American Express wanted us to pay a debt on a credit card. My wife and
I were in over our heads and were having trouble. We told the Amex
folks about this and they said they would help. They contacted
Lighthouse Mortgage of Arizona to help us refinance our house, taking
into account more square footage and more acreage since the original
financing. This would help us absorb some credit card debt, a mortage,
and a $10K second mortgage. Lisa Santsaver spoke to us and she was
very giddy and happy. When we began working with her, things looked
good at first. They got our appraisal and it was stellar for $250K
instead of $150K. We then got approved for a refinance. We received an
insurance stub that said the new company name on it. But were we ready
to close on the loan???

No. We were not. Instead, Lighthouse Mortgage appears to be trying to
shop around and sell this thing like a hot potato. I'm actually
confused by what they mean when I speak to Lisa. She says that she's
reviewing it with lenders, but yet we're already listed on our
insurance stub with Lighthouse as our lender, confusing me. I made the
assumption then that Lighthouse assumes the loan and then tries to
resell this. I've never heard of this situation before.

Meanwhile, the previous 2 mortgage companies (mortage and second
mortgage) we had are wanting their money and we had prolonged it
because of the refinance. Now we're REALLY in a bind and I really
don't know what to do.

Please pray to God for a family of 4 here in South Carolina that we
can make ends meet and that Ms. Santsaver can end this mess. I am
powerless to know what is going on in her office, so I can't praise
her or blame her at this point. I have days where I feel like I want
to reach my state Attorney General because I feel powerless and
trapped by the actions of this company. But then I back off and say,
"It'll just be another couple of days and then Lighthouse Mortgage
will be like a hero to us." So I don't know what to do. I just wait
and pray. I told my wife to muster up what we can from our accounts
and pay just a trickle of what we owe to all these bills, and to keep
communicating to them what is happening to us, hoping they understand.
We cannot pay what we cannot pay, but we will attempt to pay some
small sum on every bill, even if it begins to hurt our credit.

Turns out that there are 2 kinds of refi's:

1. You work with a mortgage broker who then works direct with multiple
banks.

2. You work with a mortgage broker who then works with one prime
lender, who then tries (as best as possible) to resell your loan to
multiple banks.

Previously I had done a refi with #1, which was kind of painful, but
easier than what I'm experiencing now. With #2, which is the option
that is occurring for me via Lighthouse Mortgage, I'm having to wait
longer. So, Lisa's not the enemy, nor Lighthouse Mortgage, which is
just a broker company. It's the banks who are snowed right now with
refi's. We were ahead of the curve on our refi right before Greenspan
chimed in about interest rates and then the headlines said everyone
was going to refi. Well, that put our stuff at the bottom of the
stack. When homes are going for $2M and up in the U.S.A., it's hard to
compete with my "piddly" $250K home. So I'm bottom of the stack and
it's very frustrating for me. I wish there was a U.S. law that
stipulated how long banks can hold people in this kind of disarray
before saying yes or no.