For those of you that don't know, I used to work in the lending field myself. I watched the market crumble as companies tried to compete with better mortgage products. Watching rates climb higher and higher, fees growing bigger, and people (our customers) being taken advantage of. I worked for what the mortgage industry called sub-prime . To me this meant the people who didn't necessarily have a down payment or huge assets. These loans where for the everyday person that always dreamed of owning their own home, but never could quite reach that goal. For whatever reason. I won't go into detail even though I could say so much. I also know that it is a touchy subject with some people.
I chose to resign when I saw the market become something no longer working for the people. The same products I sold, were being used against borrowers for a few extra bucks to a bank. The point to this story is to explain this. I woke up one morning and heard that Washington Mutual, whom I bank with. Had been taken over by Chase banking. Now it's still a work in progress, but my first trip into the bank as they remodeled the branch I use. It felt cold and drafty. Men were lined up in heavy business suits, and deep voices. The workers at the counter were the same, but everyone else had changed. The greediness of a handful of people had affected my own life as well as many others.
I remember the morning I woke up and heard the news of my bank, wondering if I could take all my money out that day, thinking that I would lose it if I didn't. Despite all this nonsense, the employees stress that this is a positive change for them, so I am giving them the benefit of the doubt. This economy has made all of us pinch our pennies, question our lenders, and loose our favorite small busineses. I hope that the changes being made, all turn out positive in some way, if not just to wake us up to reality and make us see the small stuff again. I hope that when the economy does come around, we will all have a fondness for our fellow people, as well as trust within our businesses.
**note:: If anyone would like to share a remark please keep it non- offensive. I would love to hear stories, however this article is not here to offend anyone, I am not responsible on how some individuals may interpret this article . I also aplogize that this is not craft related. I just felt that I wanted to share.
Terri, this is YOUR BLOG, and you can say anything you want. Washington Mutual used to be a small bank, only in Washington State. I was in the title insurance business for 30 years, and WaMu was one of my biggest accounts. I had warm, friendly relations with all of the loan officers and closers. They were bought out and became too big. I hear what you are saying and agree entirely. Good for you for resigning when you saw the writing on the wall. Unfortunately, I have a relative who only has a couple more months left at WaMu, and he continues to defend the actions of the secondary market investors. Seeing the name of Chase on my credit card bills gives me pause. I hope they handle our money better and we don't see them bought out.
ReplyDeleteOn a lighter note, I am optimistic and predict a turn in the economy by the end of the year. Call me Pollyanna, cuz that's me, alright.
The thing is the economic crises affects all of us in one way or another. It has hit most of us business crafters pretty hard.
ReplyDeleteWe use a local credit union for all of our banking. After the bank we were using was bought out twice and now being Chase we looked else were. The level of personal one on one customer service is wonderful at the credit union.
We are one of those that bought a house that really in all actuallity should never have been mortgaged. We barely met the very minimum requirements. We did get a fixed interest, which is better than a lot of people did. I had enough knowledge to know that we had to do that. What we didn't think thru was PMI and increasing taxes. The excitement of owning instead of renting over took us. The lenders saw us coming and took advantage of our desire to own not even trying to show us that we may not be better off owning. So I understand what you are saying.
I love our home and pray that we can keep up the payments, even though it is really stressing our income.
Very interesting post indeed. I hope that we (the American people) see some real change. The huge salaries paid to the "higher ups" have needed some attention for a long time. My husband works on the bonus system in his deli at a grocery store. He doesn't get a bonus unless he can produce a profit. He works long hard hours and sometimes then he just breaks even or goes into the hole and has to try to make it up the next month. Sometimes these companies get too big. Shop local and buy local.
ReplyDeleteI didn't realize that until I went to pay my CC to WaMu and was re-directed to Chase.
ReplyDeleteA lot of good people worked and continue to work in that industry - the greedy ones just over-rode everyone...but, I see us coming around again...
This is your blog, and not everything has to be craft related if you don't want it to be. I appreciate your thoughts though I don't bank with either.
ReplyDelete~Tootles for now!