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Post by gifted on Sept 23, 2008 14:52:56 GMT -5
The context is that I have a mortgage with a balloon coming due in October 2009 (or perhaps August 2009.)
I got a call last week from my mortgage company, wanting to refinance me. He won't quote me any figures until I have documentation of my income. I looked last night, and this morning.
I am supposed to talk to him in 90 minutes, to see if we will meet this afternoon. I hadn't eaten much this morning. Then a friend called, with slurred speech, and not talking sense, so I knew she had had a seizure. She can behave erratically, so I wanted to check that she was not going to try to work.
I came home, ate a Peanut Butter sandwich, and I am now groggy. I really want to just lie down and sleep. But instead, I put on some music (Beethoven's 9th Symphony.)
My feeling is that this meeting is putting the cart before the horse. I also feel he is going to pressure me. He was telling me how urgent it is with the market going crazy, and opportunities are closing up.
My mortgage balance is less than $25,000, on a house that was estimated at $170,000 about 4 years ago. I was told by his collegue that they make personal loand up to $20,000, and that he would be sure to tell this guy to give me some figures. Now, I am told the maximum personal loan is $15,000 at 30% interest and that it won't make sense for me. I pointed out that if my closing costs are $2,000, then I am already paying about 10% up front.
I am surrounded by boxes, and I just keep dipping into them, and sorting stuff,out a little, but with no real organization.
So gals, should I just bail on this meeting, and regroup in a more organized fashion? Or should I just riffle through everything as quickly as possible, and find what I can to make the meeting (now I have 68 minutes before he calls me to see what papers I have.
Thanks! I am really feeling too tired to thinkfor myself.
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Post by Vivre on Sept 23, 2008 15:05:13 GMT -5
I would reschedule on YOUR terms. i hate high pressure tactics. If you feel you do need to explain, simply state a family/friend emergency came up and you are not prepared but will contact him at a more convenient time for you.  |
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Post by DJ on Sept 23, 2008 15:06:31 GMT -5
i do not like to be pushed about anything financial. if there is any chance you might give in to his pushiness when it was against your own best interest or you might get overwhelmed and not think perfectly clearly i would probably cancel the meeting. tell him there was a medical crisis this morning. tell him whatever you want to. and straighten out your paperwork and figure out what is best for you. and what would achieve what's best for you.. and when or even if you do discuss things with him i would require time to stop and think calmly without his hystrionics about the market blowing up.
basically- do what's best for you. do not listen to anyone elses hype. take your time to think through your decisions. and don't be bullied by someone who is suppose to be offering financial service to you.. yes. they are providing a service, much appreciated, but it's their job, and your job is to look after your finances to the absolute best of your abilities. sometimes these things are at odds. do what feels right, not what someone wants to hype you into thinking is imperative.
take care of yourself and rest up eh?
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Post by pegasus48 on Sept 23, 2008 15:06:56 GMT -5
Reschedule.
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Post by pegasus48 on Sept 23, 2008 15:09:11 GMT -5
P.S. These guys sound a little fishy to me.
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Post by brenda on Sept 23, 2008 15:16:19 GMT -5
He should not be pushing you. Find someone else seems like the thing to do.
Brenda
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Post by messymimi on Sept 23, 2008 15:17:09 GMT -5
Reschedule, or cancel totally. Hard selling when the Fed is standing firm on interest rates? Try to become a member of a credit union and get a mortgage or loan there. They are much more reasonable.
messymimi
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Post by gifted on Sept 23, 2008 15:21:38 GMT -5
Yes thanks all. I really wish I could find my copy of "Taming the Paper Tiger." I need a basic "office setup" on my kitchen table for now. (The "official" office is now a super size cat box, with recycled paper litter. And I now use my neighbor's wireless (on a secured system with her permission.) It sure beats dial-up, but only works in the kitchen.
I will just tell him that I have called to get a new copy in the mail, and if that doesn't work for him, he can go ahead and close my file.
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Post by ljcox524 on Sept 23, 2008 15:46:58 GMT -5
Reschedule. Also, if you can find your mortgage docs (sorry if this adds stress) doublecheck the terms of the balloon. Ours automatically converted to a fixed rate 30 year at the prevailing interest rate. I had to take the papers in to the bank to prove it (couldn't believe it when I read them) but they converted us with minimal fuss. (Which was a Real Good Thing because at that time our credit was trashed; we couldn't have gotten that loan any other way.)
