Really, Wells Fargo?

The upcoming charity sale is consuming my life, so this post will be thrown together and might get wordy (What? Me wordy? Never). I just thought this was so absurd it was hilarious in a very wrong sort of way and had to share (it might also be therapeutic for me because I am not a happy camper).

As the story goes, the large banks got bailed out by the government. They, in turn, were supposed to filter that money back into the economy by utilizing the fancy, promise-rich, newly implemented, save-the-world programs for homeowners. This is how affective it is.

The current interest rate on our mortgage loan is 5.85%. Not too bad. But rates are down in the 4% range, and we wanted to take advantage of those rates by refinancing. We have busted our butts through the years to build excellent credit and Mark has a stable job. In this economy, shouldn't banks be jumping at the chance to have customers who actually have the ability to pay? Surprisingly, no.

Our only glitch (or so we thought) was that our home, like so many others, has seen a 50% decrease in value. You read that right, 50%. Every last penny of equity lost. But, we are luckily not upside down (barely). We owe exactly what our home is currently worth. Using the old 80/20 mortgage loan programs, we would not have been able to refinance. Enter newly implemented loan programs to rectify the situation.

The program we qualified for was created for homeowners just like us. If all other qualifications were met, it allowed a refi to be done even if the appraised value came in less than what was typically required. It was perfect. And so we locked our rate, filled out the required paperwork and waited. We waited and waited and waited. Certainly a loan cannot be tied up in underwriting for 3 months?

Well, it can't. The loan was canceled because it had hit a snag and therefore went over the allowable 90 day window. What was the glitch that kept us from refinancing?

Three years ago, when we first bought our house, our dear mortgage company accidentally typed in the wrong city when inputting our address in their data base. The error was caught and corrected. However, the correction is considered a modification. And when a loan is modified, for any reason whatsoever, it no longer qualifies for the program.

Essentially, our loan officer told us he had about 500 loan applicants attempting to utilize this "fantastic" new program. He figures only about 5 loans will actually close. I guess it should be of comfort to know we are not alone, but it makes my blood boil knowing that those highly publicized new loan programs to help homeowners are completely for show. They were never put into place to actually help, just to give homeowners a false sense of relief.

Okay, rant over. We will go on making our mortgage payment business as usual and be grateful we have the means to do so. But if I had that extra $250 in my pocket every month, do you know how many trips to Cold Stone that could fund? So government and Wells Fargo, on behalf of my thighs I thank you.