CarolinaMortgageConnection.com

This past Thursday, I was interviewed by Julie Rose, reporter with WFAE 90.7 FM, an affiliate of NPR (National Public Radio) here in Charlotte NC. Julie Rose was doing a story on Wachovia’s Pick A Pay mortgage loan and wanted to ask me some questions. Seems she has been reading Charlotte Home Mortgages as well (good for her!) and felt I might know something about this…

Recently Wachovia has been coming under fire for the Pick A Pay mortgage loan. Recently it was reported that Wachovia was really putting pressure on their loan officers to push this product, even if it wasn’t what a borrower wanted to needed. (read Wachovia Pressures Loan Officers)

An exceprt from Julie’s report as found on WFAE’s website:

This week Wachovia started a new policy of calling every customer who applies for one of its controversial Pick-A-Payment loans through an independent broker.  The bank says it wants to enhance customer service and prevent fraud.  But there could be another reason.  WFAE’s Julie Rose reports.

As you can hear in the audio clip, my sound bite was small. As such, the point I made with Julie was cut short (however, it was not taken out of context - great job Julie!) The point I was making was that wholesale lenders calling mortgage broker’s clients is not the norm. Yet I could see why Wachovia may be doing it, if for no other reason than to help the public relations nightmare that Wachovia is dealing with over the Pick a Payment loans.

The Pick A Payment mortgage loan was not a horrible mortgage product IF it was sold properly. These types of mortgage products were offered by a large group of lenders. However, it was sold as a way to get a super low payment to anyone that wanted it. While it did provide options for a low payment, that was not the only consideration for that mortgage product. If the borrower had good equity that could handle the negative amortization AND planned on applying the savings from the mortgage payment to something more beneficial (such as debt elimination or wealth building investments), then it could be a good mortgage. Regardless, the borrower that best fit this mortgage loan was your saavy investor or seasoned home owner. This loan was sold to too many first time home buyers just looking for the lowest possible payment. And now we have major fall out.

Anyway, thanks Julie Rose for taking the time to call for an interview. Feel free to call again if I can help!