The loan arranger

[vvvexation]

I'm being plagued by message after message suggesting that I consolidate my student loans--specifically, that I consolidate them NOW! in order to LOCK IN THIS SPECIAL LOW RATE! This sounds shady to me, but even the government website where I'm trying to conduct my mandatory exit interview is linking me to these folks. Are they less shady than I think? Would it actually be a good idea to do this? Would it really lower my interest rates?

Comments

[gatopreto.livejournal.com]

Having just gotten a mortgage (which, if memory serves me, translates as 'death payment'), I was distressed to find out how much our bank had sold us down the river to direct marketing. We had not made a single payment and we had a dozen letters to consolidate our debt or lower our payments in our mailbox. Freaky.

I think the generic advice is to look before you leap. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

[bk2w.livejournal.com]

It's not always the bank that's done the selling down the river. A lot of marketing companies have people trolling the public property records looking for recent mortgages. They can get copies of your Deed(s) of Trust and from there, your name, address, mortgage total, etc.

[gatopreto.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that makes sense. My initial thought it may be the bank was that most of the mail is addressed to:

(my name)
(my mortgage bank)
(my address)


Congrats to youse on closing. meristem and I just closed in SF and are in the (long) process of moving and unpacking.

More disturbing than the mortgage mail was one of my new neighbors confronting me with "Wow, you paid $X, that's a lot!" after asking me how many people were moving into the house. She has a reputation for a lack of tact, according to my other neighbors. It's so nice of the real estate agent to send postcards to all of your neighbors . . .

[ef2p.livejournal.com]

When your deed is filed in the county office of records, it include information about any liens on the property. The lien info include the lender's name, the sales price of the house and frequently a bunch of other information.

If you ever refinance it changes the lien information and you'll get a whole new pile of offers.

The funny thing for me is half the time they advertize a low (varible) interest rate, that starts higher than my 10 year fixed rate home loan.