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

My computer has been mostly down and out for two weeks. You have no idea how much I've missed the banter here, and I got some good laughs on this thread. It's so fun to see there are new people in the exchange....not that I've DONE an exchange before here, but I HAVE been around (here). Great fun! Isn't it interesting what you pick up when you preview your message? Geez, I had to add (here) in that last paragraph so I didn't get a bad reputation.

Thanks for the link to the Rate & Review page. Not just for Newbies.

One thing to consider is what happens when something goes wrong. Last time I ordered checks it was an ordeal. I usually order from Current but for some mysterious reason my order at Current was canceled and I was never notified. Tried again, same thing. So I gave up and ordered from my bank, then my bank check package went missing. Tracking indicated the checks had been delivered, but they had not actually arrived. Advised the bank and they asked me to wait a week, after a few more days 3 of the 4 boxes arrived, the 4th one never did. The bank put stop pays on the all the check numbers of the missing box at no cost and I was sent a new box with the next set if check numbers. My understanding is that I had ordered the checks from another business that I would have been charged for the stop payments for the missing box.