Bad, bad decision Dad. When I heard who they had gone with, at the suggestion of their real estate agent, I told him it was a mistake. He was too far in by that point, however.
Because of the inept fools at Wells Fargo, they’ve had to apply for three closing date extensions so far. All of it is due to Wells Fargo losing or not reading the paperwork they’ve been sent and asking for multiple non-standard documents (for example, they won’t accept a standard employment verification, it has to be some multi-page verification practically signed by the president of the company). And now, just as they are finally ready to close, they are told they need to take all of the papers to an American embassy so someone there can say ‘yes, this has been notarized’, and then they have to personally bring the papers to Hawaii to give to the bank. Even the real estate agent is surprised at this clusterfuck.
It’s been mistake after mistake. I hate Wells Fargo, what a horrible company. Dad is about to have a damn stroke from all of this.
I’ve banked with Wells-Fargo for 10+ years now, and have several mortgages with them. I wouldn’t go anywhere else - the local branch is efficient, fast, and smart. I’ve had no trouble with them at all.
I especially liked them after they called me a year or so ago and offered to “adjust” my mortgage down a couple points just for the hell of it. No closing costs, no fees, not even an appraisal.
Thanks, perhaps the rumours about WF aren’t as true as I think. It seems that they ended up with a poor mortgage rep. I was just chatting with mom about this and they are this lady’s first client, so…it might be her, not the bank. Still very frustrating!
It’s hard to avoid them if a mortgage is involved. At this time last year, they were originating 33% of all mortgages, three times as many as their closest competitor.
So, if both companies are equally competent, you’ll be hearing seven people gripe about Wells for every one complaint about Bank of America.
Strange. I’ve never had a moment’s trouble with them with my mortgage. However we didn’t start out with them, they bought our loan from some other company.
We were with Wells Fargo for a number of years, including at least 2 refinances. Never anything super-major, but the last refi took a month longer than it should have (this was after the mortgage crisis began and they were being super-sticklers) and among other things, lied to us about at least one thing.
We refinanced 2 years ago, to our local credit union, because I was pissed at WF for that whole annoyance. Nowhere near on the level of what your parents are dealing with, fortunately, and I must admit they had generally been much better on prior transactions.
Yeah, they lied to my dad too. He chose a specific type of mortgage because of some ‘points’ he would be collecting, but it had a higher rate. He asked multiple times if the points applied to his type of mortgage, in his situation, and they said yes multiple times (I was there at the time and heard the conversation). After he signed those papers, ‘oops, we were wrong, sorry, you can’t cash in the points on this mortgage’ and they wouldn’t reverse it. Stuff like that.
I think it’s a combination of being the lady’s first client, poor communication and distance, and the fact that it’s an international mortgage.
All mortgages are a pain in the ass to set up. Once things get going, they’re generally fine, though. My current mortgage is through WF and I haven’t had any problems.
The OP’s experience aligns with what my wife described when she worked as a real estate agent. She said Wells Fargo was by far the most difficult bank to work with, and their errors and long delays resulted in more than one deal falling through.
I’ve seen others give them nothing but praise, but she dreaded dealing with them.
We tried to do a refinance with Wells Fargo this summer. The experience was Hell. They dragged things out, lost paperwork multiple times, never completed the appraisal we paid them to set up, and got creepy on our homeowners insurance agent. (The person doing the loan stopped by her office for no reason, demanded she give him the names of her other clients so he could contact them, and generally made her uncomfortable to the point she almost called the police.) They lied to us about how long the process would take. We dropped them after three months of them going nowhere, went with another company, and had our refinance completed in very short order with half the paperwork WF had asked for. I would not recommend them to anyone anymore. We had gone with them because we had a car loan with them that had been easy and troublefree. We’re currently looking into ways to get that car loan out of their paws. I’d never recommend them to anyone again.
One time when I was buying a condo several years ago, the seller happened to mention on closing day, “By the way, I’m a Palestinian national; does that affect anything?” Oh my yes, it affected things. We were there for hours as the title attorneys dug up obscure forms by which the dude had to certify that he was not a terrorist and would not use the sale proceeds to fund international terrorism.
Years ago, when my (now ex) wife and I got a second mortgage, we had to swear that we were not going to use the money to invest in Cuban businesses.
We’re Canadian, as was our house that we were borrowing against, but the second mortgage was from a bank with a US head office (Citibank, if I recall correctly).
We did not invest in Cuba, and we paid back the loan when we sold the house.
I had a bad experience with a Wells Fargo mortgage. Part of the responsibility for the circumstances lies with me, but they made no effort to work toward a mutually beneficial solution. Calling them didn’t help, as I was endlessly transferred from one drone to the next, none having any decision-making power whatsoever. When each one heard what the sticking point was, they gave the same answer, word-for-word, by the book. In the end, they stuck me with a foreclosure and sold the house at auction for less than they would have made if they had worked with me. I later found that they had some loophole that allowed them to make more money this way. Booger-heads! All of 'em!
ETA: The albatross of a spec home that dragged me into this mess was sold in a short sale. The company holding the first were pleasant on the phone, helpful, empowered to make decisions, and ended up with a much better deal than they would have if they had foreclosed. Maybe they weren’t powerful enough to get the loophole WF had.
Sorry, I don’t like the standard and have been experimenting. I actually find TNR more pleasant to read, but it does come out small. Does it work better if I size it up one notch?
Speaking for myself only (others may feel differently), I’d prefer if you went with the default. But that’s just me; others may feel differently.
However, be aware that most people here just go with the default. We’re not used to seeing different fonts. (And honestly, and no offense intended, your previous choice of font and size made me get my glasses.)
ETA: Telebob, welcome! I should have said that straight up. Always nice to have new posters!
