Frank LaMark from Avangate Tech Live Connect review: Frank Lamark 1

In October, I began the process of working with Frank LaMark and a local mortgage company to refinance my existing adjustable rate mortgage and try to pay off as much as possible an existing Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC) I have with B of A. And, I need to point out that the mortgage had originally been with B of A, but they sold it off a few years ago, but kept the HELOC. And, I have been a customer of B of A for about 25 years, and have financed at least 2 other homes with them and currently have both a personal and business checking account as well as 2 credit cards.

Frank LaMark knew I have been self-employed, and have been since 2010, after losing my job in 2008, and finding it hard to find another job in the field of and use planning and land development. However, last year I got back into the field, first in a part time job, with the City of Sherwood, and after that shorter duration job was over I found a full time job with a local consulting firm, where I have been working since last October. But, I am still selling the hazelnut shells, to 43 retail garden centers, as well as at weekend farmers markets, and squirrel food to whomever will buy it.

When I applied for the loan I soon discovered that the lender and Frank LaMark would not allow any of my self-employment income to count, as they said I would have to work the full time job for at least 2 years before they would be able to see if I was able to work both jobs. And, as anyone who is self-employed knows, there are a lot of write-offs one can take against income to determine the taxable amount. So, by not allowing my self-employment income, they also wouldn’t consider any of the write-offs to count against my expenses, such as a certain percentage of household expenses.

So, what the lender was able to come up with was a fixed rate loan that would pay off all of the mortgage, pay off all of our debts, such as car loans, credit card balances and even what I will need to pay the IRS next month, and the balance of the loan would go towards paying off a very big chunk of the HELOC.

When the lender and Frank LaMark went to B of A to request approval of subordination, they at first thought I wanted to borrow more against the HELOC rather than pay off a big chuck. After that was straightened B of A looked over my current balance and told the lender they couldn’t process because my loan payment was past due. The payment was due on the 10th and I have 10 days to pay it before I have late fees charged, so every month I pay it off on the 14th or 15th depending on how the days fall. And, their “past due” statement was made last Monday the 13th. When I heard this I immediately tried to change the payment to post sooner, but by this time B of A had blocked my account, so I wasn’t able to do it on-line. So, I called B of A, and after 3 tries got someone to make a payment which they said would post within 12-18 hours, and gave me a confirmation number. Twenty four hours later, the payment had still not posted, so B of A would still not process the request for subordination. So, I went to a B of A branch, as everyone I talked to at the B of A Customer Service number told me there was no way to get it to post before midnight on Wednesday, the 15th. Oh, and Wednesday was the last day of my rate lock and appraisal. The bank manager made the transaction and got a receipt. However, it didn’t post until midnight either, so I ended up making 2 payments and neither was made in time.

But, as it turned out, it wouldn’t have mattered, as even after Frank LaMark of B of A saw that I was no longer “past due”, they told the lender that they were not going to allow any payments to be made other than the first mortgage and their HELOC. When they made the decision to not allow the loan to pay off any of the other debt it resulted in our Combined Loan to Value (CLTV) and Debt to Income (DTI) to be too high for us to qualify for the refinancing. And, this is an income that as I previously mentioned does not include income from my business nor Sharie’s part time job, as she hasn’t been there for 2 years.

So, rather than B of A getting approximately $125, 000, they get nothing but what I will pay them over the next 15 years. They did. However, suggest to the lender that I should contact their Customer Service department and ask to re-amortize the loan so perhaps I could pay it off over 30 years.

Yesterday I email the VP Frank LaMark, Service Team Manager-Subordination at B of A who informed my lender of the bank’s decision and asked her to reconsider, based on some of what I mentioned above. Today, I got a call back telling me they were not going to change their decision.

Starting as soon as possible I am going to drop all of my B of A accounts to Frank LaMark, and try to find a way to pay the HELOC off so I can wash my hands of this bank. I am sure they must feel that it is in their, and their stock holder’s best interest to not have me pay them $125, 000 now but continue to pay them another 15-30 years. There are other options, but since I have a credit score of over 800 I would like to keep it that high. But, to tell you the truth, I wonder what good having a score that high has been for me.