Good for you, Jasper!

Hi GNG, I'm confused as hell.... Currently, we have a mortgage with TCF Bank with a fixed rate of 9.2 percent which I think is really lousy. Why? Anyone with any mortgage rate higher than 7.5% in the last 10 years ONLY has a rate that high because they had some kind of lousy credit, bad employment history, or something else (or some combination.) Why was 9.2% the best you qualified for... just 3 years back, in 2005? Anyhow, we're trying to get a rate adjustment on our house for somewhere between 6.5 to the low 7's. The bank is really giving us the run around. Back in September we had originally wanted to refinance to a lower fixed rate & lower mortgage term of 20 years (we currently are at 27 years left on the life of it) but we discovered that our original loan officer passed us off to a different woman without telling us and then this lady took it upon herself to change the term to 40 years after taking our check for the appraisal. Why? Loan officers don't make a nickel more on a 40 year term than a 30 year term.... OTOH... you might not have even qualified for the higher payments of a 30 year term... and you may have been completely turned down at the higher 30 year term payment. Shifting you to a 40 yr term MIGHT have been your savng grace entirely... On the third set of paperwork she then took my husband off the loan altogether which made us furious Why???? so we decided to try for a rate adjustment. Huh??? Why???? Supposedly, the best they can do is 7.84 percent fixed which I think is still rather high. Why? Compared to what? We currently owe 115K on the house, it appraised for 176K and we have not been late even once on our mortgage in the last 3 years. Our combined credit score through Transunion is 680 which is decent so I don't see what the problem is. Me niether... but there is still so much unknown about the truth here. To date I've spoken with several people at TCF's corporate office and left a voicemail with the regional manager for the consumer loan division of the branch I've been dealing with. Is 6.5 to 7 percent too much to ask for? Could be, if you don't qualify. And are there any other tricks to negotiating with them to get them to lower the rate. No, nothing tricky to try. I'm going to try reaching the regional manager again in the next day or two. However, I've been told by a couple of folks from corporate, in confidence, that he may be quite nasty especially since I didn't follow through with original consumer loan manager at the bank where the loan originated. I left her two detailed voicemails but she never returned my calls. I'm wondering if there could be a connection in the fuzzy details of this post... and the responses you're getting at that bank. Is there a reason you're not having a broker do this all for you? Luck, Dave Donhoff Leverage Planner

Berniek is right: Much of the blame here falls upon the shoulders of the politicians (led by then-President Clinton), who forced banks to begin some rather foolish lending practices. Alan Greenspan certainly did his share to push this concept of "everyone can borrow" during his time as Fed chairman. Between creative financing, no money down offers, and other such options, the government has given people plenty of rope with which to hang themselves. We Americans haven't proven ourselves to be particularly strong in the moderation and self-discipline categories over the last 30-40 years. Also, remember the climate that existed in the 90s, when I bought my first house: Spurred on by the soaring housing prices, people were convinced that buying "as much house as you can afford" was a good move. Housing was considered an investment that couldn't fail. Yes, the experts began preaching about "the housing bubble" long before it hit, but the masses couldn't grasp how this sure-thing could ever fall. And there's always been a (faulty) basic belief that "If I couldn't afford it, the bank wouldn't lend it to me." I fully agree with those who say that Real Estate agents will push buyers to their upper limits and beyond, and banks will lend what they can -- it's all about profits for them. Yet, the home owner DOES also bear the brunt of personal responsibility. After all, who cares most about whether I can afford my mortgage -- and still buy groceries and other things I need? Clearly, it's ME! I reap the rewards or punishments of my decisions, so I should do the math and know whether I can comfortably afford a house (or anything else) before I buy it. However, we've sort of left that thinking behind in today's buy-now-pay-later society. We're constantly told that "we deserve" this or that thing. That if we're going to finance it, we deserve to have exactly what we want. That "everyone" has debt. We've got to get past that.

One has to look at the cumulative actions of the entire financial sector over the last ten years or so...or even the last five. IMO, it is not coincidence that everything they are cited for in terms of what is considered to be wrong doing by those outside the loop is invariably an action that added considerable millions if not more to their coffers, while it bleeds the overall economy dry. These companies have a tremendous amount of capital at their disposal...as well as some of the most brilliant financial players, business managers, analysts, statisticians, etc at their disposal....not to mention a good number of politicians in their pockets. If they are nailed on something, the fine is a mere tiny drop in the bucket compared to the profit that is made. It is simply the cost of doing business. They apologize..the gullible fall for it...and they proceed with business as usual. Remember, these are the entities that profited to the tune of trillions on the destruction of the global economy, manipulated a taxpayer bailout, and are now wealthier beyond imagining, while most everyone else struggles to pay their every day expenses. Don't be fooled into thinking that they made yet another mistake that just so happened to make them yet another bundle. The only reason they are admitting it now is because they finally got caught. And very possibly the appointment of Holly Petraeus, wife of Gen. Petraeus to head up the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau may have played a very important part as well in JPMorgan Chase all of a sudden magically seeing the light on screwing over active duty troops.