Vent...H's work situation bites us again!

formerlyGDaisy09

So as I've mentioned before we're planning to renovate our home by refinancing our mortgage (gets us a better interest rate, pays for necessary repairs and is/was basically a win in many ways). We were all set and had approval for a 5/1 arm loan, lowering our interest rate by 0.7% and keeping our monthly payments exactly the same...then they were just going throught the steps of verifying everything on our W2s, student loans, etc. 

Well...as I've also mentioned H has never been able to nail down a full time job that pays him well. So he is currently working part time, he ends up bring home close to $42K a year once holiday overtime, etc. get factored in. Well, of course, his salary verification will only show that he's hired for 25 hours a week, which puts his annual salary at $28,400 ($13,600 less than his last 2 W2s show). so they're now denying us the loan they told us we were all set for. instead they're offering us a 7/1 arm loan that is only 0.2% lower than our current rate, and I don't have the exact monthly payment amounts from the bank yet, but I know it's going to be higher than our current payments. 

So now, since we had letters saying the loan was approved, as well as a confirmation from the bank on terms etc. they wouldn't set a closing date until we signed a contract with the company installing the solar panels, so we signed the contract and sent them their required $1000 deposit. The solar portion of the project was the only portion we feel like we can drop from the project to reduce the cost of the renovation, since the windows need to be replaced (we're risking rotting and water damage if they aren't replaced) and we need to add space in the basement to make room for the baby. 

I'm just so pissed right now. I'm waiting on more info from the bank. seeing if additional years of w2s would be enough to verify H's annual income. They know I'm pissed that they told me to go ahead on the solar since the appraisal came in where we needed it. 

I'm basically sitting in my office teary eyed (thank you pregnancy hormones) and all I want right now is a big glass or red wine!

vlagrl29

I hear ya!  several years back I was trying to get a line of credit on our house which is paid off, but they wouldn't saying I needed a cosigner (house is only in my name) because I was newly self employed.  When we do get to that point again I will have DH sign with me this time if they still don't like what they see which they probably won't.  DH has been self employed much longer (13 years) and would help out the process.  Sorry!

formerlyGDaisy09

vlagrl29 said:

I hear ya!  several years back I was trying to get a line of credit on our house which is paid off, but they wouldn't saying I needed a cosigner (house is only in my name) because I was newly self employed.  When we do get to that point again I will have DH sign with me this time if they still don't like what they see which they probably won't.  DH has been self employed much longer (13 years) and would help out the process.  Sorry!

Glad I'm not the only one this happened to. the loan officer we're working with bascally told us once the appraisal came back that we were all set, sent us what she called the "final terms of the loan". and reminded us that they needed a signed contract for the solar in order to set a closing date...which we need to be soon to start construction and be able to start work on the nursury. had I known they had still not received employment verification for H I would never have signed the solar contract or sent them a deposit. in reality we're talking about another $42 a month on our mortgage payment, we can work that into our budget, but it just pisses me off that the bank made it sound like we were all set with the loan and then all of sudden we aren't. 

I am asking her if there is no other way we can account for the $13,600 in income on H's W2s. I doubt it, but I need to try.

Xstatic3333

Wow, that sucks. I hope it gets worked out okay. Hopefully they will be willing to accept the last two years of records and give you the loan they promised. It's really poor customer service at best.

vlagrl29

you would think though that if you had all that other income verification that it would be ok - but bankers can be really picky about this kind of stuff.  It took DH going to 12 banks last year to finally get 1 of them to say yes to a commercial loan.

abrewer5

Ugh I'm so sorry this is happening. It is beyond frustrating to deal with the banks while trying to get a mortgage/refinance. Keeping my fingers crossed that some how you'll be able to get them to account for the overtime/holiday pay!

FirstMate06

Good luck!! Hopefully the past W-2s help your case and they stand by their original offer. I also really want to believe that the bank will acknowledge the poor situation they put you in and honor the original terms. Sounds like you had assurances in writing that effectively forced your hand in signing a contract so hopefully all it will take is you explaining everything to them the way you in your post. Fingers crossed that it all works out!!

formerlyGDaisy09

Unfortunately they will not take the past W2s, they will only take what the employer verifies. Oy Vey. we're basically stuck. we're now under contract with the solar company, we would only have about half the cash needed to pay for that job, and that's the job that was a "bonus" if all the refinance stuff went through the way we wanted. the rest of the project is really the essential stuff, so I really feel like we have no choice but to accept this less than ideal offer. 

it's taken us almost 4 months to get to this point with the bank...granted 2 of that was us gathering quotes and waiting on building permits. but it would delay our project another month or two to go shopping with other banks. 

I'm so not impressed with this loan officer, she basically said, sorry, we hadn't received the employment verification back when we told you everything was all set, there's nothing we can do. 

