Refinance Headache - Who will Banks Lend to?

[MonkeyMama]

I'd shop around. We just refied with no problem. Loan to value was 65% and the appraisal was a little inflated if you ask me. (Fine with last month's prices, but prices are still flushing down the toilet. You would think they would look forward a bit). But we have a solid 20%+ equity no matter how you slice it.

For us they rushed our loan through so fast because so few on our area have ANY equity. They seemed desparate for qualified refinancers. I'd shop around, someone would love to have your business.

[Bernz]

That is upsetting! I still think that you should be able to refi your house at possibly the best rates considering your current financial and credit situation. We have been thinking about refinancing too at about .875 lower until we started shopping around. We decided to delay it as the refinancing fees involved is a killer. Our credit scores are 780 and 790 respectively and we also have enough cash to payoff the house if we want to with no other debt either.

[TBH]

We just opened a HELOC and it was also a nightmare. I am still annoyed with PNC bank.

[Saving in So Cal]

The interest rates hit my magic number yesterday. I want a loan through my retirement system since the fees are capped pretty low. I contacted my retirement system and got the names of two approved lenders in my area. I contacted both lenders, stating what type of loan I wanted (which you can't get if you are distressed borrower) and the city where I live (which has been only minimally affected by the downturn in real estate prices). I have yet to receive a call back. Obviously, I am going to keep moving on until a find someone to talk with me, but it is really quite exasperating. You'd think lenders would be hungry enough for decent loan that someone would at least call me back to screen me as a prospect.

[ksluis62]

My grandfather told me yesterday that when he went to his bank to get a car loan earlier this year, he couldn't get one from them. So, he told them he needed two checks from his account. one for the purchase price of the car and the other for the remainder of the 200K he had in the bank with them. He is retired, owns his home, has significant investments and an additional 200k in a money market at that bank.

That is so sweet to be in that position! How nice to be able to stick the dagger into the bank and twist it around. And how stupid are they looking right now? That $200k in deposits means probably 10 times that amount in ability to loan out money.

[ksluis62]

I contacted both lenders, stating what type of loan I wanted

Sv. SoCal, Is there something special about this type of loan? I don't understand the relationship between your retirement system and the loan. Are they somehow subsidizing it? Or are they just making recommendations on acceptable lenders?