More from the mortgage-junk-mail bag August 30, 2007
The junk mail makers must be working feverishly on new angles to trick consumers. This piece we received yesterday really makes me 
pi$$ed!!! It claims to be from the “Loan Audit Department” and appears a very official letter with warnings of potential fines and a big red “FINAL NOTICE”. This one looks pretty darn real.
Once you open it, you can see it’s the classic piece of $%# (mail) that some mortgage loan company that has to resort to trickery to lure a client into working with them. It’s offering a 5 year fixed rate at 2.35%. The very fine print at the bottom states an APR of 7.12% and claims that “deferred interest may apply”. Ya think?
I’m probably most angry because of the timing and this seems so predatory.
Today one of my past clients called me. She happened to receive this too and others like it. Her comment to me was concerning, she said something along the lines of:
“I keep getting mail from your company soliciting me to refinance”.
Whoa…hold your horses. First of all, I don’t send out solicitations to refinance. I know she’s confusing the mortgage junk mail as something that my company would send out. How many other consumers get confused by these types of mailings?
She then commented that one letter she received stated that her ARM was adjusting soon and she should refi now. She has a fixed period ARM at 4.75% with 2/2/6 caps. Her rate does not adjust until late 2010 and the highest it can adjust to at that time is 6.75%. She does not need to refinance at this time based on her current scenario and plans.
Don’t fall prey to these types of lenders. They must rely on business from people who don’t know them because they are probably not worthy of referrals or repeat business. If you’re considering a mortgage at all, please contact your Mortgage Professional directly.
Sphere: Related Content- Posted in : Buyer Information, General Real Estate, Mortgage and Lending
- Author : Rhonda Porter
I guess they day is not...
Comments»
I got one from you a couple weeks ago, Rhonda. I wish you’d just stop.
Seriously, this was fantastic. They knew my mortgage amount and they promised me 86K cash back, and a monthly payment of $82 for the next ten years.
Unwritten was the 1.2 million balloon payment in 2017, but still.
This things make me so mad. I’m going to keep posting about them until everyone knows. I’m surprised people fall for it…but this one did make me think twice (did they lose our check??? or ???).
I also forward the extra misleading ads onto DFI.
I received a similarly-threatening piece of junkmail recently with Golf Savings Bank (where our loan was originated) in very large letters, and it was only upon close inspection that I noticed tiny letters above the bank name that said “not affiliated with.”
Rhonda/Jillayne: Can you comment and explain what Pres. Bush’s comments on the bail out today imply for home owners who have done their part by taking fixed mortgages, good % down (20), paying regularly ..Does it mean more taxes for us to bail out those who should have never ever gotten their huge mortgages?
Yes.
Unfortunately, the Democrat candidates are making similar noises about a homeowner bailout.
How do I feel? Like throwing my laptop out the window. No, wait, that would be a mistake. Like sending a giant bank of flaming dog poop to the President? No, that would get me in big trouble with Homeland Security. Like writing a blog post? Okay. I will attempt to channel my emotional rage in a healthy way.
Sandy, I was watching Bush too. We’ll have to wait and see what it means. He did not stick around for questions and it was mostly proposals. I would like to see FHA raise their loan limits. FHA will only help borrowers who are “credit worthy” (no lates in the past year) but FHA is not credit score sensitive. He also mentioned decreasing the down payment requirement for FHA which is currently approx. 3%. If they do that, I hope they have a requirement for reserves of approx. 6 months PITI after closing for the lower down. Otherwise, we’re still doing the same zero down loan.
Those who have not been able to pay their accounts will not be rescued by George’s proposal. The HUD Secretary confirmed this as well following Pres. Bush’s speach.
Gary, thanks for commenting that. I think we should expose lenders who are doing this deceptive marketing and trying to use scare tactics.
If a lender must market to strangers (people who don’t know them yet) why not send out a friendlier piece of mail? They have access to public records which disclose more than you’d want to know…even the credit bureaus legally sell your private information as soon as a credit report for a mortgage is ran.
People who create fear to get results are bullys and I’d like to throw one of Jillayne’s flaming bags of poop at them!
Rhonda and Gary,
What sells? Sex and fear. Out of those two, fear sells more products.
[...] The erudite Rhonda Porter penned this great reminder about how bad lenders do business and how good lenders don’t. If you read down to the comments section, you’ll find a mortgage company that I do a lot of business with mentioned (Golf Savings Bank). I spoke with Chad Crithfield, from our local Golf Savings, and he confirmed that they do not send out solicitations in this way. [...]
Jillayne @8 … Plus, who would go with a mortgage company due to a sexy photo on the front?
Cari @9: I knew it wasn’t Golf directly. I’ve had nothing but positive experiences with those folks. It’s just interesting that the type of companies who *do* these shady mailings can tap into the info of where my mortgage orginated and try to use it in that way.
Gary, why say that it was from Golf (#3)? It’s irresponsible to say it was from them when it was not.
Rhonda,
I thought there was some way to prevent these shady mailings? A box that gets checked by your original LO or Escrow Company to prevent your info from being distributed out to the shady mailers…no?
Ardell, unfortunately the box your check on the privacy notice is only to stop mailing from YOUR LO and/or mortgage company.
You’re still fair game if own a mortgage by any other person who uses a sleezy shady mailer. Our info is public record. Some use to obtain lists from title companies…our info is for sale. If not by public recored, you can buy a list from the big-3 credit bureaus.
If a lender (or any junk mailer) is sending something with a reply form, I like to return it to them blank…for some twisted reason I feel pretty good about costing them money since they’re wasting my time and using fear tactics and trickery towards innocent home owners.
You can opt out from the bureaus and other offers. I linked to it in the comments on 7.
Here’s a brief rundown:
Lenders can purchase trigger leads. This is where the credit bureaus (Experian, Transunion, and Equifax) sell people’s information. Loan Network utilizes this lead system. Typically, someone goes to their mortgage broker, and has their credit pulled, then that info is then sold to sometimes multiple mortgage lenders who then cold call borrowers and try to sell them option loans b/c of the “lower rate”.
Lenders also can do direct mail marketing with the names of the mortgage company that originated the current loan on their mail. They pull all this info off title records. This, actually, is how Countrywide did a lot of their cold call marketing claiming the call was a ‘customer service’ call asking if the borrowers had any questions about their mortgages….hmm….right….
Cool stuff huh? The world we live in!
Rhonda @11. That was my point. It was junk mail disguised to look like it was from Golf when it was, in fact, not. Re-read my original post. It’s clear that I’m saying it wasn’t from them. No need for a lecture on responsibility.
Gary, sorry…I had to re-read your comment. Thanks for the correction.
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