MilesBuzz! - Countrywide Mortgage

Does anyone know which frequent flyer, hotel or other awards card still has an affiliation with Countywide Mortgage?

I don't think Countrywide does this any more. When I got my loan from Couintrywide 4-5 years ago I did get 25000 miles--don't remember if it was UAL or AA. I do remember that the Countryiwde agent claimed that there was no such program until I showed him the info from the Countrywide website. But, they were ending the program then.

The bigger question is why you would want to deal with Countrywide. On the one loan I had with them there have already been three class action lawsuits about various overcharges and ripoffs. I would think long and hard about doing buisness with them again.

I agree. Our home mortgage is with Countrywide. I've never had a late payment and our credit is excellent. Because we are subdividing our lot, we requested a partial reconvience. They made us jump through every hoop possible. I will never use Countrywide again.

I have had my mortgage with CountryWide for a few years now, and I am very happy with there service.

I only wish they had a frequent flier program tied to there mortgages.

I have four mortgages with Countrywide and have been using them for over 5 years. I figured that since my local bank was just going to end up selling my mortgage on the open market anyway (and that Countrywide was probably going to pick it up) why not just go there to begin with.

I got about 50,000 HHonors points for my loans, but it took quite a bit of coaxing to make it happen.

Never had any problems with Countrywide. In fact, I heard Clark Howard talk about how great CW was on his consumer financial radio talk show because they DON'T try to screw people with huge extra charges for setting up biweekly payment systems and the like.

I did not have good experiences with Countrywide. Among other problems (as discussed a couple of posts further up) I found that they were very aggressive about trying to sell every possible addon and upsell. And, it didn't stop after the closing. I was constantly being given the "opportunity" to refinance, take out equity, buy Countrywide related life insurance and on and on. I later found out from Countrywide employees that the Company was very worried about the end of the refi boom and was desperate to increase fee income to keep the stock price up.

When a friend asked for help with getting a mortgage recently I sure didn't send her to Countryiwde. But, I admit, they are probably not the biggest crooks in the real estate financing business. That ain't sayin' much in their favor.

Too bad they don't still give out miles. 50,000 or so miles could soothe some of the problems!

[QUOTE=biggestbopper]
When a friend asked for help with getting a mortgage recently I sure didn't send her to Countryiwde. But, I admit, they are probably not the biggest crooks in the real estate financing business. That ain't sayin' much in their favor.
QUOTE]

I think they are the biggest crooks in the business and many others feel this way. Buyer beware, check out the following link:

http://www.countrywidehomeloansucks.com/

I did not have good experiences with Countrywide. Among other problems (as discussed a couple of posts further up) I found that they were very aggressive about trying to sell every possible addon and upsell. And, it didn't stop after the closing. I was constantly being given the "opportunity" to refinance, take out equity, buy Countrywide related life insurance and on and on. I later found out from Countrywide employees that the Company was very worried about the end of the refi boom and was desperate to increase fee income to keep the stock price up.

When a friend asked for help with getting a mortgage recently I sure didn't send her to Countryiwde. But, I admit, they are probably not the biggest crooks in the real estate financing business. That ain't sayin' much in their favor.

Too bad they don't still give out miles. 50,000 or so miles could soothe some of the problems!

"(A)fter the closing...constantly being given the 'opportunity' to refinance, take out equity, buy Countrywide related life insurance and on and on" was a big negative? And it was worrisome to be told by "Countrywide employees that the Company was very worried about the end of the refi boom and was desperate to increase fee income to keep the stock price up"? So what to any of this?

I think it's pretty easy to shop for home mortgage financing these days and make a chose between lenders based on the major cost components. If later the lender offers you the opportunity to re-fi to take out equity, buy life insurance, or whatever, you are free to take the offer or leave it as you see fit. So long as they don't harrass you with telephone solicitations, and those can be dealt with, who cares about a few extra pieces of junk mail and/or spam? If the lender throws in a substantial number of frequent flyer miles without jacking the costs above what other lenders would charge for the loan, then great; if the miles would bring substantially greater loan costs, go elsewhere to borrow.

I have no personal experience of Countrywide, so don't know if they are the best lender to do business with or the absolute worst. But I think whether they later solicit those they have lent to for re-fi deals, life insurance, etc., should mean nothing when considering them as a lender. (On Tuesday, I am re-fi'ing a 3-year ARM to a 5-year ARM at the great rate of 5.125 with no points. It surprises me that my current lender, GMAC, a highly reputable company, has never approached me about re-fi'ing, though my loan with them would readjust in 5 months. If I were a stockholder of theirs, I might wonder why the company was not more "aggressive" where retention of loans was concerned.)

