MortgagesUndressed

So you think it rains all winter here in the green northwest. Wrong. This is a shot off our freeway exit to our home. Singing in the rain, next time I will be singing in the rain. See more on Issaquah Undressed.com

Our new contributor to RealEstateUndressed.com, Jon Miller is up in arms about the trigger list. He is all over the reasons it is a bad policy. But Jon not only gripes, he writes and takes action. He wrote an important letter to our state NAR about the trigger list.

I post now the response he received to his letter.

_____

From: Bob Mitchell [mailto:Bob.Mitchell@warealtor.org]
Sent: Monday, January 08, 2007 11:06 AM
To: Jon Miller
Cc: Bryan Wahl
Subject: RE: Issue for Govenment Affairs

Thank you Jon for your thoughtful letter outlining this alarming practice.
I’m going to contact the Assistant Director for Consumer Services at the
Washington Department of Financial Services about this issue. After I have
this visit I will contact you by e-mail or phone to discuss next steps.
Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention.

Now what action can you take? Read the letter Jon wrote. Let’s do more than hope laws are passed to stop this act of greed started by Experien and gleefully copied by the others. Larry Cragun.

This article is prompted by three radio advertisements by mortgage lenders that made me furious. Remember I have worked with hundreds, even employed over 100 at a time.

The refinace hey day is over. These bloaks who made a killing and don’t want to go back to their previous jobs (singing and entertaining perhaps, perhaps comedy) are playing all kinds of tricks on consumers. Even some brokers that have an overhead and lived nice on refinances are in trouble.

So I find they have hit the radio waves and don’t be deceived. Here are snippets (Sorry for the plagiarism Bonnie Erickson of Real Estate Snippets) of what I heard on the way to the store.

1: I can give you a 1% fixed mortgage.

Liar Liar Liar. This is an ARM most of you would vomit over rather than take. That is unless you were tricked by this dupester.

2: I can give you a loan with no closing costs: I will even pay for your appraisal. There is no need or sense in paying closing costs with the other guys. This is a new plan we can provide you.

Liar Liar Deceiver and Liar

If you go no closing costs you pay a higher rate. It isn’t a new concept, it isn’t exclusive to any broker.

3: Rates are at an all time low.

They are not.

Please don’t respond to a radio advertisment. If you think you should refi check the average rates we post each thursday. This is a survey not an offer. I and other lenders post our rates each Wednesday. The composite is published as an average. It is only an indicator.
If it looks good to you, contact a local real estate agent for one to three lender referrals. This is your best opportunity for a good experience. In Washington State, and Nevada I am prepared to set you up with a great loan officer that works with real estate agents. Larry Cragun
Loan

This article that appeared in Originator Times last month is cause for concern.

Click Here for the article.

Although women earning below the area median income were 8 percent more likely to receive subprime loans than similarly earning men, women earning more than double the area median income were 50 more likely to receive subprime loans than men with similar earnings.

Credit Wrinkle: Tip

Did you know that your credit score will probably get worse, not better, if you pay off an old collection?

Tip: Don’t pay off old collections if you are about to purchase a home. An experienced loan officer can guide you through what to do and when.

You can ask questions about this on this forum. Click Comment 1st and type in your question.

Larry Cragun

CLICK HERE FOR HOME PAGE

Appraisers May Give Your Home A Higher Value For A Pool but not for a pool table.

Curtis Cragun and Larry Cragun

I apologize for this coming so late in the day. I am receiving a lot of questions on when to lock. I guess I asked for it by the advice I have been giving the last 3 weeks.

So here is my proposal to you. Check this website around 10AM Pacific Time each day if you are in a situation where you want my opinion. If I think there is a reason to float for a better rate, I will post that opinion. Of course that is self serving to me, I like your visits adding to our stats, but the intent is sincere on my part.

If you see no opinion, just know I believe the gamble is not worth it to float.

Understand also, no one knows for sure, that several large mortgage banks have gone under playing the lock game wrong.

Note also, if you are on the edge of not qualifying, it is a no-brainer to lock at application time.

Don’t be greedy. Larry Cragun

Yes you can opt out but note it takes 30 days to be implemented. As the FTC has not yet issued a fine to trigger list opt out violators, the opt out provision is being ignored by most sales marketing mortgage pseudo loan solicitors loan officers.

The FTC does not consider this a problem and won’t without detailed specific complaints by harmed consumers. (Now isn’t that suspicious?)

You should opt out for multiple reasons click here, but if approached, take the agressive stance against the soliciter. Tell them why you are asking for compete information on them: take all of their personal and business data - all of it.

Go to the FTC website and file a complaint.

If you are a consumer advocate and want to work on something with meaning and value, get involved.States can make this illegal. According to Bonnie Erickson of Real Estate Snippets.com only one state has outlawed trigger lists. That probably leaves yours needing you.

You can also phone 1-888-5-OPT-OUT€¦ that’s 1-888-567-8688 to opt out. Remember this is only a partial solution. Very partial to the credit bureaus. Larry Cragun

Benjamin - age 6 calls this a RolyPolie bug.

Rolypolies… by Benjamin R., age 6, narrated click here
It is a creature in my collection. They look like they are long but sometimes when they are scared they curl up into a ball and look like a pill. Some of its names are wood louse, sow bug, pill bug, rolypoly (this one I like to use), bibble bugs, tiggy hogs, and potato bugs. It has more than six legs (so it�s not an insect). One time doctors used rolypolies as medicine, a long time ago! Rolypolies are like bunnies because they eat their scat (scientific name for poop) when they don�t have any other food. They protect themselves with a hard shell on their backs, and they give off a stink like a skunk. They also carry their babies like a kangaroo in a pouch. They may have hundreds of babies in the pouch at the same time!

Read this book. Read this series of trigger list articles. Larry Cragun

I am goint to pick up the pace against trigger lists. In going through orientation with our attorneys and credit providers I find the harm is greater than suspected and the government is looking the other way.

Ignoring this problem is so blantant I wonder if the credit bureaus are buying off the bureacrats.

Simply put - when you apply for a mortgage the bureaus now sell you as a hot lead. You trigger an assault on all that is important to your identity security.

Perhaps it is just beause it isn’t press yet, the Federal Government is looking the other way. They are doing nothing because they say they have no volume of compaints yet.

There are laws violated when people want to opt out, similar to the do not call list, but no bureau has been fined yet.

If you were in search of a mortgage lead, what better source than a notification Joel Blow has just applied for a loan.

Today, a case of stolen identity off the Trigger List. Anyone can buy the names off these lists. One of our mortgage reporting agencies had a client called by someone who was sold to the trigger list. The voice on the phone said do you not know you have a delinquency on your credit report? I will fix it but I must have your social security number.

You got it; identity theft.

The entire industry is in a high security mode. Not Experian, Trans Union, Equifax, and Innovis.

There is no security for the consumer in this sale of your name.

You may think it is nice to get offers of better rates, but you are in danger of being ripped off.

Larry Cragun