Biweekly Mortgages: A Reader's Personal Story
by
Scott Bilker |
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Scott,
Thanks for your informative article
on Biweekly mortgages. It really helped to open my eyes when I was
considering one.
 Isn't this practice illegal? Seems
like the marketing materials that I received are misleading and
deceptive. Do you have any recommendations on what I can do to help
stop this practice?
Kevin
Kevin,
Thanks for writing!
The practice of selling a biweekly
mortgage isn't illegal, just not in the best interest of consumers if it
costs more than their current mortgage.
Also, thanks so much for your
positive comments about DebtSmart. I would like to include them on
my web site and in-print.
Do I have your permission to do that?
Regards,
Scott
Scott,
You have my permission to include my
comments.
Just to let you know a little more on
my biweekly mortgage saga... After researching info on biweekly
mortgages, I contacted Wells Fargo Home Mortgage (I have my mortgage
with them and received the offer for biweekly mortgage from them) to
express my concern and displeasure at the program.
My first encounter was with a tele-sales
guy named Ron. After inquiring on some details of the program, Ron
proceeded to make some bold statements like, "You pay no more a
month" and "Your monthly payment will not increase."
I asked Ron, "How can you not increase your monthly payments
when you make the equivalent of 13 monthly payments a year?"
Ron stumbled for a reasonable answer and then conceded that you did
in fact make two extra biweekly payments a year which was the
equivalent of a 13th monthly payment.
After further discussion, I
discovered that Ron worked for Paymap Inc. and not Wells Fargo. I
made a simple request to speak with a Wells Fargo employee to
discuss my concerns. Ron connected me with Carrie of Wells Fargo
customer service. Carrie was very nice but didn't know anything
about biweekly mortgages and really wanted to put me in contact with
Paymap Inc. to help answer my questions and listen to my concerns. I
repeatedly had to tell Carrie that I was a customer of Wells Fargo
and wanted to speak with someone at Wells Fargo about my concerns.
Carrie asked me to hold and after a
lengthy delay she introduced me to Denise. I was shocked to find out
that Denise was in fact a Paymap Inc. employee. Denise went straight
into the "sales pitch" which was irritating. She told me
how "Easy and inexpensive their Equity Enhancement Program is
(cool name for biweekly mortgage) and how they have 500,000 happy
Wells Fargo customers." I asked, "Wouldn't it be easier
and less expensive to divide my monthly payment by twelve and then
apply that amount each month to my mortgage principle?" Denise
agreed but said that most people don't have the discipline to do
that.
I again asked for a Wells Fargo
employee that understood their program to speak with. Seems that no
one at Wells Fargo knows anything about their Equity Enhancement
Program. According to Ron, Carrie, and Denise, only employees of
Paymap Inc. know the details of the program. I expressed my
displeasure. "Your telling me that no person at Wells Fargo
understands or can speak with me about the Equity Enhancement
Program?" They all agreed. It's kind of scary that as a
consumer the company you trust with your mortgage doesn't know or
understand the programs that it offers. I finished my lengthy phone
conservation by asking for an employee of Wells Fargo to contact me
to discuss the program. I'm not going to hold my breath waiting for
the phone to ring.
Kevin
Kevin,
I'm not surprised! I wouldn't
expect their phone-drones to be able to understand the details of
that mortgage "product." And they certainly don't know how
it truly compares to your current mortgage so they could, and would,
never tell you if it's better (cheaper) than your monthly mortgage.
Your story is very well written! In
fact, I would like to use your article in print, online at my web
site, or in the email newsletter, which is sent to 7,900+ people
every two weeks. Articles posted online would have your photo (if
you wish).
Do I have your permission?
Please let me know as soon as
possible--thanks!
Regards,
Scott
Scott,
Thanks for the compliment on my
story. You do have my permission to use it.
Kevin Harvey
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