A.R.M.

In 2005 I refinanced my house. I took a 5 year ARM. My ARM is due and payable at the increased rate in June 2010, which is rapidly approaching. When I took this type of mortgage, I was assured by the mortgage salesman that all I had to do before the ARM went to fruition, was to refinance again and with my good credit, it would be NO problem. All he was trying to do was to get me to sign on the dotted line and really didn't know what the future would hold. Now, being retired, I cannot get a new mortgage and who would have believed that Countrywide, the largest mortgage management company in the world, would be gone?

I am now the victim of Bank of America and I've never dealt with a more inadequate corporation in my life. Someone ought to do a stand up comedy routine about they're menu when you try to call them. Yesterday, after spending no less than one hour on hold listening to the same 57 seconds every minute of the same boring jazz tune, there would be a 3 second message saying how sorry they are that you are losing your mind. Finally, after 20 minutes of that part only, I was connected with a lady named Alexis that informed me that I had the wrong department, to call back and try again. I was sadly obliged to tell her what I thought of her employer and thank my lucky stars that I didn't use any profanity, because Alexis actually called me back after I slammed the phone down in her ear. She politely called back and said she was sorry that we were disconnected and she's had the exact same problem when she was trying to refinance and to be more patient. I told her we were not disconnected, that I hung up on her and I'm sorry. We bonded and laughed about how certain things like recordings can drive us almost insane. She then told me she'd make the calls for me and get back to me with a phone number, a direct line to the right person and call me back in about 20 minutes, to sit tight and left her do the footwork. With my mouth wide open, I managed to thank her and went ahead and trimmed my beard that was really looking shaggy, but that's another post. Ten minutes later the phone rang and it was indeed Alexis calling with the information.

I offered to write a letter to her employer, detailing her performance but she said it wasn't necessary and said, good luck! There are still a few good people, that work for major corporations, that still care...