Unfortunately, I did receive numerous phone calls from Countrywide trying to sell various "opportunities" after I took out the mortgage. It was extremely obnoxious. Plus, getting three class action notices on one mortgage made me wonder about just how many ripoffs were going that I didn't know about.

Never had any problems with Countrywide. In fact, I heard Clark Howard talk about how great CW was on his consumer financial radio talk show because they DON'T try to screw people with huge extra charges for setting up biweekly payment systems and the like.

This biweekly payment system itself is a huge ripoff.

We've had them for about 2 years now and so far have not had any problems or had any phone calls trying to sell us anything else...knock on wood.

I had a mortgage with them and I was not happy with them. The house I own is in Seattle and I got a call from them last Fall asking me if I would have trouble making my payment because of the Katrina Hurricane. I'm like "No, what the hell are you talking about? My house is in Seattle."

I had a mortgage with them and I was not happy with them. The house I own is in Seattle and I got a call from them last Fall asking me if I would have trouble making my payment because of the Katrina Hurricane. I'm like "No, what the hell are you talking about? My house is in Seattle."

I have a Countrywide mortgage for a property in Seattle and have not had any problems, although I have not ever had to contact Cust Svc (I just use the website to look up info, which is pretty good relative to others I have used). I did not get a call re: Hurricane Relief, although I make a point to always opt-out of information sharing and marketing efforts.

With respect to the OP's question, I have not seen any miles/points offers for Countrywide lately. Most of the promos I have seen were from LendingTree, or ELOAN and one from Chase. Also AMEX has an ongoing program.

This biweekly payment system itself is a huge ripoff.

Care to explain?

Something wrong for the homeowner with making an extra mortgage payment per year?

Care to explain?

Something wrong for the homeowner with making an extra mortgage payment per year?

The "programs" have terrible fees attached. According to Dow Jones:

"Don't waste your time with biweekly mortgage-payment services: All these services really do is trick you into making the equivalent of one additional monthly payment each year. The fees are outrageous -- most charge an upfront fee ranging from $195 to $300, as well as administrative fees that vary widely."

We had our mortgage with Countrywide for about 9 years and were finally able to refinance at a better rate with a better lender.

I would not recommend that you do business with Countrywide.

Their target base is people in the "C" level --average to below average credit-- and the subprime group.

On one occasion a mail sorting machine "ate" the cashiers check we had mailed for our monthly mortgage payment. As soon as we were considered late they had a property inspector at our door to evaluate if the value of the collateral had declined, and they charged us for the inspection as well as late fees. The remains of the cashiers check that we received back from the post office made no difference to them.

Miles are incentive to do business, but in retrospect, I wish I hadn't taken the bait.

My agent when I sold my house had a Countrywide agent at the open house. Her point was that they don't charge points. But I pointed out the interest rates were high anyway so they weren't exactly doing anyone any favors.

Silence is golden. Hahahaha

Care to explain?

Something wrong for the homeowner with making an extra mortgage payment per year?

Nothing wrong with making extra mortgage payment if one choose to make an extra principle payment once a while. However, the biweekly payment scheme itself is wrong. Think it this way, when you go get a mortgage, there are different rates for different term, the most common one are 15-year and 30-year, just for the sake of argument, let's say the rate for a 15-year is 5.5% and 30-year is 6%, let's also say someone will offer a 20-year at 5.7% and 25-year at 5.9%. Say you go out and get a 30-year at 6%. a few months later, someone comes to you and says, here is this biweekly payment system, it will payoff your mortgage in 25 years instead of 30 and save you interest along the way. Wonderful, isn't it? But wait, you had agreed to the 6% rate in order to get a "better" product, the 30 year, but they want to switch you to a "less better" product, the 25 year with the 30 year price at 6%. Had you go out and get a 25 year to begin with, you would only have to pay 5.9%.

To compare this to flying, would you go buy a F ticket and voluntarily sit in Y without comp, or worse yet, pay extra for it?

Nothing wrong with making extra mortgage payment if one choose to make an extra principle payment once a while. However, the biweekly payment scheme itself is wrong. Think it this way, when you go get a mortgage, there are different rates for different term, the most common one are 15-year and 30-year, just for the sake of argument, let's say the rate for a 15-year is 5.5% and 30-year is 6%, let's also say someone will offer a 20-year at 5.7% and 25-year at 5.9%. Say you go out and get a 30-year at 6%. a few months later, someone comes to you and says, here is this biweekly payment system, it will payoff your mortgage in 25 years instead of 30 and save you interest along the way. Wonderful, isn't it? But wait, you had agreed to the 6% rate in order to get a "better" product, the 30 year, but they want to switch you to a "less better" product, the 25 year with the 30 year price at 6%. Had you go out and get a 25 year to begin with, you would only have to pay 5.9%.

