Yeah? Well, here's my venture into that particular world for this weekend:
Sac Bee: Backlash Against Banks...
For a guy like me who wants, overall, to see mortgages foreclosed faster rather than modified (read: delayed), the article is just painful. But then I get to the comment from someone with the moniker of "cwraider." Dated 9/6/09 @ 5:53:07pm, it reads thusly:
My two cents: State workers (wife and me) -- Countrywide home converted to BofA. 480K original loan -- now assessed at 240K. Nevertheless with the 14% drop in income we missed two months (not in a row - over a 6 month period). Did get BofA to reduce int. from 6% to 4% fixed. Now bad news...original loan was 30 yrs. Now we are at 40 yrs, plus the two pmts were added to the loan -- yes we are paying slightly less than original (including taxes and insurance) but with a 40 yrs term -- BofA is making out. Moreover, apparently BofA and Countrywide haven't completely converted their systems and even though we are paying on time Countrywide is reporting us delinquent -- go figure. My question to anybody out there -- what happened to three years of interest only payments? (approx. 75K). Essentially we went from 30 - 3 (27 yrs) to a 40 fixed. Thanks.
The emphasis above is mine.
What happened to three years of interest-only payments?
Seriously?
It went to the bank, cwraider. It was interest only. Your $75k was the pure profit you paid to Countrywide/BOA for the honor of taking out a death-wish loan on a home you had no business buying (or refinancing).
Most of the time I run the other way when folks talk about implementing policies to "protect people from themselves." But I really can't argue with the fact that the failures in the current system have been widespread, and immense.
Labels: Homeownership
