Report: Greentree - Conseco

Reported By: (Scottsboro Alabama)

Greentree - Conseco ripoff! DON'T FINANCE MOBILE HOME WITH THIS CO! St.Paul Minnesota

... Connie - Could you please direct me to the comments........

2Author 3Consumer 0Employee

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Greentree - Conseco

345 St.Peter Street St.
St.Paul Minnesota 55102
U.S.A.
Phone: 800-643-0202
Web Address:

Category: Mortgage Companies

Submitted: Friday, July 08, 2005

Last posting: Tuesday, October 11, 2005

I financed a mobile home through Greentree in 1997. The price was $24500, single wide home. Today is July 8, 2005 and I am looking at my July statement and my principal balance is: $24953.13. Why 8 years later do I owe more than I orginally paid? I couldnt tell you. I went around and around with them about it to no avail.

My husband and I decided to buy a house 2 years ago, and attempt to sell the mobile home. This was close to impossible when you have a 5 or 6 year old that cost the same amount that someone might go onto a lot and buy a new one for. We did however have several people who were willing to assume the loan, and tried to get approved by (at that time Conseco...as they are Greentree are interchangable) however no matter how good their credit or what they might be willing to pay down they were refused.

We felt that it was because we have never made a late payment and they were unwilling to let us off the hook. So, we bought the house anyway and the company we financed through was willing to assume the mobile home loan and house loan as one, IF we could get Greentree to take a smaller amount than what they were asking, and since we were giving them MORE than what our orginal loan was for...PLUS all the money we have sunk into them over the last 8 years (which and this will shock you...totals to around $20,768.74) give or take a few cents. I didnt think it was too much that they might at least knock off a few thousand dollars if they were getting paid off.....but they refused. We couldnt add $25000 to the cost of the house....so we ended up renting out the mobile home for the payment.

I think we should just let them have the damn thing back since they arent willing to work with us on anything. What I want to know is...has anyone willfully surrendered a home back to them? What happens besides that it is still considered a re-possesion on your credit? I just cant see hanging onto this home for 20 more years while we pay it off, and then find that it isnt worth $2000 because of its age. No need to respond that I was stupid to sign on the dotted line, I already know that.

Oh....one more thing...when you sign with Greentree and Conseco Finance you sign away your rights to sue them with a jury trial...think thats because most people having any dealings with them know what they are?

Connie
Scottsboro, Alabama
U.S.A.

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2Author 3Consumer 0Employee

Consumer Suggestion

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The cost of borrowing money

Larry - Tucson (U.S.A.)

SUBMITTED: Friday, July 08, 2005 POSTED: Friday, July 08, 2005

Connie,

If you financed that $24,500 mobile home for 30 years at 12%, your payments will total $90,725.43. You will pay $66,225.43 in interest over the period of the loan. After 60 months the payoff will be $24,179.04; your payments for the first five years will total $15,121.12 but the principal will be reduced by only $320.96.

You need to look at your financing contract to see how much you borrowed. I suspect that you financed more than $24,500 if you now owe 24,953.13.

The cost of borrowing money is a function of time and interest rate. The longer time you take to pay off a loan, the more interest you will pay for the privilege. Had you financed for 10 years instead of 30, your monthly payments would go up by about $100 but you would ultimately pay less than half of what the 30-year loan costs.

Your mistake here was to finance for entirely too long. How much will that mobile home be worth in 2030? The price of the mobile home was about the average price for a new car. You financed for 30 years instead of 5. Financing a traditional home for 30 years can be justified as the value of the home is likely to appreciate enough to offset the cost. You financed an asset that has no real chance of appreciating ever.

The smartest thing you could do now is to refinance for a much shorter period and continue to rent it out. But you may have a problem trying to find a lender willing to loan money on a mobile home that is not your primary residence. The other thing to do is just sell the mobile home outright and eat the difference between what you owe and what you can get for it.

The true problem here is that you utterly and totally failed to understand the cost of borrowing money. You went for the low monthly payment without knowing how much you would ultimately spend.

Allowing the lender to repo the mobile home could cost you more than you think. Depending upon your state laws, they could repo it and sell it at action for, say $5,000. You could be liable for the difference between what you owed and what they got for it. You could also be liable for the lender's costs. You could easily end up owing $30K and not have the mobile home. For what may be the first time in your life you need to wise up and get some advice from an attorney before mucking up your life again.

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30 years should be illegal.

Mike - Radford (U.S.A.)

SUBMITTED: Saturday, July 09, 2005 POSTED: Saturday, July 09, 2005

The dealer must have added some extra stuff to the loan so the original amount financed was more than the sale price. Otherwise Conseco is blatently ripping you off. With all payments made on time, the balance will never be more than the original amount. But as Larry points out, on a 30 year payment schedule it will go down VERY slowly.

It should be illegal to finance mobile homes for 30 years. Unless the buyer is able to eventually produce a ton of money to get out of the deal, a default is inevitable. Companies like Conseco don't care because by that point, they have already collected several times the loan amount in interest. They aren't actually losing money on these loans though they almost always go "bad."

I would go beyond Larry's suggestion of 10 years and repay in 6 years. Mobile homes are worthless once they leave the dealer unless you are living in it. By six years you'd be ready to move. Having it paid for, you could sell the mobile for whatever you can get and put all of that money down on the next home.

If it's a 12% APR, the payments would be about $252 to repay in 30 years. To repay in 6 years, pay $476. For less than 100% more payment, you cut the repay time by 500%. And you cut the interest cost by more than a factor of SIX!

Nearly every loan can be repaid faster, and for a whole lot less total money, by paying more per month. There is no need to refinance to shorten the term. No bank will tell you that though. Refinance primarily for a lower APR. Generally if the APR of the refinance is the same or higher you should not do it. Pay extra on the original loan instead.

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Yes, it's true....

Connie - Scottsboro (U.S.A.)

SUBMITTED: Saturday, July 09, 2005 POSTED: Saturday, July 09, 2005

Thank you both for responding. Yes, Larry I borrowed more than the $24,500. It was closer to $27,000. WHY didn't I notice it at the time? Stupidity. Mike is also right that I went for the 30 year because of the lower payments. Like I stated...I know it was ignorant to do this with this mobile home, and I have tried to sell it and get out from under it....there are people willing to buy it. It isn't true that 30 year loans are all this way...as the house we bought a few years ago didn't work that way. We almost from the beginning started to pay on the balance. It isn't much, but it's better than nothing at all. I have been reading the other comments about Conseco/Greentree and people who tried to pay extra on their principal and it didn't work out that way.

I am worried about letting it go back, but that probably isn't an option anyway since my husband refuses to do that. I suppose as long as someone is renting the home, for the amount of the payment that it could go on this way for years...so I guess thats what it will do. Thank you both for the reply, I just wish I could stop other people from making the same mistake with stupidity that I did when I signed on the dotted line and hooked myself to this mobile home for 30 years! Live and learn...I will never do it again.

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Connie - Could you please direct me to the comments........

Donna - Walker (U.S.A.)

SUBMITTED: Tuesday, October 11, 2005 POSTED: Tuesday, October 11, 2005

by people that say Greentree won't accept "additional principle" payments? My husband bought a mobile home financed with Greenpoint and now Greentree has taken over and on the Greentree monthly statement, there's a place for additional principle payments each month to be listed. We're paying extra each month and those payments are correctly reflected in that spot. So are they really putting it towards additional principle? We use Money 2004 to track all our finances and our mobile home is included. Our records in Money 2004 should match Greentree's records, right? My husband told me that by making a total of one extra payment per year, you can knock off a year of your loan. I have been shocked reading all these reports on Greentree.