Dear John: Regarding your recent letter from the son of an old woman whom Wells Fargo was threatening to throw out of her house, why at 76 would someone still have a mortgage after living in their home for 45 years?
My guess is sometime in the past 45 years the woman and her husband took cash out of their home by refinancing with a new mortgage. So now the woman has a new loan that she cannot repay.
Is that Wells Fargo’s fault?
I am sick and tired of hearing about people who are financially inept or squandered their life savings and it is [supposed to be] all the bank’s fault.
It’s time for people to take some responsibility for their own actions and stop blaming others for their financial mistakes. J.K.
Dear J.K.: As someone who doesn’t have a mortgage and hasn’t for a long time, I’m also tired of hearing about other peoples’ problems: kids who went to fancy schools they can’t afford, people who buy things on credit and can’t pay for them, banks that take unreasonable risks and then expect taxpayers to bail them out.
In fact, if you include people on Wall Street who get away with cheating because they are too big or too influential to fail, then you can put me in the mad-as-hell category.
But that’s not the issue in the case of this 76-year-old woman.
Wells Fargo is telling her that she qualifies for a refinancing, and then they ask for paperwork.
And then more paperwork.
And then they ask that stuff be refiled while telling her again that she qualifies for a new loan.
In other words, this bank (and other banks) are screwing around.
If she doesn’t qualify, tell her so.
If Wells Fargo doesn’t want to change the terms of her loan, it should just be honest with her.
Maybe she deserves to live on the street because of the careless moves she’s made financially. Then Wells Fargo should tell her that.
And I’m glad you are in good financial shape. But neither you — nor I — have to make fun of others because they aren’t.
That’s my sermon for the week. Now you don’t have to go to church next week.
Send your questions to Dear John, The NY Post, 1211 Ave. of the Americas, NY, NY 10036, or john.crudele@nypost.com.