Financial Matters:

Why Lenders Are Not Your Friends - Part 1

Copyright © 2006 Ed Bagley

The next time you go borrowing, and your friendly banker smiles as you walk into his office, be aware that you may be snookered by someone not worthy of your trust. If your banker is an attractive woman, then you are even more susceptible.

I have grown over the years to appreciate a certain breed of bankers as one of the lower life forms that inhabit planet Earth. What I am about to share with you is even more true of certain mortgage brokers, secondary lenders and financial predators. They operate as sleazy parasites under the guise of helping the least creditworthy consumers who have virtually no savvy in financial matters.

Rather than pick on the worst of this collection of lenders who will help relieve you of your money without any conscience, I have targeted bankers. Before the banking industry was deregulated there were many people who considered bankers worthy of some trust and admiration. Those days are over.

Bankers still enjoy the best reputation (such as it is) among these lenders, but they have no problem patting you on the shoulder while picking your pocket and telling you how much they have helped you. I do not intend to indict the entire lending industry, just 95% of it. Here is an example:

My 24-year-old son wanted to refinance his first mortgage and was about to go to a leading lender in the market to look at its loan proposal. I decided to tag along because I know how lenders operate, especially when dealing with younger clients and senior citizens who have not handled the finances in their family.

His present loan had a principal balance of $123,773 with 7.458% interest at a 30-year fixed rate.
The proposed re-fi was for $134,999 with 9.9% interest (10.28% APR) at a 30-year fixed rate. The re-fi would cover the $123,773 principal balance due and provide a $10,409 home equity loan. The lender was actually smiling when he outlined what a good deal this was for my son.

I had coached my son to simply listen to the proposal, commit to nothing, take the paperwork with him, and tell the lender he would study the proposal and let the lender know if he wanted to proceed.

Once away from this flytrap I took my son to lunch, and we discussed the great deal he was given.

First, I had him look at the 3% discount fee on the Good Faith Estimate of the closing costs. (The discount fee is the amount you are paying for the privilege of getting the loan.) The discount fee was listed at $312.

What the lender was not telling him was that the 3% discount fee was figured on the $10,409 home equity loan and not on the $134,999 for the total loan which was $4,050, a slight difference of $3,748 in their favor.

If you called the lender on this discrepancy, he would probably say, "Oh, you're right, that's a mistake. That's the figure for the home equity loan. Jeez, I'm sorry."

When the day comes to close the loan, you see the bloated figure and object, and then the lender multiplies the $134,999 loan times 3% and viola, it comes up correct. You are dazed and confused, feel under pressure, want to get this over with and sign on the dotted line. This happens every working day in America when loans are closed.

Long after you are gone, the lender is quietly snickering, counting up the additional funds he will earn, and welcoming the next dumb bunny who comes through the door while you will be stuck with making payments for 360 months on a lousy loan.

For the uninitiated, there are more real surprises at loan closings in America than when opening gifts on Christmas morning. One client of mine went to a loan closing and learned that $10,000 had been added to the loan closing costs without prior notice; he thankfully got up and left.

Always remember that for every liability you have, you are someone else's asset. For every liability—such as a mortgage, credit card, car loan or school loan—you are an employee of the company lending the money.

If you take out a 30-year mortgage loan, you have become a 30-year employee of the company which lends you the money. This is a very sobering thought when you are paying attention, as you should be. I am not talking about anything important in this article, just your financial health.

(Ed's Note: This is Part 1 of a 2-Part Series. Part 2 will take the financial details of the loan apart and show how not taking the loan will save my son $157,495.)

Financial Matters:

Why Lenders Are Not Your Friends – Part 2

Copyright © 2006 Ed Bagley

I told my son that normal closing costs for a re-fi of $148,638 at 6.5% for 30 years is $2,500. Total closing costs for his $134,999 proposed loan were $5,412, only $2,912 more. So I asked him "Could you be paying too much for closing costs?" Answer: Yes.

Then we looked at his original principal balance owing of $123,773 versus his new principal amount owing of $134,999 should he accept the loan. I pointed out that he is losing $11,226 before he even starts servicing the new loan. Yes, he is getting a home equity loan of $10,409, but what is he really gaining? Answer: Nothing. He is losing again.

Then we calculated the closing cost recovery rate of $5,412 using a financial planning program. He learned it would take 30 months of payments just to recover his closing costs. I pointed out that until you recover your closing costs you have not saved a cent in the transaction.

He had already made 12 payments on his existing $123,773 loan, reducing his principal amount owing to $122,623. He had earned $1,150 in equity by making 12 payments at $862 a month.

Then we looked at what his principal amount owing would be when he reached his 30th payment with the new loan. (Remember, it is going to take 30 payments to recover his closing costs.) Answer: $133,085 at a monthly payment of $1,233.

Then I asked him what his principal amount owing would be if he just kept paying another 30 months on his current loan plus the 12 months he had already paid. Answer: $119,342 at $898 a month.

The lights began to turn on in his mind. Now he recognized that he would be $13,743 ahead in principal owing if he just kept paying on the existing loan at the lower monthly payment ($335 less!).

This sudden revelation begged the question: How can this be? Answer: The interest on mortgage loans is front loaded. He learned that if he went for this nationally known lender's great loan deal that he would be making loan payments for 30 months (2.5 years) and still owe $13,743 more in principal balance than if he kept his present loan and paid $335 less in his monthly payment.

