WELLS FARGO HOME MORTGAGE

When we first met, I gave Joe Galvin a stack of documents that he requested to begin the application process. I had purchased a home before, so I knew how it worked. He marvelled at how prepared I was relative to his usual clients. Perhaps he took this as a sign that this would be an easy job, because he didn't do much to make the process smooth. The home I was purchasing needed some work, and I had some questions about renovation loans (one of his specialties). He answered my questions, but I needed to get some idea of what new siding (or siding repair) would cost. While he said he could help me with that, I ended up doing all the legwork. A few days before closing, during one of my vacation days from work, I received a series of frantic voice mails from him telling me that I had to provide him with about 5 more documents by the end of the day. This was the first time he had mentioned these. I spent my afternoon finding, preparing, and faxing them to him. I was very dissatisfied that his lack of preparation had to become my emergency, especially during one of my vacation days from work. There were a few more minor emergencies before closing, but we managed to pull it off on time. I ended up using him again for a refinance of a condo I was renting out, only because he already had all my information and I thought it would be easier to just use him, but that will be in a different report. Additions/Updates: During the initial process Joe told me a few things that turned out to be incorrect and caused me financial harm. 1. That one year after closing I could apply to have the PMI removed. 2. That the $3408 I spent at closing as an upfront PMI fee would be partially refunded if I removed PMI within 2 years. Based on this information I decided to put down 5% rather than 20% so that I could spend more money on renovations. I spent 46K during the first year on revovations which represents about 25% of the purchase price. Part of the decision to do more renovations in the first year rather than spreading them out was based on the savings that removing PMI would give me. On 2/15/2010 when I tried to get PMI removed, it turns out that I can't, nor is any part of that up front fee refundable. They will not accept a reassessment of the property, and base my LTV ratio only on the original property value. Even if I decide to dump cash into the loan to bring my LTV ration up to 80%, I can't clear PMI from my loan during the first five years. Giving this information sooner wouldn't have cost Joe Galvin any of his commission, but would have enabled me to make better decisions about how and when to spend money on renovations. It speaks to his incompetance, and Wells Fargo's general lack of concern for their customers. Based on my two experiences and this update... I will never use Wells Fargo again for anything.

Clarification: Joe helped me with two items. 1. Single Family home purchase mortgage for a residence in Malden, MA 2. Condo Refinance for a property in Easthampton MA This review is for the 2nd item. I might refer to the first, but I will call it "new home" and/or "mortgage", I'll refer to the second as "condo" and/or "refinanance". I originally had Joe Galvin help me with a mortgage on a new home purchase I was making in 1/6/2009. That was a little rocky, but since he already had a copy of all my financial paperwork, I thought this would be a smooth process. It was anything but. He gave me a fantastic interest rate (4.875%). It was so good at the time, it was the primary reason that I stuck it out through the whole process despite the sheer ridiculousness of it and the undue stress it caused me. I started the condo refinance process when Joe called me on 12/6/2008 (during my Thanksgiving vacation) and told me that interest rates were so great I should lock in my new home mortgage and my condo refinance right away by paying the application fees for both. I did so over the phone. We didn't do anything with this until mid January after my mortgage purchase closed and I had started settling into my new home. The refinance application was promptly rejected because I had been trying to sell my condo until August 2008. Apparently there is a 6 month window, and Joe recommended that we wait until March and try again. I had an ARM at the time that had just adjusted down again (to 4.375%), so I was not in a hurry to lock in the 4.875% fixed refinance while I could enjoy the lower rate for a little while longer. Mid March we tried again. Joe requested a full new set of financial documentation (i.e. pay stubs, bank statments, tax returns, etc), which I provided. Joe told me things were backed up because everyone and their brother was trying to refinance and that I should wait until May to hear something. Again, I was not in a hurry so I said ok. May 11th I got a letter from the loan processing office in Iowa requesting a set of documents and other evidence to complete my application. The letter said I had until May 13th (2 days layer) to provide these before the application was summarily denied. I called them the next day and they told me that everything was moving forward and that I didn't have to worry. I will spare the reader the details, but over the next few months I spent many hours on the phone, provided 2 additional sets of documentation (including some things that were never asked for before), got passed around between 5 different people at both the Iowa office and the Andover office. I would call and they would tell me they needed something else which I promptly provided, that the application was in process, and other delays. During this entire time they performed 4 full credit checks on me which brought my credit score down. I am pretty sure that I only authorized two of them. I was extremely dissatisfied with that. Not only had they made this a painful process but they caused me financial harm in doing so. In late August I gave up and asked for my application fee back. Joe had told me before I paid the fee that if my application was denied for any reason that would be refunded. He refused. I called his supervisor and he was no help either. I understand that they spent money paying for a property appraisal and credit checks, but he never said that was a condition of the refund. I don't have anything about that in writing unfortunately, but I distinctly recall asking detailed questions about the fee and that it was simply stated as denial=refund. I consider any costs they spent on me their cost of business, just as the time I spent jumping through their hoops was part of my cost to get the application processed. I will never use Wells Fargo again for anything.