Absolutely abyssmal customer service at our bank (long and ranty)

[csquared]

I got all stressed out over my first mortgage. I knew that they would be looking over my bank statements with a fine tooth comb. I thought I had everything looking pretty, and they still ripped it apart.

The assistant to the Loan Officer was the worst. I swear she thought we worked for her. At least twice a week, we would get a phone call "I need you to fax XYZ to me!" "Please" & "Thank you" were not in her vocabulary.

The closing was scheduled for Thursdays at 9:00 AM. We got a call from the Lawyer on Wednesday afternoon, to reschedule for later Thursday. The bank FedExed the paperwork on Wednesday for a 10:30 AM delivery on Thursday.

Back then, I had several people tell me horror stories about their loans being sold. They would always screw up the escrow. So I went with a bank that had a 95% retention rate. As you might guess, my loan was sold within two months. As there had been no activity on the escrow, they did not manage to screw it up. The last time I refinanced, the mortgage was sold before the closing, and sold again, before I made the first payment. Yours will probably be sold. Don't sweat it. Just keep tabs on your escrow.

One last thing... Start your hand exercises. You have lots of papers to sign!

Good luck!

[zzapp the witch]

Yeah.....the bank my late husband convinced me to do business with started all that BS with me when I wanted to buy a house. I got lucky and spotted the Realty Co. putting up the sale sign on a Saturday, immediately called, and since it was first come/first serve, I got to sign some sort of a *hold* and pay $500 while we figured out the mortgage part. Bank refused to let me do anything, never mind how much money I had saved up (enough to buy the property more than twice), never mind that I was low risk, etc etc etc. The guy and gal helping me pretty much laughed in my face.

So I called my grandma and got the number of her financial adviser at Smith Barney. Had that bank cash me out (well, a cashier's check, they stalled me, saying it would take a week for that amount, I said fine, asked them to get me two checks, one for the amount of the house, and the other for the remainder). Manager asked what I was doing with it. Told her it wasn't any of her business, but since she was the only one being remotely helpful, the one amount was so I could buy the house outright, and the other was me deciding to make my money make me money, instead of it making the bank money. I also stripped my checking account, asked the manager if i could borrow her shredder, shredded my checkbook right in front of her and proceeded to cancel my ATM card.

I then went to the Credit Union where I'd had an account since I was a kid, put everything there, deposited one check at Smith Barney, the other I took to my Realtor, and everything's been awesome ever since. (They just pointed where I needed to sign, and explained everything, so nice).

Too bad my Credit Union didn't do mortgages at the time (I look back and think everything was pretty dumb, why would I want to have a mortgage anyway?), and I didn't feel like dealing with any banks, I just wanted to get it done. (And the old bank? I found some paperwork among my husband's things to indicate there was another account that I didn't close, so I called to see what all I needed to do to clear up that loose end, they assure me that there's nothing in it, and they'd already closed it, and that nothing was owed by either party, then promptly send me a bill for $500 and some......and its been what? 7 years? Considering it was an account in only my husband's name......hmmmm.)

I've read some real horror stories about B0fA on Consumerist, and have been warning my new sis and bro-in-law to please, please, please NOT use them (or chase, or citibank, etc). I do hope everything goes well, because today is Monday, and I see you still haven't posted.

[PCGameGuy]

The selling mortgages thing is sorta the backing for this whole financial mess to begin with. I used Beneficial for years, and then they either got bought or changed management and started the same stuff. Now I use my credit union, and they keep their paper for the duration. The only thing we had trouble with was making sure we sent the right amount to the right place, because as we all know YOU have three days or you get fined, but they can take three MONTHS to give you money back. :P

[50 mission cap]

The amazing part is that all this hell and tears and stress will be forgotten a half hour after the closing when yall are alone in YOUR new house. Hang in there!! You will make it through this.

That's exactly what I felt like. Trust me it will all be worth it in the end.

[MaggieTheCat]

Final Update...maybe:

The bank didn't fax the final documentation to the title company until late Monday morning (it was around 11:30am central time, which would have made it 9:30 pacific time, and the branch of the bank that was dealing with the final documents was located in California...so yeah, had to wait for them to open, I guess.) Then the title company had to prepare the HUD and a bunch of other stuff. So, we got the call from our realtor around 3:45 that everything was ready for closing.

We still had to wire the money for the closing/downpayment/etc to the title company, so first we tried to call BoA to do it over the phone, which we were told we could do as soon as the title company gave us the final HUD. Of course, none of our contact people were available and all we got was voicemail. And when we tried to call the 800 customer service number, we just got sent in circles round and round. So, we decided to drive to the nearest BoA branch right down the street from us.

We got there at 4:01...and they close at 4:00. The doors were locked and when we drove around to the drive-thru and told them our situation, they said we couldn't do anything at that location. Either call the 800 number (which we'd already tried) or go to another location that was open till 5.

