Countrywide Mortgage
The Loan Corporation Mortgage Forewarning interest only mortgage, low interest rates, ripoff, misleading

Hi -
This is more of a forewarning than a consumer complaints, but I was certainly ripped off. However it is my fault.

I was in the market to refinance my mortgage to get a better interest rate a few years ago. I received something in the mail, so I decided to check it out. I talked with a guy and he gave me some info about an interest-only loan that would incorporate my existing HELOC and give me a lower rate. I thought this was a fantastic deal, because I had a lot of equity in my house and the real estate market here is pretty stable. I thought long and hard and consulted my father (the go-to guy in my family for advice) and decided to do it. I even took out a little extra money to pay off my credit card.

For about a year or so I was so happy. My loan payments were inexpensive and I was on good financial footing. This was one of those loans that would go up after so many years, so when the interest rate went down, I decided to refinance through another company. I knew my payments would be more but it was worth it to have a conventional mortgage.

I went through a friend of mine who pointed out the errors in my mortgage. I was not paying "interest-only". I was paying partial interest, which meant the part of the interest I did not pay was added on to the balance. My balance went up almost $10,000 because of the loan.

I should have read the papers thoroughly but I did not. However, the sales person never explained to me that this was how the loan worked. I was under the impression the principal would not change. So my advice to anyone seeking a mortgage is find out exactly what the terms are, go with someone you trust, try to find someone local that you can actually talk to face-to-face, and ask as many questions as possible. I will refinance, with an even higher payment which I can't afford, but I will do what I have to do to survive. I would just like to stop someone else from making the same mistake I did.

Read the loan documents!

Company: Countrywide Mortgage
Country: USA
Site: www.countrywide.com

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