Well, blow me down - America is still full of surprises, anyway. After my saga with trying to talk about mortgages to my Bank, I mentioned this to a friendly real estate agent, who put me in contact with her preferred broker. I talked to him on the phone, gave him some details and assent to perform a credit check, and 20 minutes later he calls back to inform me that I/we have pre-approval for a mortgage up to $170K - this without Cat even earning an income!
Of course final approval will require a sheaf of paperwork, and an evaluation of the house, but that only happens after we've found a house & struck a deal, so we're now free to go house-hunting, with a budget. I didn't realise things could happen so fast! I double-checked, and yes, this is prime-rate lending (in fact the best rate on offer), so nothing dodgy about it, and no strange ideas about interest-only mortgages or anything odd like that.
Feeling just a little dazed about it, to be honest: but I've started to dig up information about repossessed houses in the area, already, and we stopped & did a drive-by of a couple of them, last night.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
On an entirely different note, there is one aspect of living in the USA that I'm not sure I'll ever get used to: that is, the idea that it is legal to execute a right-hand turn through a red light (absent opposing traffic that is). Every time, I'm sitting looking at the red light until someone honks to remind me - the whole idea just runs counter to my instincts: whaddaya mean, run a red light? Are you mad, that's a cop car just over there!
*Sigh* maybe I'll eventually get used to it, I suppose, but it's sure going to take a lot of work to overcome the ingrained instincts. I do wonder, also, whether this doesn't actually breed a certain disdain among drivers here for red lights generally - I've certainly noticed a lot more willingness to run the red lights here than in the UK, or NZ (of course that might have a lot to do with the absence of red-light cameras!)
Showing posts with label mortgages. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mortgages. Show all posts
Friday, July 31, 2009
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Gogol has taken over the banking system
Possibly the Bank of America is plotting to drive me crazy: no, of course not, they're actually plotting to drive everyone crazy :)
After my unsuccessful attempt to talk to them about mortgages a couple of days ago, I tried applying for a credit card - after all, they had turned me down before because I wasn't a permanent resident, and that has been solved. I did this online, after my experiences with the staff (plus, I know from last time, all the staff would do is log into the same screen and do the typing for me, which, well, I can do easier than I can get them to spell my name right for one thing).
However, I got turned down - when I clicked on the link as to why, it referenced one of the credit check sites, and indicated that either there was a problem, or the bank deemed that I had all the debt I could handle, in their opinion. OK, annoying, but I know better than to argue with computer-moderated processes, and added to my mental list, an item to go elsewhere & apply for a card.
However, I log into my electronic Bank account before work this morning, and all of a sudden, instead of 3 accounts (cheque for each of us, joint savings), there are 4 - and the 4th is something called a Platinum Visa, with an assigned limit and no activity to date. So ... did they make a mistake? Did I misunderstand what 'You have been declined' means? No, actually I think some Gogol-like conspirators have taken over the bank and are using it to experiment with surrealist comedy: that might explain the Bank's performance for the last couple of years, and how it got so close to bankruptcy, after all.
And why was I applying for a new credit card? Not, actually, because I need more credit to go spending with, I've been down that road once, never again. No, because I discovered that the credit rating agencies - the all-powerful arbiters of the US financial markets - use the amount of unused credit you have as part of how you are rated: the more unused credit you have access to, the higher your rating.
So, to get a card and then never use it will improve my credit rating, something which still needs work as (of course) they only consider US financial history. Slightly bizarre. And, in case you're unaware, your credit rating will substantially affect not just the amount of mortgage you can acquire, but the interest rate and other terms you will be offered, so getting it as high as possible, fairly quickly, just makes financial sense. Seems a very odd way to run your country.
Oh, and Gogol? Russian satirist :)
After my unsuccessful attempt to talk to them about mortgages a couple of days ago, I tried applying for a credit card - after all, they had turned me down before because I wasn't a permanent resident, and that has been solved. I did this online, after my experiences with the staff (plus, I know from last time, all the staff would do is log into the same screen and do the typing for me, which, well, I can do easier than I can get them to spell my name right for one thing).