Xstatic3333

Wow. I would definitely write an honest review about your experience somewhere if nothing else. Now I don't know much about ARMS, admittedly, but it seems crazy that lower income verification somehow results in a higher payment. I'm so sorry.

formerlyGDaisy09

Xstatic3333 said:

Wow. I would definitely write an honest review about your experience somewhere if nothing else. Now I don't know much about ARMS, admittedly, but it seems crazy that lower income verification somehow results in a higher payment. I'm so sorry.

Yea, I've started copying her higher-up at the main branch of the bank on e-mails. When I ask the loan officer questions, like yesterday I asked if the new loan format would impact PMI she e-mailed back that she "didn't believe it would"...I in turn asked her to please verify that it wouldn't be impacted, and copied her supervisor. 

vlagrl29

so sorry  Just take this is a sucky lesson learned.  Never take anyones word on anything unless its said and done.

formerlyGDaisy09

vlagrl29 said:

so sorry  Just take this is a sucky lesson learned.  Never take anyones word on anything unless its said and done.

That's the thing, we thought since we had the 20+ page "approval" in hand we were good! we just kept getting e-mailed that they needed the signed solar contract to set a closing date. 

short+sassy

Ugh, I'm mad for you.  I find banks to be really frustrating in this way.  They say they can and will do X,Y,Z and then, even though nothing on the borrower end changed, suddenly things are different.

While all banks are different, I know when I got my first home loan I was working a job where I got a lot of OT.  My mortgage guy told me, unless a regular number of OT was written in my offer letter or some other type of documentation from the company, they could only consider my base salary.  It also didn't matter what my W-2s for the last two years said.

But he at least told me that right in the beginning of the process!  So it wasn't a big deal.

formerlyGDaisy09

short+sassy said:

Ugh, I'm mad for you.  I find banks to be really frustrating in this way.  They say they can and will do X,Y,Z and then, even though nothing on the borrower end changed, suddenly things are different.

While all banks are different, I know when I got my first home loan I was working a job where I got a lot of OT.  My mortgage guy told me, unless a regular number of OT was written in my offer letter or some other type of documentation from the company, they could only consider my base salary.  It also didn't matter what my W-2s for the last two years said.

But he at least told me that right in the beginning of the process!  So it wasn't a big deal.

Ugh, so mad. Our loan officer didn't even mention this as a possibility. I know we mentioned up front that H was only contracted for 25 hours a week, though he generally gets 30-35 and tons of overtime around the holidays. she took his W2s and said that we should be fine and sent us on our way...approval in hand, supposidly only waiting on the appraisal. 

The reason we went with this bank is because they're the current holders of our mortgage and their rates were comperable or better than other banks in the area. now if we were to go somewhere else to hope to get a better rate,knowing what we know now, we still owe this bank for the appraisal, etc. closing fees for this loan at about $800, other banks have quoted us $2-3K in closing fees. 

we're learning lessons along the way, at least this one "only" costs us an extra $42 a month. Since we're doign an ARM loan we are planning to sell or refinance before the variable rate kicks in...I guess this gives us an extra 2 years on that timeline. and We'll know more now when it comes to doing that. 

formerlyGDaisy09

formerlyGDaisy09 said:

short+sassy said:

Ugh, I'm mad for you.  I find banks to be really frustrating in this way.  They say they can and will do X,Y,Z and then, even though nothing on the borrower end changed, suddenly things are different.

While all banks are different, I know when I got my first home loan I was working a job where I got a lot of OT.  My mortgage guy told me, unless a regular number of OT was written in my offer letter or some other type of documentation from the company, they could only consider my base salary.  It also didn't matter what my W-2s for the last two years said.

But he at least told me that right in the beginning of the process!  So it wasn't a big deal.

Ugh, so mad. Our loan officer didn't even mention this as a possibility. I know we mentioned up front that H was only contracted for 25 hours a week, though he generally gets 30-35 and tons of overtime around the holidays. she took his W2s and said that we should be fine and sent us on our way...approval in hand, supposidly only waiting on the appraisal. 

The reason we went with this bank is because they're the current holders of our mortgage and their rates were comperable or better than other banks in the area. now if we were to go somewhere else to hope to get a better rate,knowing what we know now, we still owe this bank for the appraisal, etc. closing fees for this loan at about $800, other banks have quoted us $2-3K in closing fees. 

we're learning lessons along the way, at least this one "only" costs us an extra $42 a month. Since we're doign an ARM loan we are planning to sell or refinance before the variable rate kicks in...I guess this gives us an extra 2 years on that timeline. and We'll know more now when it comes to doing that. 

We were considering canceling our trash pick-up since my mom is giving us her mini van so hauling trash to the dump would actually be feasible that saves us $39 a month...so there's the money in our budget....just makes me mad that canceling trash ends-up being a wash.