My dream started about four years ago in Brooklyn, when my wife and I finally managed to put a down payment on a home that we could call our own. By the time we were able to do so, the same pile of mortar and bricks that were going for $400,000 two years prior was now going for $650,000. Times were good though, and waiting further to buy would only be similar like waiting for the new tv model; There is always a better one coming out next month and the way the house market was, it would end up costing us more as the prices kept going up.

That was 2005. Now it is 2009 and last December I was laid off from the investment bank I used to work at. I was lucky enough to be offered a contract as a consultant and with a sigh of relief I was and still am able to make my mortgage payments on time. In the months that passed, I saw new hope in the face of our new president, when he offered a program which is is now known as “Home Affordable Refinance”, a way for people like me to be able to refinance their homes at more affordable rates, so they do not become distressed and default on their mortgage.

I figured what best way to continue to be current on  my payments, help out the system by not defaulting and take advantage of a slightly lower interest rate (1% than the current one I have), something that I would have had anyway, had I decided to buy a year earlier. I therefore looked up the government site for the program mentioned above, went through the four or five questions that determine qualification and was referred to contact my loan servicer. For me that happens to be Wells Fargo. The person on the other side was offering me a 5% loan adjustment on my 30 year fixed mortgage, until I openly told him that as a consultant, I am now going to be filing as a 1099 or self employed. At that point I was told that I would not be able to refinance as I would be required to have at least a year of tax returns for me to be qualified!

So now I have to ask: Is this fare? What makes a self employed person that can show a steady stream of repeatable income every month any different than the person that is being employed by a corporation? Am I less guaranteed to have a position when compared to that person? In today’s world I would like to think not. This now makes me think that there is discrimination against people that work vs. the people that have lost their jobs. A person in what is called financial destress is able to get a loan modification, when I who is currently working cannot! I tried calling a couple of institutes suggested by the government web site and are able to provide answers to such questions. To my surprise and dismay, there were not even able to confirm that there was any such quideline to prevent self employed people getting a mortgage rate adjustment on their loan.

Having said that, I seem to have limited options going forward. I do not know where to turn to, and I don’t know how to ‘fight’ for what I think should be my fare right. It seems though as I am learning a new lesson in life: Honesty and work do not always pay off…