The Golden 1 Short Sale is Not Golden

I know of agents in Sacramento who will not touch a Golden 1 short sale with a 10-foot pole, but I am not one of them. The reason many agents don’t want to do a short sale that involves The Golden 1 Credit Union is because the Credit Union slashes the agents’ commission into shreds. It shows little respect for the vast amount of work a Sacramento short sale agent undertakes or for the buyer’s agents who faithfully and unknowingly guide their buyers into waiting for an approval on a Golden 1 short sale.

I am a shareholder of The Golden 1 Credit Union. As such, and as a short sale agent, I put forth a plea last week that fell on deaf ears and glued-shut eyeballs. I pleaded for an exception for my seller. He is a sudden widow. His wife occupied the property, not he. He came over to check on her and the back door was open. She was in bed. Dead. She had been dead for 3 days. But he’s on the loan, along with the deceased.

This is a second loan in a short sale. The first lender offered The Golden 1 10% of its unpaid principal balance, which is unusual. Typically, the amount that is offered to the second lender is about 6% of the unpaid principal balance. The Golden 1 denied and rejected that offer. The Golden 1 is demanding more than three times that amount. The management at the credit union has no mercy for this seller nor his unfortunate situation.

We sent them the death certificate to show the seller died in the house, but Golden 1 doesn’t care. The negotiator suggested that the agents should work pro bono and donate to the credit union all of the commission, and then perhaps borrow additional funds to make up the deficit. Because even all of our commission payment is not enough to satisfy the Credit Union. This is how the Credit Union treats a sudden widower. It makes me embarrassed to be a stockholder. This is not some guy trying to stick it to the bank. This is a guy in bereavement who is trying to do the right thing by doing a short sale.

Because I am an experienced short sale agent, we have other avenues to pursue to try to save our seller. But it’s not pretty, and the buyer is in tears. Why can’t The Golden 1 make this situation an exception? I’m a member. You’re probably a member. It says it wants to protect its members but instead it shows it has no heart. No big surprise there, I guess. It just goes to show that The Golden 1 will probably kick you when you’re down, too.