder how many people thought 'If it's too hard to follow, then trust the loan officers, afterall it's their business, they know what they're doing'. Unfortunately I don't think the loan officers have anyone's best interest at heart. Here is an example. You get the offer of refinance. You call. There's all this talk of how the program is organised by the govt to help you. Not really. All it's doing is moving money around so you still don't understand what you're doing. If the govt really wanted to help. Do a flat out - something like. We're lowering all 30 yr. fixed to 4.75%. That's it. Instead 1. They want to lower your rate. But while they're doing that they build up a cost of $12,500 in origination costs, closing costs, funding fees and title insurance. 2. Oh but if you don't have the money handy, you can roll it into your loan - So that now means you're paying interest on the additional money of 12,500. Roughly over 30 years you will have paid $37,500 to help yourself out. 3. Oh and we'll give you the escrow back - fine print, if you don't have the money to pay it when it becomes due, then we can add that into your loan to and charge you for it.4. Oh and you don't have to pay the next 2 months - fine print, we'll take the interest that was due and add that to your loan too and charge you interest on it.
Yes mistakes were made. Many people took advantage of it, many chose to live beyond their means, but many many people I think just didn't have it in them to plough through the paperwork. I know my family is good because I make the effort. I know if something happened to me, my husband could not do it. He's a wonderful man, goes to work, makes his money comes home. But he doesn't go through every line on our bills, he doesn't read through all the paper work. He doesn't have the energy to. It's for the people like him who are wonderful that I feel sorry for.
Why am I posting here, because all this leads to stress. And I know my wt is directly related to my stress level. I stress I eat I stress, I pop chocolates. I stress I eat some more. Yes the people made their mess. They're paying for it. The banks made a mess too, yet the govt is bailing them out. Why can't the govt do a decent unconvoluted job of bailing the people out. Rant over. The good news is this time I drank a lot of water while on the phone.
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