12/01/2009 Punished by the System

So here we are, doing all the required paperwork and the other 3,784 things needing to be done to buy a home (and when I say "we", I mean Cody). Fun stuff! And then our lender calls about our credit.

Here's the background: A couple years ago we were over our heads in debt and had a huge monthly payment for our van. So when Cody got his dream job and we moved to Mesa, we went to work to attack our debt. We payed off many thousands of dollars of credit card debt, personal debt, and even payed off our van several months early. Yay for us! It was so exciting! And we decided that the only thing we would ever use credit for again would be to buy a home. So for the last year we have paid our bills, paid our rent, but have not used credit of any kind. So when the lender called, he said there wasn't sufficient data to provide a credit score for us and that it would raise our interest rate .25%.

Yes, I know how the credit system works. Yes, I know that it's a good idea to have a credit card that you use and pay off each month for a good score, etc etc. But for us I think it would be too much of a temptation and using no credit at all is just best for our family. So our reward for paying off debt and being financially responsible is a higher interest rate. Thank you Mr. Lender! Of course, interest rates are impossibly low at the moment and we are still getting a great rate, but still! It's the principle of the thing.

I'm reading "The Grapes of Wrath" right now (which is taking me FOREVER to get through) and our situation reminds me of when the tenant families are forced off the land by the bank. The men from the bank tell the tenant farmers "It's not us, it's the bank." The tenants want to go talk to the men in charge at the bank but the bankmen reply "The bank is something else than men. It happens that every man in a bank hates what the bank does, and yet the bank does it. The Bank is something more than men, I tell you. It's the monster. Men made it, but they can't control it."

There's no one who can make a thoughtful, individual decision. No, we have a system and we'll just let the system do it's job. Ah well, we'll be lucky to get a loan at all, especially in this economic climate. We are waiting to hear back later this week or possibly next week.