Mr. Grateful

“Call me Mr. Grateful,” said the man on the phone.  The name was chosen because he told me he was grateful for his home, grateful for the service that he’s received from Fahe, and grateful that he understands how to plan for his future.

Mr. Grateful was speaking to me because he wanted other homeowners to know about his experiences with Fahe’s Loan Servicing Department.

Mr. Grateful is an older man, retired, living on a fixed income.  It is very important for him to be able to plan out where his money goes on a month-to-month basis otherwise he feels he will miss a payment on an important bill.   Several years ago he lost nearly everything, including his home in a massive flood in west Tennessee.  Mr. Grateful was able to have a home built through United Housing, but they don’t service the mortgage side.  They wanted to make sure that his payments were handled by a group they trusted, so after Mr. Grateful finished all the necessary steps to achieve homeownership, United Housing connected Mr. Grateful to Fahe.

“I’m a first time homeowner and United Housing had me take a lot of classes,” he said. “I learned about grants and mortgages and foreclosures, how to pay my bills, and so forth.  However, it wasn’t until I spoke to Janet Stepp at Fahe that I learned how to really plan for my future.  Janet made me into the most important thing I could be – an educated consumer.”

Mr. Grateful explained that his real gratitude didn’t bloom until three years into owning his home.  It was discovered that he was on a 14-year amortization schedule instead of 7-year amortization.  Mr. Grateful said those who set it up had made an error and Mr. Grateful thought he would lose his home.  “The first thing I did was call Janet.  It took a little bit of time, but she kept me up-to-date and soon enough she had the paperwork, the lawyers, and everyone involved in line.”

“I am very happy with my home,” said Mr. Grateful. “Now that Janet gave me all the numbers and taught me how it works, I’m happy with the process too. You need to know how things work.  Knowledge empowers you. Fahe empowered me by educating me on every process from statements, where my money goes, how escrow works.  These are things the normal banker doesn’t tell you.  That’s your problem according to them.”

Over the course of our conversation, Mr. Grateful explained to me that he has logged several hours on the phone talking with different employees he now knows by name (Brad, Tina, Melinda, Janet) and vice versa.  He explained that sometimes he was worried that he was bothering them with endless questions, but not once did they complain and they never tried to pass him off.

I asked Mr. Grateful if he could wrap up his whole experience into one statement and he laughed.  “It’s not that easy,” he replied.  “I’ve been through a lot in life.  I’ve dealt with a lot of businesses and it never happens this way.  When dealing with something that lasts like a mortgage, you want a company that will last too.  Fahe will never go away with employees like Janet.”