Refinance Ugliness

[mediak]

I feel the need to vent.

I have been trying to refinance since November 2012. I feel that every obstacle imaginable has been set before me. From tax questions, to unexplained (and inaccurate) leins, to a creditor that won't go away, I have done everything to try and rid myself of the large mortgage payment.

Current mortgage is owned by Chase, so no mod from Fannie Mae. 

Chase's overlays state a mid of 660, so I am out there.

Since November I have been waiting (and paying) for an account that put a lein on the property (financed a central air unit). Was late 60 days due to confusion on my part, but it has been current since June 2012. I was told that since it was a lien, it was considered a mortgage, and had to be current for 12 months. Last month I gave up and called FHA--who knew of no such provision. Turns out it was a local lender overlay. Wasn't told that by new mortgage company--just that no one else would do this refi with the current state of the accounts..

Twelve months later, everythinng is current...until the new mortgage company said my mid score (Experian, once at 640) was now too low. Somehow it dropped below 640 because a closed account that wasn't reporting suddenly was. Running a score analysis didn't prove much better--in order to raise the Experian score again, I would have to pay half the balance of the account we are trying to close in the refinance in the first place. Absolutely maddening. Dejected, I asked the broker to run the analysis of the Equifax score of 608. Turns out one of the accounts was not reporting, and a quick letter from them was the only thing needed to get the 12 points needed.

The plot thickens.

Getting the letter was no issue--but 72 hours later, the new mortgage company got a rejection from Equifax. Apparantly the letter was not "worded properly" They need to see the phrase "paid as agreed", and the creditor in question marked it "Current". To them, "Pays As Agreed" implies no late payments at all, and would not put anything in writing to reflect that. Equifax is also under the assumption that the letter would remove lates--something else on which the creditor is pushing back. I wasn't told that lates needed to be removed--just that the account didn't exist at all.

So now, after eight months of waiting, one installment loan is paid off, and one auto loan is about to be paid off (330 balance). Everything that I can see is current. TU is 645, EQ is 609, EX is 590. I would expect things to raise upon next month's update.

All I wanted was a straight rate-and-term refinance; now I'm just so fed up about being lied to by the same people who have stayed with this since November 2012. Should I start anew once one of these scores goes over 620? What do I do here?

Venting over. Thanks for reading.

[IOBA]

Sounds stressful!

I have never refi'd a house.  I tried once.  Was approved with the new lender (online), was sent an email telling me it was a go, locked in rate.  The next call was from the title company scheduling a closing date.  What??  Never heard from the loan officer.  Found out who it was, got her number, called her, and she told me I was denied becuase I lied on my app.

I hope you are sitting down for this.  The "lie" was the principle balance I put on my loan application was different from what the credit report said.  Know how much of a difference??  42k LESS.  Why??  I had paid everything I could on the principle balance on the loan -- extra payments -- because I did not like my lender.

So I don't understand why there would be a problem.  I said on my app that I owed approximately 243k - which I did at the time I app'd.  Within a week or two of that, I had paid my balance down to 201k.  And there was another payment in the works (I was waiting for it to post) that would have brought my balance down to about 177k.  I even offered to show the loan officer [and actually sent her] a screen shot showing her the payments and current principle balance on my loan.  Offered to show her the CD's I had cashed out to bring the principle balance down.  

I soooo did not like my lender!   

The title company had contact my then current lender and verified the balance and reported it back to the loan officer.  She still said no, becuase I had "lied" about my loan balance on the original app.  (I so don't get it!  What is the problem with the loan balance being less?? It's SUPPOSE to go down, not up!  And I did NOT lie - I had even provided the payoff sheet from my then lender with my app!)  The title company tried again and she told them to forget it.  They tried to reason with her, but she wouldn't budge, even though the loan had been approved by everyone in the sequence (her, underwriting, etc).   I had plenty of equity in the house.  It was appraised at 365k.

A few weeks later, someone else from her office called me.  Another loan officer who was trying to clear the backlog of approved mortgages and get them to closing.  I told HIM what had happened.  He apologized for her behavior and said he could get me to closing within two days.

I thanked him and asked for a refund of my loan app fee.  I was, literally, so close to paying off my mortgage.  I had a few more investments to cash out, some more pennies to pick up from the ground, and then, I was done.  I paid off that mortgage that month.

My experience wasn't the same as yours, but I understand the frustration!!!

Right now, although my current mortgage (bought last year) has been paid off since January 2013, I still can't get the mortgage company to do a lien release!!!

[StartingOver10]

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Right now, although my current mortgage (bought last year) has been paid off since January 2013, I still can't get the mortgage company to do a lien release!!!

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Wow, that's not right at all. Is it a regular mortgage or was it a HELOC. If it was a HELOC you may need to request that the line is closed. If it was a regular mortgage, then there must be some statute in your state laws that requires the lender to record the satisfaction within X days of payoff. Contact an attorney if you can't get them to release it yourself.