They lead the country close to ruin in the last decade then overreact in senseless ways.
Over the last six weeks they nickel and dimed wife and me to death over a loan on a home purchase with 55% down. We qualified and were approved easily with credit ratings in the 800’s, good income and asset base. Then came multiple, repeated requests for the same info. They put us through a ringer unlike any previous experience.
Then today, when we are to sign - they fail to get the documents to escrow in time to meet the only open time slot before closing in two days.
(all this with my existing bank where we have investments worth many times the loan amount).
I think it might be the other side of the pendulum from giving money to anyone who barely breathed. We used our bank to refinance a loan which we had from them, for a tiny amount of what our house is worth (we have lots of equity) and an excellent credit rating, and we got the same repeated requests for more and more documentation. Since it was a refi we weren’t under time pressure, but it was incredibly annoying.
The wife and I went through the exact same thing a couple of years back - it’s absolutely painful.
I mean, it’s a business transaction where the lending institution has a chance to make thousands of dollars off you and yet they can’t treat you as well as the McDonald’s cashier taking your five dollar bill.
Years ago we were having issues with our bank and decided to move everything, accounts, investments, mortgage, etc., to a different back. When we moved our mortgage, we actually called the branch manager and asked to be referred to a Sr. Mortgage Specialist instead of one of the folks on the front lines. It was one of the best, easiest experiences I’ve ever had with a bank. Since then, we always call the same person for whatever, and he transfers us to another Sr. person who can handle the request.
Not sure if this would apply to you, and I’m in Canada, so YMMV, but I guess what I’m saying is, can you speak to the manager or someone else with a bit more pull?
Preach it. The mortgage industry in this country is simply broken. We’re reverting to an earlier stage of capitalism, where if you can’t borrow money from your parents or private individuals, you may as well give up.
I’ve found getting a mortgage here in Canada can be a frustrating exercise, and we didn’t even have a mortgage meltdown. And my credit’s great.
My honest impression of the people I was working with was either that they were overworked, stupid, or both. It wasn’t a case of them refusing to lend me some money; it was just ineptitude. Documents were lost, things miscommunicated. The last time I got a mortgage, when we first saw the paperwork, they had gotten almost every single peice of information wrong; the amount loaned was wrong, the address of the home was wrong, the specific mortgage deal was wrong, and there were a variety of other errors. They spelled my ex wife’s name wrong, and she’s been dealing with them since she was a child. The mortgage guy didn’t know his own company’s rules and the nature of the deal changed from day to day, sometimes to our advantage and sometimes to theirs.
Preach it! All we needed was a preapproval letter since our house won’t be ready for slightly more than 2 years.
They didn’t fax it, swore they mailed it and then told us for more than a week that they couldn’t fax another copy because their printer was down. FOR A WEEK. When we actually go for a mortgage we’re changing banks because this is one of the last straws with these guys. I know the others are all the same but they haven’t annoyed me recently so we’ll give them their turn.
I applied for a Quicken Loans mortgage October 10, 2011 and closed on October 26 the same month. It was to pay off an existing Wells Fargo Loan. Everything was done online or by telephone except for the closing, when a woman came to our house with the documents. I was able to scan and email all of the documents they needed.
The only problem I had with them is they insisted on talking with me by telephone on a couple of occasions when email would have been easier, but their contention was it was to make sure I had a clear understanding of the good faith estimates and so on. I had no complaints with them, and ended up with a 3.25% fixed mortgage.
I came in here to defend the subject of the rant, since I’m married to one. But after reading your posts I understand the fury (and I have a few spare pikes in the garage in case you need them for, umm, mounting things outside your banks after the revolution).
I showed this thread to the missus, and she was as gobsmacked as I. Apparently this isn’t the norm (at least in her bank). They are actually trying to give some breathing space and leeway to their customers, due to the current economic mess. She tells me they’re stretching their tolerance to the absolute limit to help keep longtime customers afloat. (Which probably explains why they remain a small bank… screwing people is probably more profitable).
Ironically, much of the mindnumbing paperwork and time consuming recision periods associated with mortgage loans are mandated for the protection of the borrower. Even lenders who want to make it quick and easy can only go so far.
It’s absolutely ridiculous - I keep meaning to refinance because of the rates but I haven’t gotten around to it because of the stupid piles of documents they want from me now (after they gave me a mortgage for essentially proving I had a heartbeat but not a tail.) I want to refinance with my fiance on the mortgage and that makes it twice as damned complicated, especially since a lot of his paperwork is in storage half a state away. Seriously, I bank with these people and there’s no excuse for some of the things they want me to drag in!