However, I got turned down - when I clicked on the link as to why, it referenced one of the credit check sites, and indicated that either there was a problem, or the bank deemed that I had all the debt I could handle, in their opinion. OK, annoying, but I know better than to argue with computer-moderated processes, and added to my mental list, an item to go elsewhere & apply for a card.
However, I log into my electronic Bank account before work this morning, and all of a sudden, instead of 3 accounts (cheque for each of us, joint savings), there are 4 - and the 4th is something called a Platinum Visa, with an assigned limit and no activity to date. So ... did they make a mistake? Did I misunderstand what 'You have been declined' means? No, actually I think some Gogol-like conspirators have taken over the bank and are using it to experiment with surrealist comedy: that might explain the Bank's performance for the last couple of years, and how it got so close to bankruptcy, after all.
And why was I applying for a new credit card? Not, actually, because I need more credit to go spending with, I've been down that road once, never again. No, because I discovered that the credit rating agencies - the all-powerful arbiters of the US financial markets - use the amount of unused credit you have as part of how you are rated: the more unused credit you have access to, the higher your rating.
So, to get a card and then never use it will improve my credit rating, something which still needs work as (of course) they only consider US financial history. Slightly bizarre. And, in case you're unaware, your credit rating will substantially affect not just the amount of mortgage you can acquire, but the interest rate and other terms you will be offered, so getting it as high as possible, fairly quickly, just makes financial sense. Seems a very odd way to run your country.
Oh, and Gogol? Russian satirist :)
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Dorothy, I dont think we're in Surrey any more
Except maybe we are?
I went to the bank yesterday to send some money to England, which took the usual 40 minutes or so - they appear to have institutional Alzheimers, as it's a calamitous major issue every month when I do this, and it always takes much tut-tutting, consulting of colleagues, staring blankly at computer screens, looking up help screens, asking what IBAN number they need for the UK bank and ignoring my proffered advice that they dont use IBAN numbers, you need to use National ID (which is always the major stumbling block).
Anyway, that wasn't what astonished me - I brought a book and got 3 chapters read while they rotated in ever-decreasing circles.
After that, I asked about talking to someone about a mortgage. Not applying for one, not even asking for pre-approval so we could go house hunting, just an initial discussion. The girl* serving me told me that she wasn't permitted to, and in fact (if I understood her correctly), noone was allowed to until they'd called a special number to check (something) first. And of course she didn't know the number.
I spent another 20 minutes waiting while she tried to find the number, asked her colleagues, and did all the usual useless show of activity without achievement: then I told her not to bother, I'd go try to find someone who could actually talk to me about doing business.
I hadn't realised, Kafka was an optimist.
I went to the bank yesterday to send some money to England, which took the usual 40 minutes or so - they appear to have institutional Alzheimers, as it's a calamitous major issue every month when I do this, and it always takes much tut-tutting, consulting of colleagues, staring blankly at computer screens, looking up help screens, asking what IBAN number they need for the UK bank and ignoring my proffered advice that they dont use IBAN numbers, you need to use National ID (which is always the major stumbling block).
Anyway, that wasn't what astonished me - I brought a book and got 3 chapters read while they rotated in ever-decreasing circles.
After that, I asked about talking to someone about a mortgage. Not applying for one, not even asking for pre-approval so we could go house hunting, just an initial discussion. The girl* serving me told me that she wasn't permitted to, and in fact (if I understood her correctly), noone was allowed to until they'd called a special number to check (something) first. And of course she didn't know the number.
I spent another 20 minutes waiting while she tried to find the number, asked her colleagues, and did all the usual useless show of activity without achievement: then I told her not to bother, I'd go try to find someone who could actually talk to me about doing business.
I hadn't realised, Kafka was an optimist.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)