A walk-in medical clinic near me has a big sign out front that says URGENT CARE. I don’t think that it is a real substitute for the Emergency Room at our closest hospital, but they are able to provide instant medical assistance for people who can’t afford to wait 4 weeks until their regular doctor has an opening.
What I like about it is their name: URGENT CARE. I am a person who is characterized by what psychologists call "a bias toward action." I like to "do something" as opposed to "sitting around thinking about doing something."
Not all of my clients share my view of life. Those who don’t share it need some urging to get them to take action. I have had many clients who came in to discuss a refinance who should have come in a year before. They have spent perhaps thousands of dollars in interest because they waited.
In some cases, it is because of ignorance. Many people, more than you can possibly imagine, just don’t know the particulars of their current loan. Many think that they are paying a lower rate than they actually are. How can they be motivated when they are ignorant of the most important facts of their mortgage?
Others are in denial. They have this nagging suspicion that their rate may be high, but they are afraid to go get out their loan docs and find out the reality. Others make up stories in their minds about how complicated and expensive it is to refinance, so they don’t do anything.
Others are just plain procrastinators. They make up excuses so as not to have to take action today, excuses like, "my son’s soccer team is in the playoffs and I’m busy with that until next month." It’s easy to think that it has no adverse consequence until we have a month when the rates go up one-half percent, as they have just done.
If we ever get around to refinancing his $420,000 mortgage, it’s going to cost him an extra $2,100 every year in interest because he didn’t jump on it when we first met. That’s $21,000 over the next ten years.
Sure hope those soccer games were worth it.
Randy Johnson Randy is a Credit.com contributor and seasoned mortgage expert. He writes about home buying, mortgage laws and real estate finance issues. He has financed over $1 billion in properties, is the author of How to Save Thousands of Dollars on your Home Mortgage and he is a feature columnist for Savvy Borrower.
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