WELLS FARGO HOME MORTGAGE

I give them a B because there was something that they wouldn't do for me. They couldn't do it. It's been just a year. I am looking around to see if I can get another company for my mortgage.

I would give Wells Fargo an F if it weren't for the fact that I did eventually secure a home loan, after many months and a great deal of stress. So the outcome was OK (albeit at a much higher rate than what I'd originally secured with them, and on the high end relative to other lenders at the time), but the process was excruciating. I can't speak to the company as a whole, although the agent with whom I worked (Wayne Slaughter) and the specialist who "adjudicated" my sincere complaints and found "no evidence" to support them nor ever returned my call (Brandon Kingery) had both disappointed me continuously and unnecessarily. Mr. Slaughter had failed on numerous occasions to communicate in a timely manner, in spite of explicit requests for him to do so. As just one poignant example of this, Mr. Slaughter claimed to have been unaware that a title issue was holding up approval of the loan, even though both my lawyer and I had notified him of this issue at least a week prior to his finally returning a call. In general, Mr. Slaughter must have spoken with me only 3-4 times on the phone during the 4 months it took to secure a loan. Wells Fargo's loan officer (Aaron Taylor), in contrast, was great and instrumental in executing the loan and doing some of Mr. Slaughter's work for him, and if it weren't for Mr. Taylor, I suspect that I wouldn't be a homeowner currently. And all of this had to be done with much more involvement and pestering on my part than I would have liked. In short, what happened was that I secured a 3.5% loan, but a tiny bit of land showed up as being in my neighbors' yard when I got the survey. Since that bit of land couldn't be insured, WF underwriters refused to proceed with the loan (although in theory they could have just ignored it, being of negligible risk to them as it were). As lawyers tried to hash this out with the neighbors, WF and my WF agent did nothing to help--no follow-up, no effort, just a phone call from Mr. Slaughter essentially asking me to confirm that this "wasn't the bank's fault". So WF is looking out well for itself! In the meantime, my loan "ran out" and I had to re-apply. Mr. Slaughter ignored my initial instructions to proceed immediately with the new loan and this too got delayed. I lost the 3.5% and was hit with a 4.5% interest rate instead, as rates had gone up (no grandfathering here, thank you, WF). My lawyer finally convinced the title company to insure the bank (not me) for the out-of-possession land, which then allowed the loan to go through. WF automatically increased my down payment by a margin in order to allow me to "afford" the new, higher rate loan, and this too was done without my knowledge (I had to figure it out after the fact with my lawyer, wondering why closing costs were unexpectedly high). The only easy part of the whole process was the closing itself (where everyone gets paid, of course), and ironically, that was done through a WF contractor, not one of my regular, actual WF contacts. So, all in all, I am left with the sense that this company has no concern with customers, only with covering themselves.

The Astoria office was amazing. Dan Lee was incredibly kind and helpful through the entire process. I had to make so many changes and preapprovals and every request was met with kindness. Even the bank attorney went out of his way for my lawyers to help them out. Everyone involved was shocked at how nice they were. I know not all offices are the same but I can vouch for the Astoria, NY one.

The process started out very well, with all the customer service reps (mortgage manager and advisors) very helpful and courteous. I advised them weeks before the closing that the home purchase was going into our trust. The lawyers and underwriters waited until the week before closing to start asking for 100 page documents (faxed), letters from my lawyers (at a cost of $150), and changes to my insurance policy and company (also an additional $300). This caused a delay in our closing and insumountable grief and frustration. This all could have been taken care of weeks before, but didn't . I kept asking my mortgage advisor to just tell me everthing I needed, and she kept saying we have it all, only to be followed with a phone call the next day that they needed something else.

Wells Fargo has a lack of professionalism. One hand doesn't know what the other hand is doing. You always talk to a different person. No one is familiar with your account history. They are constantly changing their rates. They like to fiddle with that. They harass you on the phone if you are a little late with a payment. They are relentless until they get what they want. I would never use them again if I bought another house.

Smooth. Robert Shapiro is professional, trustworthy, and dependable. He returns phone calls promptly, answers all questions -- and best of all, notified me when rates drooped to the point where I could (and did) save money by refinancing. Nice guy, too.