Thankfully, the location that was open till 5 was in the same direction as the title company office where we had to go to sign the closing papers. Unfortunately, it was located at a horribly busy intersection, and by the time we got there, we ended up stuck in traffic for a good 15 minutes. Finally we managed to get the money wired (well, the actual wire didn't go through until this morning since it was so late in the day, but we did get all the paperwork filled out for it.)

Then to the title company. We got there around 5 and left just before 6. All the papers were signed, the t's crossed and the i's dotted. Technically the house wasn't to be ours until today, when they could verify the funds and get all the paperwork documented. But our realtor sort of slipped us the key under the table, knowing that we wouldn't go over there until we got the final confirmation today anyway.

Around 3:00 we finally got the call from our realtor...the house is OURS! Money went through, documents from both us and the sellers were received and filed...we are now homeowners!

...

Now to pack.

[Pedersen]

we are now homeowners!

Congratulations!

on all your new projects (I can say that, since that's still true for me, and I've been a homeowner for 3 or 4 years now)

[NotSoInnocent]

Congratulations!

on all your new projects (I can say that, since that's still true for me, and I've been a homeowner for 3 or 4 years now)

I second this!

Conga-rats!

Things will break... You can fix them.

Stuff will fail... You can get new stuff.

Grass will grow... You can mow it.

Laundry will pile up... You can wash it.

My advice? SAVE! Seriously. Put money away every paycheck for the inevitable plumbing issues, roof repairs, home improvements, etc that will eventually crop up.

And enjoy living in your -own- home!!!

[Evil Queen]

I went through the same thing and I didn't go through a bank; I went through Coldwell Banker! Worst mistake ever. I'll never go with them again. It took me 3 months to finally close on my house.

But congrats on your new home!

[Damien]

congratulations!!!

[Andara Bledin]

When's the housewarming party?

^-.-^

[zzapp the witch]

Woot woot!

[RetailWorkhorse]

O.O DANG. And that's my bank, too.

See, stuff like that is why I live in an RV. *Shudders* If I ever decide to buy a house I'm walking in and paying CASH. Sheesh.

Next up is a boat, anyhow. The housing market isn't stable enough for me to "settle down" in one spot for more than 6 months.

[sirwired]

A couple of things:

1) Pentagon Federal Credit Union. I've banked with them for twelve years now and never had a SINGLE problem. My primary checking account, three car loans, a credit card, a Money Market, and my current mortgage. The best thing is that anybody can join. If you don't meet the "usual" criteria (work in the Pentagon, member of X professional associations, active-duty military, etc.) all you have to do is be a member of the National Military Family Association. The criteria for joining? A one-time $10 donation. No relation to anybody in the military required. You can even sign up while joining PFCU.

Their car rates are obscenely low (at one time, they were cheaper than their CD rates), and they also finance used cars. Their mortgage rates are ok, but they don't load down the loans with junk fees (they "tuck" the lawyer, the appraisal, flood certification, etc.) and my contact in the mortgage dept. couldn't have been better.

2) At my old house, we re-fi'd and the bank sold our mortgage to Countrywide before the first payment was due. However, they completely screwed up our escrow... Our house insurance was due around the time we closed. We had to pay our house insurance right before closing (old bank), and the re-fi bank paid it right after closing. So far, so good; we promptly receive a check from the insurance company for the extra payment. Well, a couple of weeks later we receive another check, because the insurance co had also been paid by Countrywide. We panic, because we think we'll now end up with a massive escrow shortage. Well, no. Apparently the batch computer jobs for selling the loan and paying out insurance ran on the same night, and the two jobs didn't talk to each other. As far as Countrywide was concerned, they received the full escrow amount from re-fi bank and then paid insurance out of it. Re-fi bank thinks they paid the insurance and then sold the loan.

I figure that Countrywide is rather unlikely to think they have money they never received, so I call re-fi bank and explain what happened. I figure they'll give me an address to mail a check. The response over the phone: "The computer is never wrong." WTF? I'm trying to give them back money that is rightfully theirs, and they are refusing to take it. While it really wasn't my money, I'm not exactly going to spend hours on the phone trying to convince them...

Oh well... that was a few $$$ I enjoyed dumping into savings. I figure that since I tried to give them back the money, my conscience was clear. If they ever realized the mistake and asked for it, I'd give it to them, but they never did.

SirWired

[MaggieTheCat]

As it turns out, our bank didn't set up an escrow account for us. And we're already paying our insurance separately on a quarterly basis, so the ONLY thing we owe the bank on our monthly payments are the principle and interest payment. Sure, we have to make sure that we set aside enough money at the end of the year to pay all the taxes in full, but that won't be a problem for us, and it's better than having an escrow account and having the funds get lost or messed up when the bank sells the mortgage, as so many people have mentioned.