Couple Spotted a $720 Typo on Their Mortgage Paperwork That Would Have Killed the Deal — They Said Nothing and Closed on the House

A post to r/confession describes a couple who spotted an error in their mortgage paperwork and chose not to flag it before closing on their home. The post drew 5,200 upvotes and 528 comments as of publication, with several commenters recounting their own mortgage stories.

During the penultimate round of document signing, the poster and their spouse at the time spotted a monthly vehicle payment that was missing a zero. The documents listed a monthly payment of $87 for what the poster said was actually an $807 payment.

"[C]alling it out would make the deal fall apart," the poster wrote. "We pretended not to notice." The couple closed on the home.

They struggled for the first couple of years. The financial strain continued until they adjusted their budget and spending habits to accommodate the mortgage.

The Redditor described a separate purchase in 2005 with a first spouse. Lenders went to great lengths to get the couple into an 80/20 split on a 3/1 ARM. The couple sold at a loss when they divorced in the wake of the recession.

Selling was the couple's biggest financial mistake, the poster wrote. The property is now valued at four times its purchase price, according to the post. They should have converted it back into a duplex and rented it out, even at a loss, the poster added.

The poster's 2005 purchase and 3/1 ARM drew replies from readers with loan histories of their own. One commenter wrote of a 2006 loan application in which the broker made up numbers to secure the loan. The family took it, paid it off, and did well enough.

The commenter added that "folks got into those loans back then and got proper f--ked in the end."

One commenter and their partner bought a mid-century ranch on two-thirds of an acre. Their neighbor got a new townhouse. The commenter's first thought was how the neighbor was paying for it.

The neighbor attributed her financial difficulties to political figures, the commenter wrote, though the commenter noted those officials had not even been elected when she signed.

A commenter who built a home in 2006 said a salesman kept offering a build at twice the price. The salesman had the family prequalified for a larger loan, though the numbers showed they could not make the payment.

The family would have been underwater the first day a payment came due, the commenter wrote. The salesman started pushing an interest-only loan after they said so, and the family laughed at the pitch. The commenter was glad they did, writing that "being homeless in 2008 with 2 small kids would have been awful."

This article is based on a post shared in r/confession on Reddit. The Daily Dot could not independently verify the events, financial figures, or property details described by the original poster or any of the commenters. Identities and locations have not been confirmed.