MY FIRST HOUSE: THE MOST CASUAL HIGH STAKES PURCHASE OF MY LIFE (PART 5)

February 13, 2013

In this series, Kate Tellers writes about buying her first house. Read earlier posts here

Beyond the tears, securing a mortgage was the single largest obstacle between our lives as renters and our next lives as homeowners. We chose a reputable bank that was referred to us by our seller’s broker (also a bank whose name features prominently in a 1957 Meredith Wilson musical that I also happened to star in in my senior year of high school) (not that we chose the bank for this reason but when we left a meeting with our broker I did whisper to my husband that it was “a sign”). Our future lay in the hands of the man who wrote this email:

email re loan

And yes,

con·gen·i·tal, adjective

Present from birth (esp. of a disease or physical abnormality). 

That  is not a loan. Our mortgage broker “left the bank” shortly after this error.

Yesterday my husband received an email from our former broker’s replacement which included the entire mortgage application of a stranger, including all of said stranger’s personal and financial data.

This bank is Trouble with a capital T.