Invitations to Refi Hell

Remember those fake checks that mortgage companies used to send to try to entice people into refinancing? I used to wonder who felt tempted to get deeper into debt. Now, I've seen some new ones.


There's the 1% deal, where the fine print says that after one month, the rate can jump up to 8% and then float. (My husband pointed out to me that this was even worse than the loan my father got--see 7/25/07.)

Then there's the one that said in extra large print that our house is worth $750,000. That made me laugh out loud. They're trying to get me to buy my own house again for what no one else is currently willing to pay.

But the absolutely best one was the letter that started out, "Have you looked at your last mortgage statement? This may now be your principle," and it showed a number about 7k more than what we borrowed. Ooh, this type is aimed at people who got an option ARM and now have negative amortization, perhaps without even realizing it (see 7/26/07). They may have even tried that 1% loan...