I agree as well, but there are people out there, more than you think too, who don't have "a few thousand dollars" - sad but true. And it looks like their numbers are going to increase.

A few years back I was in immediate need of a car and had just started a new job that was about 20 miles from home. My job also required that I go out on sales calls from time to time. The situation presented basically required me to have a car, let alone that I had kids and all that goes with them.

I had poor credit was in debt and didn't have any money to buy an appropriate vehicle.

I went to several banks/lenders - no one was wiling to lend me the money, and I can't blame them. I wouldn't have either. I discussed the situation with my new boss and we settled on a $4000 advance. I paid off the advance as agreed and I got a car that lasted for years until my financial situation improved and I got it without a monthly payment.

I guess my point is that there are other options whereby one can get a car and do it in more creative ways to accommodate the needs and situation presented.

Apparently, if you opened a mortgage between 2005 and 2007, it may effect the risk rating you get on some lenders' internal 'scorecards'.

I won't mention the Lender (what's in your wallet) but they priced this customer's loan at 5.49% x 63 months, where I had 3.54% at Chase and 3.49% at 5th 3rd and Citizens.

Customer has perfect credit, and a good equity position...so I questioned the buyer about the rate. He said that the mortgage(s) -- he has a primary and a second--- were dated 4/05 right when housing values were AFU, and their computers figure that into the equation for risk based pricing.

sonofabitch

We sat on our asses for the last couple years and didn't look into refinancing the house because we heard credit was tight.

Wells Fargo, who owns our mortgage debt, sent us a letter the other day offering us a refinancing deal where they just send us the papers, we sign them and get them notarized, and there are absolutely no closing costs.

My wife called them for the details.

The rate they are offering us is 0.35% higher than what I could find in a quick Google search as the supposed market average right now. But I wonder if those lower rates are with points being paid. This is no closing costs, and it's certainly convenient. Just sign the papers and mail them back.

We just have to decide now if we want to pay $110 a month more so we can pay the house off 8 years sooner with a 15 year loan, or get $20 a month back and pay the house off 3 years sooner with a 20 year loan. We've got 23 years left on our 30 year loan. The 15 year loan would save us a ton more money over the long run. We'll probably do that.

Anyway, I'm glad this fell into our laps. We probably wouldn't have gotten around to refinancing if it hadn't. I wonder if this is some sort of federal program, and if I should be thanking Obama.

Fuckers! Good thing we can't afford to buy anything right now anyway.

Glatt, I can't advise you to do anything but if I were the one with that offer I'd take the 20 year note but send payments consistent with the 15 year payoff. If you find yourself in a situation where you have to cut your budget it is easier to send in the lower required amount of money that month than trying to scrape cash together somewhere else. Of course, if you are sitting on a large safety cushion and can't think of a time where $100 will matter either way the 15 year note probably has a slightly lower rate and would be better. YMMV.

Also, you don't really need to send Obama a thank you note. You're probably the beneficiary of an attempt by Wells to clean up their books to increase their own credit rating. Banks borrow the money they lend and analysts look at the date of loan origination as a part of that calculation. Loans made during certain time periods are considered more likely to go delinquent and default so the easiest thing to do is give the same consumer a new loan with a different origination date. Good for you.

Thanks lookout. I hadn't thought of that angle. We'll need to mull that over as well. I wonder how hard it is to set up automatic payments where you are sure they will apply the extra $100 each month to the principle. I'm all about being lazy. If I have to write a note with a check each month, it isn't going to happen.

Are you opposed to online payments? Most banks have that option nowadays.

I'm fine with automatic payments. Honestly, my wife handles setting them up and I don't know how she does it. I don't think it's online. I think it's through our bank. I just don't know how you set it up to pay more and have that additional amount applied to the principle. I've heard of people sending an extra check once a year and enclosing a note asking that it be applied to the principle, but I don't know the logistics of setting up an automatic payment that's the same every month where they will apply that extra $100 or whatever to the principle. It's not something I'd want to bother with every month. I like to set stuff up and forget it.

I guess it comes down to how your bank handles it. I do have to mess with the online payment each month, but the way ours is set up, I just go to the site and enter an amount in "payment" and an amount in "extra principal" (and nothing in the other boxes like "extra escrow," etc.) and click okay. But I'm also paranoid about automatic payments, I like to sign off on everything that comes out of the bank account.

That's kinda funny. I'm fine with automatic payments, but won't do anything on the web except credit card purchases. I'm paranoid of finances on the web.

I find that 'being paranoid about finances online' is a generational delineation.

I have the ability to either print or email copies of the documents we sign for a deal....Among white collar people that seem like they are not afraid of computers, I can usually predict at this point that people under 35 will want it emailed, and those over 35 want it printed.

My problem with online finances is that I've had my own computer get viruses and be no longer under my control. I can't guarantee the security of my end of things. So my bank account numbers and stuff like that will never reside on my computer.

Conversely, I've had bank errors cause automatic withdrawals to come out of my account when they shouldn't have, and it took months of fighting to get the money back. None of it's really secure, not really.

Unless you've got some weird (to me) state specific interest law, any over payment is automatically applied to principal.

When I got my first mortgage, I tried to send extra money with the payments, but they refused to take it unless I sent the exact equivalent of one months principle payment. Of course every month the principle was different, which meant a tortured phone call trying to determine the amount.

Oh, and I've had them put the overpayment in the escrow account, too.