I received an unmarked envelope today from a return address in New Jersey. Being interested in this anonymous piece of apparent junk mail, I opened the thing.
The first item my eye fell upon was the following:
Whoa! Doesn't sound good...then this threatening letter continued with a summary of my home mortgage, which was incorrect with an old lender name - tipoff that the writer wasn't aware that my mortgage had been sold. Then the following:
Aha! Obviously a mortgage company trying to solicit business, but in a decidedly unprofessional way. The letter continued "you are being contacted by Best Interest Rate Mortgage so that you may benefit from a reduced monthly mortgage payment. In order for your new payment to be processed before your Sept. 1, 2007 payment date, please call....to confirm your new payment selection".
Now wait. If I'm someone who's not familiar with the industry, would I think that this (unknown) company can get my payment reduced? Probably. Would I feel either threatened or missing out? Probably. Looking at the "options" they have, we all know what would happen to my term and rate if I elected this "program", otherwise known as a refinance.
In my opinion this sort of solicitation is misleading and wrong. There's a lot more disclosure needed by a qualified mortgage pro before a customer should be asked to make such a major decision. The (very) fine print at the bottom tells the reader that this company is not their lender nor a gov't agency. Interest-only ARMs are very, very dangerous programs to get involved in, especially without lots of forethought. This type of deceptive advertising makes us all look bad.
OK, that's my beef for the week!
Jeff. I've gotten telephone calls from several former buyers who got such mail. They don't understand. I explain it to them and they're O.K.
It's a shame that the slime slithers out at the first sign of bad news.
It is always that way.
You have to wonder where they sit around and think this stuff up. It is amazing what these companies will do to get your business. But, they know most people don't pay attention to where they send their checks to and hope someone will just fill it out and send it back.
Credit card companies have been doing something similar for years. Sending out a $50.00 check for you to cash, but if you read the back it says that by signing the check you agree to get their credit card with a $100 annual fee that is put on your first statement.
Be careful everyone!