my genious idea was to gather a thread that will contain only information no chat about subject. this you can't find in here. I had to try to realize that it's not possible to be done since there will always be person to chat in thread. thats ok it's not possible and I learned from it and move on. see when I came here the first time I got a lot of information and still today but after a while I realized that I spend a lot of time to search for answers. That's normal but being a techky worker I learn from thick dense information manual and figured that newbie could have a good benefits from one subject thread(no chat). This would help reduce the duplication of questions. it's not everybody that know how to search it's a learning curve even or me. thats all right... I pretend that life is a question of degrees 360 degres of perspectives for one situation while we can handle only few of them ;o) that's why now i build my own bible on the subject from thousands of users ;o) later will build my web site to share with people the document.

blue lyme grass! Blimey, that's brave. I grew this in my gravel beds for a year or so but then bottled out on realising I was actually growing a turbo-charged couch-grass. I did swap over to the (better behaved) leymus magellanica,,,,, but this was deeply unhappy and vanished quicksmart....but not before seeding everywhere). I first read about the leymus arenarius in one of Christopher Lloyd books and rushed out to buy....but then later read that he (Lloyd) employed his youthful gardener to dig it up annually, chopping into the ferocious rhizomes and replanting....which obviously, I did NOT do, only to freak out in season 2 when the clump tripled in size. The leymus magellanicus was a heartbreakingly lush powder blue (never attained with any number of heliotrichums or festucas).......so I may have to make another attempt and maybe protect a little better from winter wet. I have been sowing your seeds (the zephyranthes reminded me), especially the penstemons and callirhoes. I have a (tiny) packet ready to send your way.

After many years of observing GEM's extreamly poor service for Sam's Club member, the bank has hit a new low by redefining the meaning of a simple word in the English language. If I lost my credit card and it was replaced with a new one (new acciount number)I could understand the reason for reporting that fact to credit bureaus. When the primary account holder of my Sam's card passed away, Sams changed my standing from secondary (user) to primary, with a new account number and membership ID card. After reporting that I lost my credit card to the credit bureaus, GEMB refuses to correct the delibert insertion of false information to my credit file. The GEMB supervisor stated that I "LOST" my old credit card NUMBER when Sam's Club changed it to a new one. I never lost my existing card, nor was it ever stolen. GEMB's is violating the Fair Credit Reportring Act, and as usualy blames it on Sam's Club. It seems that Sam's club would have had to alow me to keep my old account number when changing my status from secondary to primary in order to keep GEMB from flagging my reports with untrue information. No wonder GEMB is at the center of so much fraud. The company simply has no ethics of its own. It does not help resolve fraud issues that people do have, while the bank insists on creating eronious credit information where there is no lost or stolen credit card involved. Someone asked what GEMB stood for. The name aboviously is derived from the parent company's corporate policy. GE (General Electric) Means ..... Whenever contemplating the purchase of any product made by GE, I think of the routine customer abuse it provides through GEMB and then buy any product but GE. It is a shame that Sam's club refuses to sever its relationship with such an arrogant, irresponsible, incompetent financial institution. It probly has something to do with the amount of money that Sam's makes selling GE products.

Hi jpok, Does anyone have experience (positive, negative or otherwise) with getting their mortgage through web-based mortgage brokers such as Amerisave, Virtual Bank, or the Money Store? None of those you mentioned are brokers, they are merely single-source bankers. I realize many may not understand the difference... but here's the basics; Bankers fund from only their own loan lines, and strictly at retail. They are usually built on a business model of volume rather than quality, and their salepeople are trained (and their advertisements are written) to convince borrowers that the borrowers' best choice just HAPPENS to be one of the few programs the bank has to offer. It is no mistake that the adverts you are seeing are PROBABLY focusing on a 30 FRM loan... this is the most profitable to the bank, most financially abused, and easiest to sell program (as the public rarely understands finance enough to know how to choose a more appropriate program on their own. A fact the banking model counts on.) Brokers fund from a large variety of wholesale banking lines. Since over 70% of all mortgages are originated from the actual broker-side of the industry, ALL the major banks have wholesale loan divisions that provide competitively discounted loan funding to brokers to compete for their volume. The broker business model tends to be much more personalized and relationship oriented, with the highest quality brokers acting in a function of financial planner, micro-fitting the rates, terms, and effects of a mortgage repayment plan to the outcomes of the family net worth. Brokers can (and do) originate 30 FRMs and similar, of course (they have to for those who just don't want to hear otherwise.) Even 70% of the 30 FRMs come from brokers... but are generally a bit better in price than the retail banks. OF COURSE... there are good and bad on both sides of the fence... so, regardless WHAT you do, you are wise to focus on finding the best SPECIFIC PROFESSIONAL first... then get the loan properly structured, and then get the best pricing for that particular structure. ALWAYS REMEMBER: If you get the absolute LOWEST RATE on the WRONG PROGRAM... you're getting screwed. Their rates look so nice, but I've read a couple of complaints in other places about lack of contact, late closes, changed terms, etc. Careful about either generic complaints AND generic fanfare... neither are worth anything. The process of navigating the mortgage origination process from initial application to final funding has a LOT of moving parts... and while an excellent professional can prevent a LOT of the unforeseeable problems MOST of the time... it's not possible to prevent ALL surprise complications ALL of the time. Some of the websites I've been linked to from Bankrate.com have looked so shady that I didn't even bother checking their rates. A) Smart to judge by quality first... B) Not smart to let rate be a criterion in selection of the provider at all. At least not any preliminary published rate.... these are what we in the industry call "Liar's Poker." All I want is a good rate, and an on-time close with no surprises. Would I be incorrect if I suggested that what you REALLY want is the best long term outcome to your family net worth? If this is true... I recommend adding this TO THE TOP of your priorities; "All I want is the best structured loan to fit my overall financial picture, the smoothest process possible with a timely closing, and the best rate and pricing within those parameters." Of course, not all local brokers would be better with customer service, but I think they generally will be more accountable to you because you know where they work. Hmmm.... ehhh.... yes, and no. The PUBLIC gets much more warm & fuzzies from the assumption that the loan officers are intimidated by some local angry borrower... but in the real world, that's just not the case. Many (MOST?) delays do not happen at the Loan Officers' desk... they happen at Title, or at the Appraiser, or at Underwriting, are any of a dozen intermediary pit-stops along the path... and generally they have little to do with the Loan Officer themselves. If customer service is a priority to you, I would DEFINITELY suggest focusing on finding a provider worthy of developing a longer-term financial relationship with. This is the realm of good brokers. (Bankers are concerned with volume... so they don't see you as a "client" but mnerely this month's numbers.) Choosing a Professional who is sufficiently experienced to have systemetized the process is a far more effective way to stack your odds in favor of a good experience. It doesn't so much matter where they are physically located. So far I've requested preapproval from Amerisave and gotten only a bunch of generic emails. That was just a couple of days ago, but when we've worked with local brokers before, they were able to preapprove pretty much immediately. But those rates are so tempting.... I hope by now you can re-read your own pieces and see where you are being yanked. Poor service "commodity sellers" get their customers by rate-baiting (i.e. "Liar's Poker.") You are at risk of getting sucked in, like thousands of others. I suggest stepping back... learning the questions to ask (to make sure you REALLY get the results you want,) and taking the time to call around to interview for the best quality professional. Luck! Dave Donhoff Strategic Equity & Mortgage Planner