So we closed on the house we just moved in on Thursday (October 26th). I had to give a little over $20k to our lawyer. Ouch! That's the biggest amount I've ever had to give at one time. But it's definitely worth it.

DH is already making a list of EVERYTHING we have to buy. Sure... why not? Let's go crazy and spend the little bit we have left.

Oh yeah... I forgot. 36 hours before we were supposed to close, my mortgage broker calls and tells us we have to add an extra $5k to our down payment. WHAT?!?! And why is that? Well, since the last time our credit reports were checked (May) and now, we apparently have extra minimum payments on credit cards, which will bring our income/debt ratio a little above 45%. That is the lender's limit apparently. To bring that ratio down under 45%, we have to add $5k. hhmm!! They've had our loan application for over 2 weeks, you'd think they would have bothered to do a credit check before that... nah!

The point that made me tick was when she said: "well, they've looked at your bank statement, and they know you have the funds"...!!!!!!!!!!!! So what? we have the "extra" money so they'll just ask for it? What if we didn't have it? What if we had $10k or $20k "extra"? Would they had asked for that then? That's just not right.

Our real estate agent told us this was predatory lending and that we should report them... I don't know what to think. It's not like the money has vanished, it's more equity already in the house, but I don't think I'll do business with these guys again in the future.