OMG! RAGING RANT HERE!!

[mmtillman]

Hello...thanks for tellin it how it is ....you spoke for everyone of us ''little guys'' who work hard and then are told to 'bend over' by our government!! I am rooting for you girl!!

Mary Ann

 

[HennysMom]

Quote:
Ours did the opposite - ours decreased...however.. I just got a notification yesterday from our County Tax Assessment office that our house for the SECOND YEAR in a row has gone down another $8K in value!! I dont believe it for one second....we bought this house when the market was on a downward spiral....and now, its worth 16K less than what it was less than 1.5 years ago?

Yes, it means lower taxes - however - I'd love to refinance my rate - its a good rate, but the rates NOW are better..

how in the hell are we supposed to refinance if they keep lowering what the value of homes are worth?!!

I KNOW its not worth less - I've seen the houses for sale in this area....its the same as it has been! I just read in our local news paper that our area has grown 117% UP IN MONITARY GAINS both Commercially and Residentally from 1 year ago...so how in the WORLD can my home be 16K LESS and dropping?!

Time to call the Assessment office and have them back out here - again! Never mind all the work we've done...new roof, new windows..all the inside......since last year...and they KNOW THIS... grrrrrrrr...

ARgh -another rant....

If your wanting to refi, just get an appraisal, the assessment office will follow suit with whatever value your appraiser/mortgage company uses and will modify their assessment.

Alot of assessment offices do not even have a cetified residential appraiser on staff. The just punch numbers into a program on their computers after driving by your house and wala....assessed value.

ETA: Our CA office does have certified appraisers. We had to have them out last year when after 3 months of living here, they first raised the appraised value of the house by $30K when all the surrounding houses dropped in a 10 mile radius! So - they sent out their appraiser...and adjusted it in - and shocked both DH and myself when they dropped the value from the 2007 value by $8K!

Wasnt expecting that at all. Its not as easy as you make it sound - most appraisers go off of the county assessment and add 20-25% for a "blind appraisal" - you want anything more, you pay $400-500 for a "come-out" which is fine, however, right now, to get a re-fi at the current rate of 4.8% or whatever it is, most banks wont touch you

no matter if your credit is golden or not if all the other homes are slipping or if your homes assessment is dropping. They do look at it and the "foreclosures" in your area. They will loan a max of 90% of the appraised value - which means our home would have to appraise as it stands right now - $50K higher than what we paid for it in order to just refi the rate - not "cash out" any equity - just refi the rate. Then add the $22-30K in closing costs to that on top of it all!! Wont happen with the way houses are all around us and assessments.

I dont understand why we - collectively as consumers - cannot just renegotiate our rates as they stand right now - without paying points or prepays. They want to "stimulate the economy" and help out "the people" ?? HERES A NOVEL IDEA: Let us renegotiate our rates without the fees, without the cash-out options - just let me refi my loan, no questions. If the banks would just hold onto the darn loans instead of selling them off for "quick money" they'd get their $$ in the long run. But nooo.. they dont want to wait 30 years to get it - or even 10! They want FAST MONEY now -which is why we have to pay $20-30K in closing costs and prepaids!! I already PAID those when I purchased this house... why do I have to pay them again?! I can refi a car loan..I can renegotiate terms on any other fixed term loan = all without paying outrageous fees and whatnot... WHY NOT a mortgage? It would give us consumers MORE MONEY in our pockets... if we could do it this way, it would give us on average $700.00 more a month just by refinancing our term - but noooooooooo - it cant be that easy - not for the banks to make money!!!

OUTRAGEOUS!

We can -right now in this country - be behind in our bills, be in forclosure and RENEGOTIATE OUR MORTGAGE RATE AND TERMS and thats okay...but let a person be on time and paying their bills and forget it! We can do nothing of the sort!!

Burns my tail 10 ways to Sunday - and because of that...we've already written Senate, Congress and our President several times

 

[MayberrySaint]

Just got off the phone with CitiBank, WaMu, Chase, Advanta and Capital One...and am somewhat relieved...

My balances were cash advance loans and balance transfers and the rates are locked in for the life of the balance as long as I continue to pay on time. They said they could change my purchase rate, if I use the card for anything else, but could not legally change the balance transfer/cash advance loans...

 

[HennysMom]

So basically Mayberry.. dont use that card..or your rates will change.

Consider yourself lucky my friend...

 

[MayberrySaint]

Quote:
You don't know how lucky...I would be totally screwed and would probably have to shut down if they raised those rates. I think I will increase my monthly payments to get these paid off ASAP...

 

[coffeemama]

We are not in a position to pay of our cards, but I will be looking into this rate change business. I don't mind closing our accounts if it means the rates won't double.

 

[ksacres]

We pay our cc off every month, so the interest rate doesn't really matter to me. I did get a notice saying ours was going up to 21% or something crazy like that. My dh and I both have credit scores over 725. It's wild that they can do things like this to people.

 

[Lobzi]

Quote:
Credit cards are a wonderful convenience but you have to pay them off and not let a balance ride on them. I have my cards all auto-paid each month out of the checking account. I have never had to pay interest on them. It is possible to use and enjoy the convenience and not have to be a slave to the credit companies. Just use them smartly.

 

[HennysMom]

OMG! and here I thought 14.99 was horrible! I'd start digging graves if I paid 18.9 and 21% interest on anything....ever - regardless if I paid it off every month or not.

Is that the standard rate now a days? As you can tell, I havent applied for a credit card in years. I refuse to pay even on regular loans over 8% on anything - and I think thats high!

Whats the average rate for loans now a days? I mean..we have a 2007 Ford F250 we bought brand new and our rate on that is 6% - and my dads 2005 Honda we purchased with a short term loan for used vehicle thru our Credit Union and its term is 7% I think... (ETA: nope.. just checked..its 6.5%)

Maybe I just expect too much or something... but I dont think so.... our 2000 Intrepid was purchased new back then and we paid 0.1% interest on it...

 

[Black Feather]

You think that's bad.....I had a company that tried to charge me for NOT using their card. Yup, I wasn't using it and they decided to charge me a penalty fee.

I called it the "You're not giving us a chance to gouge you by using our card, so we're going to do it anyway" fee.

I canceled the card asap.