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Post by tiredofthis on Sept 23, 2008 18:31:27 GMT -5
I would say reschedule. It's not like you have to refinance by October 2008. Just reschedule and go prepared. Look around for the best rate.
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Post by gifted on Sept 23, 2008 19:27:58 GMT -5
Guess what! I now have another $1200 coming to me! Digging through my paperwork, I found $350 in checks from a previous part-time job. I Googled the company, she is still in business, and she says that she has $1267 that she was carrying in her checking account for me, until her bookkeeper told her to write it off. She will be paying me, but needs to spread it out, so she is going to pay me either $150 a month, or $200 a month, till she gets to $1200 ($600 for 2008 and $600 for 2009.) So, I only need to find 20 more circumstances like this (  .) (I KNOW there is an IRA I opened, but the bank got bought out, and the new firm has no record of the account. |
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Post by Arid on Sept 23, 2008 22:56:05 GMT -5
Um-OK; I guess that I'm really dense here, but why is this guy hounding you NOW if you still have until a year from now before your current situation changes? And why on earth would you ever consider taking on a loan at 30% interest?!!! You might just as well put your mortgage on a charge card! Or, you could just stick both your arms straight up into the air--it's as if he is a robber saying to you, "stick 'em up!"
I hope that you are planning to use that "found" money to pay down that mortgage!
This guy doesn't sound like any kind of "friend" to me. If you must refinance, PLEASE, look for a better deal!
Arid
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Post by Arid on Sept 24, 2008 0:16:36 GMT -5
Whoops! I just remembered something: back in the dark ages when we still had a mortgage, we had a fixed rate one. Also, it was set up so that we could pre-pay on the principal at any time without a penalty.
Therefore, any time that we had "found money" (Christmas bonus, tax refund, etc.), we applied it directly to the principal. We continued to make our monthly house payments.
*It is very important that you insist that the mortgage company apply any extra monies that you pay DIRECTLY to the principal!!!! If you don't insist on this, they more than likely will treat it as simply another (albeit, early) house payment. If they do that, the biggest portion of the money goes towards the interest on the loan, and only a tiny portion gets applied to the actual principal of the loan. (If you check into it, you may be shocked to see that as little as $5.00 or $10.00 of any mortgage payment actually gets applied to the principal of a loan. That's why it takes so long to pay them off, and that is why a house ends up costing many thousands of dollars more than the original selling price.)
By applying lump sums to the principal early in the loan, we managed to knock off YEARS of the loan. Paying directly to the principal late in a loan is a little less dramatic, but it still will let you get out from under that loan much more quickly than not paying the extra amounts whenever you can.
Arid
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Post by gifted on Sept 24, 2008 13:37:29 GMT -5
Yes,
I had been applying all of my extra money to the loan. But I stopped doing that, because I didn't think I could pay off the loan. The money is sitting in my checking account. But right now, if I paid my entire Disability check to the principal, and left myself about $700 in the bank. I would be $19.27 short.
And I didn't factor in even the mortgage interest.
Besides, I don't know if I believe his figure of 30% interest on a personal loan anyway. But he didn't want to give me any numbers, until I had all my paperwork in to him.
I have some small delinquencies on my credit report. All totalled probably less than $1200. I believe the largest might be about $300.
I am struggling with deciding to pay these bills. I also have no gas, and I will need to get that turned back on. My income is low enough to qualify for some assistance programs, so I hate to pay this bill,if I can get the assistance. But then, I sometimes feel guilty, because I COULD pay the gas bill, if I didn't pay extra on the house. (Or go to the dentist, etc.)
Also, my house needs some work that I had been trying to do myself, and just haven't made much progress on. The original windows need repair and paint very badly. Some of the sashes have been removed, and I went all lest winter without replacing them.
And keeping up my motivation over the long haul is hard. And if I were good at self-discipline, I wouldn't be in this mess!
Anyway, finding the $1200 was a big boost. I am going to start a "Treasure Hunt Thread" and see how much buried loot I can find So far, today I found $2.20 lying on the floor! (if I can repeat that 10,000 times, I am set!)
As all of you know, it is so difficult to ask for help with anything when squalor is part of the situation. And I also know that I am the only one who can deal with the squalor. The few people who have tried to help me do what they think is important, and it really messes up my plans.
(Yes, they would have thrown these papers out, no doubt!)
Thanks All.
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Post by houseworkhater on Sept 24, 2008 13:44:31 GMT -5
maybe i am dense, but if your finances are that bad and you have so much equity, why not refinance and get some money out?
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