To compare this to flying, would you go buy a F ticket and voluntarily sit in Y without comp, or worse yet, pay extra for it?

Seems to me that under your example, you are paying 0.1% for the option of bumping back out to a 30-year mortgage should need be. That could be worth it to some.

I've had Countrywide for years, 2 different houses, and they've always been great for me.

Seems to me that under your example, you are paying 0.1% for the option of bumping back out to a 30-year mortgage should need be. That could be worth it to some.

I've had Countrywide for years, 2 different houses, and they've always been great for me.

I have had my mortgage with 4 different lenders, can't really say who is good or bad, I got my mortgage throught a broker, always go for the best rate, no fee of course. After closing, it takes about 1-2 month to setup the ACH, they never bother me afterwards.

Given the wide variation in rates among lenders, you should never get a mortgage for miles unless the rate is better or equal to the rate you could receive from a competitor.

A difference of 1/8% doesn't sounds like much but it can add up to $1000 or more per year. At that price you will be paying a huge rate per mile.

The best thing to do is to get quotes from many lenders and a reputable mortgage broker, then compare the terms to Lending Tree and others that offer miles. I found that the rates which included miles were never competitive, but YMMV.

I agree with Boraxo. I sure wouldn't pay extra for a mortgage just 'cause it had some miles.

I got 25,000 miles with my Countrywide mortgage 4-5 years ago. But the rate was as good as I could get anywhere else. Especially after I told the agent I wan't goint to pay the points he had figured on and got the the 25,000 miles offer he said didn't exist.

Given the wide variation in rates among lenders, you should never get a mortgage for miles unless the rate is better or equal to the rate you could receive from a competitor.

A difference of 1/8% doesn't sounds like much but it can add up to $1000 or more per year. At that price you will be paying a huge rate per mile.

The best thing to do is to get quotes from many lenders and a reputable mortgage broker, then compare the terms to Lending Tree and others that offer miles. I found that the rates which included miles were never competitive, but YMMV.

A 1/8% difference on a 30-year fix is a lot different than on a 5-year ARM. In order to find out whether the miles are worth it, you have to use the same rate, this is how I would do, go get quotes from lenders/brokers that do not offer miles, get the best rate/term at no fee, now turn around and ask the lender with miles how much fee you would have to pay in order to get that rate/term, what you pay in fees is how much those miles cost you.

We had our mortgage with Countrywide for about 9 years and were finally able to refinance at a better rate with a better lender.

I would not recommend that you do business with Countrywide.

Their target base is people in the "C" level --average to below average credit-- and the subprime group.



About 7 years ago, I worked on a project in South LA. The countrywide office was near the project & I went there to shop for a loan. They ran my credit, etc. & their "eyes" rolled over. I thought that I didn't pay a recent bill or something. They were quite shocked that a walk in had a FICO close to 750. They were used to people in the 500's, etc. I bought a new house a few months later in 1997 & came in with $300 (for prorated property taxes) plus down payment. The new home builder paid the prepays and closing costs. :)

My loans on my rentals got sold to countrywide & I hadn't had any problem with them.

I know that a division of Countrywide targets the subprime. Called Full Spectrum or something like that.

My loan was sold to Countrywide a few months after closing, so I received no miles. It took them about 2 cycles to set up automatic debit. I haven't heard from them since. Can't say that they are good, but they haven't bothered me even once.

Bumping to see if anyone is offering points/miles with a Coutrywide refi. They've got the best rates for me as a current customer, so figure I should get some miles if I can. Last time (about 5 years ago) American Airlines was still with them, but it looks like no more.

Checking www.rewardsdb.com, it lists Hilton, United, and MyPoints. However, the first two don't list it in their partners, so Countrywide may have dropped out. MyPoints offers 50 points for applying.

The "programs" have terrible fees attached. According to Dow Jones:

"Don't waste your time with biweekly mortgage-payment services: All these services really do is trick you into making the equivalent of one additional monthly payment each year. The fees are outrageous -- most charge an upfront fee ranging from $195 to $300, as well as administrative fees that vary widely."

You can make additional payments without a service. You must make a note on the check " for pirincipal only " for any additional payments. Countrywide was bought by Bank of America last week.

Bumping to see if anyone is offering points/miles with a Coutrywide refi. They've got the best rates for me as a current customer, so figure I should get some miles if I can. Last time (about 5 years ago) American Airlines was still with them, but it looks like no more.
IMHO you are much better off having IndyMac match the offer and earning points, miles, or cash back from paying your mortgage through Amex. Over the life of the loan you will make bundles on rewards.

See this thread:
http://flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=696779

And related thread in Amex forum.