PR and Refinancing your mortgage

S

Sankrityayan

Registered Users (C)
Pretty soon, this will begin to look like a mortgage forum :D :D

After I saw that mortgage rates fell a fair bit over the past couple of days, I called my mortgage bank to inquire about refinancing. They promptly confirmed that they had several products available (of-course) and showed me a half-way decent rate on the one I wanted (30 year fixed). Since this is my existing lender, the all-in rate (including closing costs and fees) was better than what I was able to obtain elsewhere. So I agreed to apply on the phone. After a few relatively straight-forward questions, this is how the conversation went-

Ryan: Are you a citizen?

Me: Yes.. of (my country)

Ryan: Are you a permanent resident?

Me: Not yet, although I have applied for it more than a year ago.

Ryan: your application (for this preferred refinancing program) will be rejected if you are not at-least a permanent resident, and if that happens you cannot re-apply for at-least three months. Why don't you wait till you receive your permanent residency and call again..

Me: But I do not know when that will be and mortgage rates may not stay where they are till then.

Ryan: I cannot help it; sorry.

Me: Why is permanent residency suddenly so crucial now? I already have a mortgage from your bank. I am only applying to refinance an existing loan....

Ryan: Those are the rules; I am sorry I cannot be of help to you. please call back once you become a permanent resident.

Did anything like this ever happen to any of you. I just cannot understand the logic of denying an application just because the applicant is not a citizen/permanent resident, especially when the loan has already been made and is existing in good standing.

Just another unintended(?) consequence of this bungling system!
 
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this must be smaller mortgage company then,

they never should ask that. there is no rule on this. only "legal resident" is required.

sorry for others, we are going out of main topics here. lets not make this a topic conversation on this i485 forum although it sounds very relevant for most of us at some point.
 
Apologies for my lack of topic discipline..

Actually, it is the nation's largest mortgage lender. Once before when I applied for a Discover card (after they kept pestering me with persistent offers in my mail), they denied it saying they do not accept applications from non-permanent residents. While I was miffed, it occured to me that there is nothing in the land that says (except perhaps a few ungrateful, loud-mouths like me) one cannot discriminate on the basis of residency status. What surprised me about the conversation with the bank today is the fact that refinancing with one's existing lender does not involve a fresh credit decision; It is merely the exercise of the prepayment option that was already paid for.
 
That's odd...I have Discover and that was the first card I got when I came here as a student. As far as the mortgage goes, doesn't make sense when they have already approved you previously and all you are doing is refinancing. Probably the loan officer is new...hmmm, weird.
 
It doesn't seem to be consistent even with the same lender. A friend got her mortgage approved without a question, and I had to correspond a couple of times on the PR issue (same lender), and they finally settled for a copy of my 485 receipt.

Did you apply for a Discover card recently? Again, that was one of the first cards that I got as a student. The only card issuer I know that rejects based on PR is CITI.
 
CITI gave me my first card when I have newly entered this country.

Whole American system looks like the same. There are no specific policies. Any decision seems depend on individual handling a perticular case. We were under the impression that it applied only to BCIS/INS. We were not right.

Regards,
 
The same thing happened to me.

I am in the 485 stage (RD May2002), was preapproved but when the bank started the mortgage paperwork they had a problem with 485. Of course I dont expect the bank to understand visa's, status etc.

485 was a problem but H-1 was Ok, luckily I was still on H1 and I ended by spending money on a 7th year extension so I could get a mortgage.
 
I have refinanced three times without any problems. I have never faced any problems with any bank for any kind of credit related application.

Just tell them you are a legal resident and that's it, if they ask any more questions, take your business else where. You are the customer and you have every right to get the same customer service as any other person in this country.
 
I have refinanced twice

and have not faced any issues. With credit card offers the only issue in the beginning was that the credit history was not long enough to qualify. Apparently they look at how long you are on file. Looks like another inconsistent process.
 
Hi Sankrityayan,

I refinanced my home and closed the deal this monday. Mortgage company asked me if I was a citizen, Green card holder and I replied No. But I told the manager that they cannot refuse me on my residency status and as they were equal housing lender I will report it to the authorities. Next day he called me and told me to give a copy of my social security card. I got 5.25% for 30 Years fixed. Only your credit rating matters.

Credit card company should not and cannot refuse you a credit card. I have seen some credit cards which do not require credit test having a requirement of US citizen. But these cards charge a lot as membership fees and intrest rates. I have all the major cards and Discover is the one I use the most.

Try a different finance company or talk to the management of your current mortgage company. If need be I can give more details of my closing.

My RD/ND : 01/24/2002
LIN No: 02-094-5xxxx
FP: 6/20/2002
Online status has not changed at all. Not even FP sent or received.

When do you guys think i can expect the approval...

:confused:
 
Mortgages

First of all, I am very encouraged by the fact that so many mortgage related threads are popping here.
This means that immigrants like us are doing well in general in spite of all the stuff we have to deal with.

Regarding my personal mortgage, I bought my house in Aug '99, (during the good days) with only 3% down (of course I had to pay PMI). I had just got my LC approved at that time. The lender did the usual due diligence (Employer letters, H1 stamps etc). Though I did not have too many options, (for that low a down payment) they were enough.

