Being deceived by banks? Freddie Mac decisions, or not? Violation of Federal Law...


I was advised to accept my loan in March 2008 at PAR rate instead of paying a point and receiving the lower rate, as I selected during my online application. The loan officer, Jon Beir advised that the best move was to pay the higher rate and refinance as rates were sure to drop and that since the credit union has low loan costs, this would benefit my situation the most. During the entire process, I continued to mention that the loan I was seeking was to buy a vacation rental. The loan was apparently written as a 2nd home. I had no background or knowledge to distinguish the difference between a vacation rental and a vacation home. Nor was I educated to the difference by the bank or loan officer. And, I was never corrected in my conversations that I was not receiving a Vacation Rental loan (which I now know would be an investment property loan), but rather I was receiving a Vacation home loan (2nd home loan). After the close of the loan, I receive a call that I need to stop in and sign a “Vacation Home/2nd home rider” this was done, after the fact!


When the rate went down, I did as the loan officer suggest and applied for refinancing. After the appraisal was completed, I was notified that there was no equity to do so. And as such, I was stuck with the higher rate.


When the Obama HARP program came out, I went in to see the loan officer who reviewed the guidelines and said it was a perfect fit. A Day before signing loan docs the bank advised me that Freddie Mac had classified a change in my property use from 2nd home to an investment property, and a change in use disqualified my property under the HARP guidelines. I contacted Freddie Mac and they said they did not make the classification, that the bank must have. So who made this classifcation? … Freddie Mac or the Bank? The frustrating part of this is that we always intended to use the place personally and to rent it as a vacation rental to generate some additional income. FYI, at the time of this refinance denial, we had setup a website to help us rent it out, but had no had any paid rental guest stays! We made this declaration to the credit Union, however, it fell on deaf ears. At this time, the HARP program did not allow an individual to go to another lender, only your servicing lender. So the mistakes by this servicing lender left us with no other opportunity to exercise this program initated by our Federal Government.


Recently I learned that the program had released new guidelines and a new refinance opportunity called HARP Open Access. The program allowed for a change in use of the property, such as mine. The servicing lender no longer does home loans. They provided me a list of banks that do. I applied and qualified for a loan under this program with Tri Counties Bank. They informed me this week that “Freddie Mac” had deemed my Single Family Residence a commercial propety since it was a vacation Rental and not eligible. Did Freddie Mac truly make this classification? ..or did the bank? I have repeatedly asked them to put this answer in writing and they tell me via email they will and have not done so. I have the emails to support this.


The first time I tried the HARP program, my property was reclassified as an ineligible “investment property”. Now that the new program allows “investment properties”, my property is classified as a commercial property! I have researched for hours and can't find any bank, authority, or reference where a “single family residence” is classified as a commercial property.


I have been advised that Freddie Mac and the HARP program are only subject to influence by congress and governmental regulatory institutions as the HARP program is a result of our government forces. I feel I am being “jerked around” because I am the little guy and they know that I have basicly little power and that they can unfairly make up their own rules as they go?


Let me know how you can help!


I have been injured by these banks either by their ignorance or their quest to make the original loan. I will pay thousands in additional interest on this loan based on the life of the loan … about $112126 according to my calcs.


These banks and entities need to understand the impact of the decisions they that are making, including the haphazard classification of property type that seems to change with the wind. Decisions that take them minutes and have 30 years lasting affect on the borrowers causing in this case the financial impact of $112126. I am wondering how many people out there have and are being abused in this way?