All About Trey

IN*F$%KING*SANE

I swear I'm a relatively rational person. I usually am pretty calm about things. But refinancing my condo has just pushed me to the edge and it's taken ALL of my strength not to completely f&^king snap.

So in November I get a call from the guy I did my mortgage with. He's moved to a new company and wants to know if I want to refinance. I did one of the monthly MTA ARMS when I bought my condo and while I could be going the interest only route, I've been paying the 30 year payment option. But the interest rates on the MTA has been going up and up, so I figured it was time to lock into a interest rate and my mortgage guy (MG) suggested a 5 year ARM. I told him to work up the paperwork and let me see what it looked like.

So I get the Good Faith Estimate (GFE) and I look it over. I am not an expert on this and I pretty much look at the fees which aren't too excessive and I see on the bottom line that I'll get around $1000 back at the settlement. So that's sweet. So we move forward with the loan, get the condo appraised, etc. The settlement is set for the 9th of December.

That morning I get a call from my MG. He's seen the HUD-1 (the official paperwork) and it's a bit different from the GFE. So he faxes it to me. A bit different? Instead of getting around $1k at the settlement, I need to bring $5600 to the table. WTF?!?! So I call him and I'm just freaking out. He explains to me that there are two problems. One is that my December mortgage payment didn't clear my old mortgage company, and two, he forgot to add the interest for the new loan, and the pre-paid taxes for the new mortgage company to pay my taxes with. So I'm freaking out and I decide to push the settlement to the 16th. That will give my December mortgage check time to process and then that will reduce the amount I owe. Since my MG messed up the GFE big time, he's going to give me a lenders credit, and then roll what's left into the loan.

Despite that my check was mailed on the 28th of November, it never makes it to my mortgage company. So I cancel that check and I express mail a new one to them. It arrives on the 15th. So I go to the new settlement on the 16th and I look at the new HUD-1 and now I owe $2600 and some change. Hello, could someone give me a heads up on this. The Lawyer-Lackey (LL) explains to me what is happening and that while someone at the company may have signed for reciept fo the mortgage check, it hasn't been processed yet, so the loan payoff amount doesn't show that payment. Okay, this is why I had postponed the settlement the first time and my MG either didn't know this or didn't tell me. So here I am sitting at the table in the Title company and I am NOT happy. Believe it or now, at Christmas time I don't really have $2600 just laying around. So the LL tries to calm me down and explains that while I'm going to settle today, they wait three days to process the loan. There's some law where you get the "right of refusal" to basically change your mind. So my "right of refusal" expires at midnight on the 20th and until then they will check with the mortgage company and once the check gets processed, they will update the HUD-1. I'm fuming mad, but I finally relent. I sign all the paperwork and leave.

On the 19th, I get an email from my mortgage company saying they've recieved the check. Duh! But I figure this means it's been processed. So on the 20th, I get an email from my MG. He says that the title company has updated the HUD-1 and the final number is $916. So I get $916 back? Nope, I need to pay $916! And that's when the I lose it. Okay, when my mortgage payment hadn't made it to the mortgage company, I owed $2600. Now when my $2500 mortgage payment DID make it to the mortgage company, I owe an additional $916. So to recap: before I owed $2600. Now I owed $3400 ($2500+916). WTF!?!?!? And I am LIVID. And I can't get ahold my my MG or the LL to find out what the hell is going on and I'm just like f&%k it. I'll cancel the loan. So send the sh!ttiest email to my MG saying that this is all f$%ked up and I'm heading home to get my "right of refusal" paperwork so I can send it in my midnight.

But my MG calls and talks me off the ledge. Apparently the HUD-1 was incorrect (and at this point I'm not surprised). My mortgage payment went mostly to interest, so while I paid $2500, the pay off amount only went down by around a $1000. And I still need to pay interest on the money I am borrowing for the rest of December, so in fact I do owe money, but it's only $600. ONLY! So I told him I would think about it some more.

So I think about the pretty decent interest rate I'm getting and decide to just go through with it. This is like a bad dream and I just want it over at this point. So I don't fill out the paperwork. But I guess I do need to write the Title company a check.

So today I call the Title company to let them know that I'll be there later in the afternoon with a check and just want to confirm the amount. And then just as LL's form monkey hangs up on me she mentioned, "Oh, it needs to be a certified check." WHAT? Great. I am SO glad I planned a trip to my bank today to stand in line to get a certified check.

So finally I made it to the Title Company and the LL is not really sorry at all, it's more like, well these things happen and you should know about it. Hello, I don't do settlements every day. I would expect that the HUD-1 would be correct for all the little fees I'm paying. And how hard is it to COMMUNICATE this information to me.

Yes I know this process sucks. But be honest with me. Tell me up front that it's going to suck. That it's going to cost $4000 to refinance. But don't tell me it's going to be wine and roses and I'm getting $1000 back and then two weeks later it's not really wine, it's koolaid, and it's not really $1000 back, it's actually paying money. And then two weeks later, oh it's kool aid, but it's rotten kool aid and not only am I paying money, but my loan amount has also increased and my monthly payments are going to be more than what you said.

Needless to say, I'm never using MG again or going back to LL. They suck.

posted by Trey @ 6:45 PM