We had no problem with our refinance. I guess we got a good one, but he’s not with a bank. He’s a “mortgage broker” or something like that. We were referred by a friend who had a good experience with him. Perhaps asking around will help find a good one?
But it might also be that I’m anal about paperwork so when they ask for ridiculous numbers of bank statements, federal returns, and paystubs I’m okay with that. He certainly didn’t lose anything that we sent him though.
Some loan managers are just not very smart. My then-90-year-old mother decided she wanted to refinance her mortgage, even though she had only 50k left to pay on it, and the new rate was less than 1% lower. She was having some problems with the loan manager, so she asked me to come with her.
The loan manager was a real prick, and kept whining about how he wasn’t making any money on this loan. I just looked at him:
“Do you really want to tell us that? Every dollar you make on this loan comes out of her pocket, so we really don’t want you to make any money at all. If you aren’t making any money, it means we are doing everything right.”
Sometimes they just don’t think about what they are saying.
Oh man. My bank is normally super-competent, but my mortgage experience was terrible. She’d promise that things would happen by date x and they wouldn’t… I’d call for information she should have had and she wouldn’t have it… meetings would get cancelled or rescheduled at the last minute…
I finally lost my temper with her when, despite starting with plenty of leeway, she told me the final whatever wouldn’t happen until after the drop-dead date on my house offer. (To which she replied “I thought we had a really good working relationship!” :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes: ).
That was years ago and she still manages to annoy me 'cause the bank sends me a calendar every year with her name on it.
I had no problem with my refinance. They asked for papers, I provided them, everything went smoothly. I never even met the banker, did everything over the phone except one meeting with a closing agent.
However…somebody apparently signed up for refinance information online with a telephone number similar to mine and I have been called and called and called by banks wanting to deal with this person. Every day my answering machine is filled with calls about refinancing. i am hoping that eventually they will all realize I am not calling back and just give up.
Yeah - when we refinanced about 3 years back, we were refinancing with the same company that held our existing mortgage. But because of tougher underwriting, a LOT of baloney went on, we closed nearly 3 months after we applied, more restrictions than previously (e.g. our HELOC was supposed to be capped at its existing balance) etc. So when rates dropped even further, we refinanced with our credit union. Slightly higher fees, all in all, but it was worth it to be free of the hassle. Only problem there were a couple of minor admin glitches: they took the filing/appraisal fee out of my single checking account vs. joint (fortunately I had overdraft protection!), it was not initially being reported to the credit agencies for both of us but just for me (never mind I could NOT have qualified on my own), and when I requested they drop the balance slightly to reflect money we’d paid off, they forgot - resulting in a slightly higher payment.
I had a similar issue. A tight closing that the bank couldn’t get their act together to meet. We closed without them, scrounging up the cash we needed, then took out a mortgage on the home we owned to get our investments back (we borrowed from 401ks, sold stock, and emptied savings accounts for two weeks).
And it was the same stupid shit as yours…not moving the documents around the bank itself in a timely manner.
Ok, I’ve calmed down a bit, but I still am amazed at the process and must vent one more time.
When asked for Tax returns, I send them. Two days later I get a form and am instructed to sign it to allow them to request tax forms from the Fed. A MONTH later I get the same signed form back, explaining that they neglected to fill in my SS# and since I have signed, they cannot fill it in - so I must sign again. So, we are now 10 days from signing and they have not looked at my tax returns.
Another goodie is a request to verify residency for both of us. I have lived in the same home (paid off) for 23 years. Wife for 9. I have had an account with this bank since at least 1977 and they have been sending statements to this address. Wife and I both get brokerage statements from same bank at this address… but the credit report shows other addresses from 1990 and 2002 so… more paperwork please.
Those are just the high points in this adventure.
We closed today - as an all cash deal. The home is ours.
I can only imagine the look on the loan guys face when I told him - but he knew, my broker had already called him. Broker is unhappy losing funds under management, my private banker called to plead with me to take the loan. Would have sent an after hours notary to my home to do the signing (cutting the planned escrow agent out of the loop) - but still could not meet today as the original closing date.
The final irony, when I show up at the escrow office with signed paperwork, who is located on the SAME FLOOR? The bank’s mortgage and escrow office - yet they couldn’t get the paperwork down the hallway on time!
(Real estate agent and escrow office both expressed a wish that the banks would get spanked like this more often.)
