Dr. Seuss, except not

I had every intention of talking about how it's Dr. Seuss' birthday today.  I wanted to let you know how much I love him and how insightful I think some of his books are (Oh, The Places You Will Go! anyone?).

But I can't do that because right now I'm so aggravated I can hardly see straight.

What has me so out of sorts, you ask?

Our mortgage lender.

Now I know people have no reason to ever be frustrated with a bank (HA!), but mine is plain annoying.  Here's why I'm mad:

Last month, we received a statement indicating the balance of our loan had to be paid.  We were trying to close; unfortunately, that wasn't going to be a possiblity.  Apparently, there were a few too many things unfinished, and even though the appraiser said that stuff wouldn't matter, the bank had other thoughts.

ANYWAY, we've been in contact with our loan officer to figure out what we needed do in order to rectify this issue.  Please keep in mind that the ONLY statement I received from them was one for the entire balance of the loan.

When Favorite talked to our loan officer, the officer said we could pick up papers to extend the loan until we finish (which will hopefully be this week) and we needed to pay on the interest.  He said we could pay a certain amount this time and then the same amount next time in order to get it paid down...you know, because they hadn't sent me an interest billing statement since January.

So imagine my surprise when I received a loan billing statement from them today charging the FULL amount of interest due AND a $500 late charge.  Oh wait, did I mention that the amount of interest due is the amount from BEFORE my most recent payment?  So either someone put that all to late charge or there is a serious math problem.

A LATE CHARGE?  FOR WHAT?  For doing exactly what my loan officer told me to do???????????

Ridiculous.  Yes, I have called them.  No, my loan officer wasn't in.  Yes, I did leave him a message indicating I would not pay late charges for following his instructions.

And if this is not rectified, I will be sending a seriously honest letter to the Better Business Bureau and moving my mortgage elsewhere.

UGH!