# My (Canadian) parents are buying a house in the U.S. They chose Wells Fargo. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 10, 2013, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-canadian-parents-are-buying-a-house-in-the-u-s-they-chose-wells-fargo/649884 "2013-02-10T16:09:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2013, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-canadian-parents-are-buying-a-house-in-the-u-s-they-chose-wells-fargo/649884/21 "2013-02-11T13:55:00Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > All mortgages are a pain in the ass to set up. That’s not been my experience in Canada. Royal Bank has been very easy to work with and the paperwork has always gone through smoothly. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2013, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-canadian-parents-are-buying-a-house-in-the-u-s-they-chose-wells-fargo/649884/22 "2013-02-11T14:09:58Z")
Our last mortgage was a pain in the ass, too, but I think our problem was a mortgage broker, too. We had used him twice before with great results; the third time, we think he had gone insane or something - it was like a completely different person who couldn’t find his ass with both hands. We ended up paying a huge fine for closing out the mortgage early (in spite of buying another house and wanting to stay with the same bank, Scotiabank), after being assured that there would be no penalty if we stayed with the same bank. He messed up the interest rate guarantee on our pre-approval, too, as well as being difficult to get ahold of and taking forever to respond to emails. ---
**Author:** ![EmAnJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d2c977/32.png) [@EmAnJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmAnJ)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2013, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-canadian-parents-are-buying-a-house-in-the-u-s-they-chose-wells-fargo/649884/23 "2013-02-11T14:30:02Z")
> [@GythaOgg](#): > > 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. This is pretty much exactly what they are experiencing. We’ve had good service with our mortgages as well (in Canada). I told dad to use RBC, as they do US mortgages as well, but he went for the lowest interest rate (WF) instead. I hope it all works out, but it’s a big cluster at the moment. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2013, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-canadian-parents-are-buying-a-house-in-the-u-s-they-chose-wells-fargo/649884/24 "2013-02-11T17:07:30Z")
> [@GythaOgg](#): > > … We’re currently looking into ways to get that car loan out of their paws. I’d never recommend them to anyone again. [Pssst](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=649783): [credit union](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=681569) (and numerous other threads). Seriously. They _will_ refinance existing auto loans, even if the loan is WITH THEM; I did thisa couple years back because I got sick of seeing a “refinance NOW!!!” link whenever I logged in, so I applied… Since the existing loan was with them, they said I had to take an extra 500 dollars out on the car (e.g. existing was 9K, I had to borrow 9500). I immediately paid the 500 dollars back against the car, and finished off the loan that much faster. /hijack ---
**Author:** ![Airk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9de053/32.png) [@Airk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airk)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2013, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-canadian-parents-are-buying-a-house-in-the-u-s-they-chose-wells-fargo/649884/25 "2013-02-12T16:52:40Z")
In my somewhat limited mortgage experience, there are no good companies, only good mortgage agents. Most of the time, you’re not really dealing with (or shouldn’t be dealing with) the monumental juggernaut of a company. If you have a good agent, then it’s super smooth sailing (as it was with me during my previous mortgage with WF). If you get a buffoon, or don’t have an agent for whatever reason, it can be super awkward. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-canadian-parents-are-buying-a-house-in-the-u-s-they-chose-wells-fargo/649884.md?page=1)