I have refinanced 3 times, twice during 485 with the original lender and the most recent after approval with a different lender.
Never had any issues. For refinancing during the 485, EAD was sufficient and I had already received the plastic cards for the last refinance. (I-485 approved in July 2002)

However, I do believe that post 9/11 anything involving an non-citizen (green card holder or not) and money receives additional scrutiny. These may be due to newly implemented federal policies and/or internal company policies for verification. But in any case you should not be denied, purely due to your status. Equal housing lending laws prevent that. The terms may be different for being a "higher risk" case. If you are being asked too many questions, you should just hang up and call someone else. There are plenty of options available via the internet, newspaper et.

Good luck and congrats to all aspiring and going-to-be home-owners
 
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On the issue of mortgages and owning houses

I had indicated on some form to do with the 485 the property I owned and the mortgage outstanding. I have been wondering if this will play a part in the adjudication process. Positive or Negative. Your thoughts please.
 
I have refinanced 2 times and apart from the initial loan. All 3 times I have 3 diffrent kind of questions. First time my H1 was about to expire in 3 months. 2nd time underwriter did not know what is I-485 and 3rd time YTD salary does not match up with what company letter says.

It all depends on the underwriter, just like I-485 case with an IIO. There is no standards here. Most of the underwriters dont know the whole immigration process.

There is this Equal Housing Oppurtunity, which can be invoked if someone want re-finance with the same lender. There are whole lot of people around looking for business. Almost all of us has credit rating well above 680.
 
Just wanted to update the information I had posted earlier here....

"Did you apply for a Discover card recently? Again, that was one of the first cards that I got as a student."

I have rechecked this information and found out that credit card offers made by Discover are only good if the recipient is a permanent resident. This is actually printed as part of the fine print on the back of the offer. I do not believe this to be a newly introduced stipulation, but I may be wrong.

Separately, with regard to my mortgage refinancing, after exchanging a series of emails and extended telephonic arguments and the threat of a complaint under the fair lending laws, the bank agreed to allow me to refinance under a regular program as opposed to the rush program (where refinancing costs are minimal; $100 versus $3000). By this time I had lost enough energy that I decided to move on, which turned out to be a good thing because I found some other firm willing to do the same rate and also cover me for the closing costs.

It is all history now, but the whole experience is a slap in the face of whoever has said "we hold it to be self evident that all men are created equal under god and are endowed with certain inalienable rights; the pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness...." Lofty declarations, but the proof .... is in the eating.

It is one thing for a credit card company to exclude a class based on their residency due to the risk of flight, but a mortgage is secured by an asset and the last I knew, houses cannot be spirited out of the country in the thick of the night!
 
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PR - Refinancing / Life Insurance

I have refinanced three times in the last one year with different banks and never had any issue. I have an FHA loan and I assume its the same with you too (3%). I have always indicated my 485 AOS pending status. Never had a problem with that.

However , I was rejected for Universal Life insurance by AAA because I was not a permanent resident.Though Eventually I got it from a different company.

I guess everything in this country works on one and only one principle "NO BASIS"
 
If you have A credit and fall withing the guidelines of a conforming loan i.e. will be bought by Freddie Mac or Fannie Mae (Secondary lenders set up by the goverment). You should be able to obtain a mortgage with proof of a legal work status (EAD/H1B).

If however, your credit is not good, and you fall into the B/C area (which is loans not accepted by Fannie Mae or Freddic Mac guidelines, which is normally a 620 or less FICO score), the lenders in that area have different secondary lenders and their guidelines vary. Most of those lenders need proof of permanent residency.

Hope it clarifies the situation.
 
"I have an FHA loan and I assume its the same with you too (3%)."....LIN02085

No, it was not an FHA loan. My original loan was a regular conforming mortgage with Wells Fargo. I had atleast 20% equity, so there was no PMI. PR was obviously not a requirement originally (I just provided copies of my H1-B), but curiously, it became a requirement when I asked to refinance (with the same bank), which is when I started this thread.

Like I mentioned in my earlier email, WF was willing, after a fashion, to let me refinance, but not at terms available to other borrowers who are PRs. Eventually, I ended up doing it at the same preferred terms, but with GMAC, through a mortgage broker.

Now, both Wells Fargo and GMAC are among the nation's biggest mortgage originators. In my case, Wells Fargo was obviously trying pull a fast one and make a few off me by taking advantage of my residency status.

"If you have A credit and fall withing the guidelines of a conforming loan i.e. will be bought by Freddie Mac or Fannie Mae (Secondary lenders set up by the goverment). You should be able to obtain a mortgage with proof of a legal work status (EAD/H1B)."....NYB

Exact credit scores depend on the supplier and the model used, but I am certain that credit was not an issue here.

It was a conforming mortgage, and as you suggest, I was able to obtain the original mortgage from WF as well as get the refinancing with GMAC done on the basis of my H1-B.

By the way, I do not mean to sound asinine but, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are not set by the government. They are private sector entities listed on the stock exchange. However, they are sponsored by the US government in as much as Congress voted to provide them an emergency credit line from the US Treasury, in the rather insignificant amount of $2 billion (or $3 billion - I can't readily recall the exact number) to cover what is now a $2.8 trillion mortgage portfolio! Just wanted to clarify so the folks that frequent these forums do not get the impression that the so-called agency securities (Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac) are guaranteed by the US government, because they are not.
 
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LIN02085,

"However , I was rejected for Universal Life insurance by AAA because I was not a permanent resident.Though Eventually I got it from a different company."

Which insurance company did you use to get the second time?
 
Sankrityayan

My current lender is Wells Fargo, and may be the "FHA" make a difference.

Ghee,

its "TransAmerica Life"
 
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