Bravo! Bravo!

After the Quiznos Million Sub Giveaway fiasco, I was reluctant to give another food chain a try.  But, a friend sent me a link to a free mini-pizza at Pasta Bravo (a Southern California chain).  I filled out the form, joined their club and was emailed a coupon for a free mini-pizza.  Last night Cherish and I went there and were beyond pleased with the offer - I actually felt a little guilty about getting the free food.  This was the East Bluff location, 2 doors down from the Quiznos.  Not only did they give us the free mini-pizza with a smile but the gentleman that served us was friendly, personable and funny.  He had great customer service and made sure we enjoyed our food.  Any company would want him working for them.  I've only been to Pasta Bravo once before but I can promise you know that I will be back.

Pasta Bravo should be proud of the promotion and even prouder of their employee, Facundo.

I got the email yesterday for a free Quizno's sub.  Apparently they are trying to give 1 million away for free.  I signed up, my friends signed up, and my family signed up.  I didn't bring lunch in to work today because I was looking forward to a free sub and (paid) chips and a drink.  Three of us guys at work went to Quizno's in Newport Beach at East Bluffs and were greeted by the manager saying he can't afford to honor the coupon.  He said he could give us a free drink but not a sub.  I've had Quizno's once in my life and didn't care for it because it was too salty - I figured a free sub would give them a second chance to redeem their food and it might have made a future customer out of me.  Instead, we walked next door to Carl's Jr.

I talked to a friend of mine, Scott (honorable mention here: Why Wikipedia is worthless), who took his family to get a free sub and the place turned him away because they had "hit their free sub quota."

Quizno's website has a tracker about how many free subs they have given away.  It should say how many email addresses they have collected with the false hopes of a free sandwhich.  I feel bad for the owners of the restaurants because their corporate office wouldn't subsidize their promotion and didn't think about their store owners going out of business to honor the free subs. 

To Quizno's marketing team: Please add back 8 to your counter because these "free subs" aren't worth the tree we've killed printing them or the carbon emissions our cars have emitted to get there!

Want to read another complaint about Quizno's Million Emails Collected And No Subs Given in perfect Iambic pentameter?  Check out Neil's Blog. - just kidding about Iambic pentamter, it's actually haiku.

You can read about my saga with the Wells Fargo Loan Modification department, and you you can read about how angy I am about my tax dollars going to bailout people while I continue to suffer over here.  But, how many of you are happy that you have a 30 year fixed mortgage?  I remember signing escrow papers on our current house and the lady had to do a quadruple take to see that we had a 30 year fixed.  She said she couldn't remember the last time she saw one.  That made me feel good that my parents taught me fiscal responsibility. 

I don't have to watch the news to see the financial crisis the country is in, I only have to turn to my friends that the mortgage companies have screwed.  Or the dozen people I have layed off in the last 12 months, or all my friends sending their resumes out.  I get angrier and angrier by the day about how everyone is hurting.  I feel bad that I still have a job and I have a fixed mortgage that I can afford (for now).  I'm not the one that got burned - or am I?  My last blog about my experience with the Wells Fargo Loan Modification department has generated quite a stir with at least 40 views a day and multiple emails from people in the same boat.  I started to write a new blog about the new economics and another rant about how I'm unable to take advantage of the low interest rates but was side tracked during my research.  I thought of an interesting situation: what if we had bought our current house and previous house with an interest only loan?  

Our first house was a modest 1000 sq. ft. in Southern California.  Interest rates were falling and prices of houses were climbing.  We looked at a house in a neigborhood we liked but decided to wait a few months and save more money for the down payment.  7 months later, the same houses had appreciated $70,000 - not even close to what we had saved (my losses started before I even bought a house!).  We quickly bought a great house in a great neighborhood while we could still afford one.  We had a 30 year fixed mortgage and refied after two years to bring our rate down to 5.325%, wow!  We lived there for about 4 years and then moved across town to a bigger house.  The previous house had appreciated by 100% so we had a good down payment for the new house.  Again, we went in to a 30 year fixed but interest rates were up and we locked in at 6.325%.  In the 7 years we've been paying a mortgage, I calculated that we have paid (hold on to your seat here) $208,000 in principal and interest!  Then I went back to look at the rates we could have got if we went interest only and calculated that we would have paid (only) $128,000!  This means that we have paid $80,000 more by paying principal at a higher rate than an interest only at a lower rate.  That $80,000 is real money, not paper money, not funny math but, actual money that came out of our checking account.

To add salt to the $80,000 wound, since our current house has depreciated enough that we are now upside down, we would have the EXACT same equity in our house if we had been paying interest only.  AND the banks and government would be trying to bail us out right now.  They would be helping us get a better interest rate.

I've never felt worse about my "fiscally responsible" 30 year mortgage until today.  How about the government help those who helped themselves?  All I want is to drop my interest rate to 5% and not have someone laugh at me when I say I have a high rate at 6.325%.  I'm not asking for the bank to lower my principal.

Tell me, why should I stay in my house?  The toughest choice is the right choice here.  If I were unemotional, I would walk away from my house and let the bank take it over.  In about 3 years my credit would be back up and I could buy something new at half of what they cost now.  That's the right move and I don't think I can do it.  We've poured too much time and work to make this house our home.  We're emotionally attached.  But, another year of our house declining and the government and banks pushing me aside and I will be pushed to walk away.  I won't be the only one doing it either.  Watch the economy collapse in to a dark abyss as the fiscally responsible people get fed up and walk away.