Dear John: Not quite sure if this is your area of expertise, but here goes.
I am a 54-year-old single woman, and I own my home. It’s worth over $800,000, but I owe less than $100,000. My credit ratings are all over 800. The only debt I have, other than my credit card, which I pay in its entirety each month, is my mortgage.
Back in August, I contacted my bank, IndyMac, to do a “streamline” mortgage, since I am paying 6.7 percent interest. That’s ludicrous, considering these days mortgage rates are less than 4 percent.
The woman with whom I was dealing at OneWest Bank (a division of IndyMac) reviewed everything and said it looked good, blah, blah, blah, but she wanted to wait to see if I qualified for some other kind of loan that would come about in September.
So I waited.
Come September, she told me I didn’t qualify for that type of loan because I “wasn’t underwater” on my loan. It’s nice to know that being a responsible person all these years has actually gone AGAINST me!
So we do all the paperwork. She kept assuring me that it “looked good,” and I should have my new mortgage by Jan 1, 2013.
On Dec 21, she sent me an e-mail.
Here is what she wrote:
“Hi Donna,
I got some feedback from the processing department on your application. According to the tax cert and actual insurance policy they ordered, both of these amounts are higher than the tax and homeowner’s insurance cost that you listed on the original application. With the higher figures your debt-to-income ratio is over the limit. I don’t see a way to make this work and get it under the debt to income ratio limit. I am sorry to share this news with you! Thank you, Helen”.
I phoned her from my accountant’s office, and my accountant pointed out that her figures on my real-estate taxes were incorrect. (She had an inflated figure she was quoting.)
She then gave us some other ridiculous excuses.
Here’s the bottom line. I can’t help but think the bank is trying to keep me paying the 6.7 percent rate for as long as it can. Even if I were to begin the process with another institution, it will take me at least six months to get it all together, so IndyMac continues to benefit by milking this.
If, in fact, this loan/interest rate were modified, my mortgage would go from over $2,200 to about $1,500.
I was hoping that the money I would save monthly could go into a retirement fund I would set up for myself, as I have no pension.
Can you help me? D.P.
Dear D.P. That sure was a long explanation.
So I’ll give you a short answer. I had a heart-to-heart talk with IndyMac, and the bank now seems to see this situation your (and my) way. You told me that the bank called you today and they are working on a new mortgage.
In case the bank changes its mind, give me a call and I’ll heart-to-heart them again.
Send your questions to Dear John, The NY Post, 1211 Ave. of the Americas, NY, NY 10036, or john.crudele@nypost.com.