No wonder we had a mortgage crisis - the lenders are clueless

I received a notice in the mail today. It's one of these "official notification" thingies with "Postmaster: Deliver to Addressee Only" but with the caveat "This is not a Government document."

Once I opened the thing, I found out that the Residential Finance Corporation of Columbus, Ohio had pre-qualified me for a loan of up to $238,000 under Fannie Mae's Home Affordable Refinance Program. I just have to call Residential Finance Corporation at their 877 number before January 27, 2013 to see if I qualify.

Many of you are yawning right now and wondering why I'm bothering to blog about something that you've been receiving for years.

Here's why I'm blogging about it: the notice was sent to my business address.

Yes, Residential Finance Corporation has offered a Fannie Mae HOME loan to a two-story BUSINESS building holding hundreds of people, smack dab in the middle of a business/industrial area.

Obviously if I called the 877 number, the loan offer would be retracted in about two seconds. I wouldn't get past the question "How long have you owned your home?" If I answered "Well, I've been in this cubicle since the fall of 2009," that would end the Fannie Mae process right there.

But I wonder why the Residential Finance Corporation didn't even bother to check that they were offering a home loan to a residential address.

How did they get my name and address? Probably from a corporate credit card (thanks, Corporate Credit Card Companies). Perhaps from some business-related mailing list. But regardless, they grabbed the data, said that the property was eligible for a home loan - AND NEVER CHECKED THE PROPERTY.

No wonder we had a home loan crisis a few years ago. Perhaps in 2007 this loan would have been approved.

In a larger sense, it makes you wonder how many business solicitations are sent out to ridiculous addresses - and phone numbers.

"I'm going to try the new telemarketing pitch on this prospective client. Her name is Jenny. Her phone number is 867-5309."