Finally we looked at what it would cost to service both loans. His current loan had 348 months remaining (29 years) at $898 monthly. Total cost? $312,504. The proposed loan had 360 months remaining (30 years) at $1,233 monthly. Total cost? $443,880. The difference? $131,376.

Just how badly did he need that home equity loan? Answer: Not at all.

And how much would he save in actual dollars by not accepting the proposed re-fi from the lender who was supposedly helping him out? Answer: $157,495.

Here are the savings:

1) $11,226, the difference in the original amounts of the loans.

2) $1,150, the equity he already had earned from making 12 payments on his present loan.

3) $13,743, the difference in principal owing if he continued paying his present loan.

4) $131,376, the difference in the cost to service the proposed loan.

Never forget that finance is a dirty business like finding a cockroach on a cow pie.

The banker, mortgage broker or financial predator you are dealing with is not your friend trying to help you. He (or she) is your enemy trying to hurt you so his company can profit at your expense while he gets his big commission check and looks good to his employer.

If you want an excellent example of how your banker educates you about your finances, try swallowing his line about your first home purchase being probably the greatest and most rewarding investment you will ever make.

Remember that he talked about how your new home would be such a great asset for you. Anything to get you thinking you could not possibly afford your new home without his help, and that it would be your greatest investment.

Your banking friend never told you that your fantastic new asset is not even an asset but a liability. A liability, you say? Of course, silly, the bank holds the paper on your home until you pay it off, and your loan is really an asset on the bank's balance sheet, not on yours.

By lending you the money to buy your home, your bank creates an asset on its balance sheet, and if it is an asset for the bank, it must, by straight accounting procedures and common sense, be a liability on your personal balance sheet.

Heck, if the banker told you this, you might think twice about becoming a 30-year employee of the bank while you are making your payments for the next 360 months.

Are all bankers and mortgage brokers bad people? Naw, only 95% of them. When you go to borrow money for your next mortgage, my best advice is Good Luck, and God Speed. I certainly hope you educate yourself enough to realize that dealing with the 5% will save you a ton of money and grief over the next 30 years.

Internet Marketing:

Copyright © 2006 Ed Bagley

While there are predators all around us, we generally do not think of our financial providers as predators. Typical providers we might use include banks, financial centers (the fancy name some banks call themselves today), credit unions, mortgage brokers, and mortgage bankers to name a few.

With thousands of people going online and starting home-based Internet Marketing businesses daily, many quickly develop a need for more capital to build their new part-time, second-income enterprise. Some inexperienced newcomers fail to budget properly and soon find themselves in over their head.

Their next likely stop is to find a lender. I was stunned yesterday to get in my post office box one of those new, fancy, 6-by-9-inch oversized postcards with this screaming headline on the slicked up front side: Get $5,000 by tomorrow!

If I did not know better, I would have thought I was reading one of the exaggerated opportunities that pops up on my monitor every day, you know, the one that says "Join Us Now And Collect Your $2,000,000" from "one of the world's most rewarding financial associations." Yeah, right. I could use an extra $2 million, and if I read through the entire sales pitch, I would probably find out that I really had to do very little to get it.

Sometimes it is easier to relate to the $5,000 you can get tomorrow (yes, you read right, tomorrow). You see, the lender in this case does not want a lot of legal paperwork and collateral to hold you up. Heck, they just need your signature!

This presents a wonderful opportunity to play Donald Trump. There was a time when The Donald could borrow millions by just signing his name on a dotted line.  Sure, the $5,000 lender, called CashCall out of Fountain Valley, California, presumably does a credit check and, even if you rent or your credit is not perfect, the $5,000 will be in your bank account tomorrow (this delivery process is commonly known among the financial community and those who borrow such sums in such ways as a bank wire transfer). And, of course, your immediate money problems are solved! Viola! (as the French would say).

Turns out the source of the money received actually comes from First Bank & Trust of Milbank, South Dakota, a member of the FDIC, mind you (this important fact is used to apparently inspire confidence in the lender which is probably in good standing with your federal government as FDIC does stand for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, an independent agency of your federal government).

Words cannot express how choked up I am with compassion over the fact that a bank would lend someone $5,000 on their signature only, and deliver the money into their account the next day. Some banks are just too wonderful for words.

A lot of folks would be overjoyed at the bank's generosity and understanding in their time of need. Then again, those same folks probably would be too excited about solving their "problems" to read the fine print in the same offer.

Did I just say fine print? Yes I did. That is the really small type on the bottom of the back of the life-saving postcard that has the catchy headline (get $5,000 by tomorrow!), and the prominent picture of ten $100 bills on the front, that says:

"Example of loan terms: The Annual Percentage Rate (APR) for a $5,075 loan is 59.90%, with 84 payments of $254.03." This is what I call a 7-year, fixed-rate loan that will bring the lender $21,338 in return. So, here is the deal: You get a $5,000 loan and the privilege of repaying the $5,000 you borrow plus another $16,338 in interest.

It caused me to wonder if they sell asbestos suits in Milbank, South Dakota, surmising that some folks may develop a need for them, depending, of course, on where they might be going.

The next time your lender is being so nice to you, remember the message of this postcard, and ask yourself, "Why is this lender (or banker) being so nice to me?" The answer, dear friend, is not that he or she has your best interest at heart.

Why should I even give this seemingly obscure offer even two cents of my time? Only to make this point: Since when is helping a financially desperate person made better by driving them deeper into debt, and then leaving them as ignorant as you found them?

H. L. Mencken (1880-1956), who became a U. S. journalist and literary and social critic, once said "You can never underestimate the stupidity of the American people."  Man, was he right.