Mortgage Confidential: I smell a rat

Mortgage expert David Reed invites Walletpop readers to ask him questions about real estate financing. Leave your questions in the comment section of this post.

Q: I'm either looking at a good opportunity or a potential rip-off, and I'm not sure which it is. Perhaps you could help me sort it out? In January of this year, we attempted to refinance our home to help us pay down some substantial credit card debt. To make a long story short, our house appraised for a lot less than we thought it was worth, so the finance company wouldn't make the deal. And, as it turned out, that was okay, because we've taken a couple of other options, paid our debt down, and are okay, for the moment.

But, suddenly, I'm hearing from another loan officer at the company where we had attempted our refinance. According to the message he left me, he's been reviewing our file and doesn't understand why the previous loan officer didn't offer us some kind of deal that could have been approved. He says he can help us.