OT Wells Fargo's online banking sucks

[JimT]

Thanks

[krw]

It may not technically be a "prepayment penalty", but that's what it has been called. Financing closing costs might not be an awful thing to do, 1) if there is no other way to refinance, or 2) you don't plan on being in the house longer than... At that point it's a numbers game. That's what the "prepayment penalty" above is all about, of course.

Again, I don't see this being the worst thing that could happen.

[Kurt Ullman]

Never said it was the worst that could happen and you noted some times where it might be good idea. Just don't like the banks pushing it on everyone as a good idea as they have recently with some friends.

[krw]

It's far better than sitting with a high-rate mortgage because you can't afford the closing costs. After than, it's up to each individual to calculate which offer is best for them.

[Vic Smith]

Sometimes you have to coddle the banks along. I called BOA for instructions on a 10 g principal payment. The lady told me to write "Apply to Principal Only" in the memo section of the check. That went fine. About a year later I did the exact same thing with about 3 g's, can't remember the exact amount. So I notice I don't get my monthly bill, and call them. They had applied it to monthly payments far in advance. Crazy, but good for them. I had them straighten that out, and retroactively too.

--Vic

[krw]

They read the check?

Sure.

My wife pays the mortgage at the bank and makes sure it goes where it's supposed to. She works there. ;-)

[aemeijers]

My mortgage holder, which happens to be WF, sends a coupon with each quarterly statement, in case you wanna do a pre-pay against principle. I know I should, but I keep thinking I need to put the money directly into house repairs, on the theory that owing X thousand on a fixed-up house is better than owing W-Y thousand on a fixer-upper.

Dunno about their retail banking arm, but I have been pretty happy with their mortgage arm. They ended up with the mortgage on my other place, after it got resold a few times, and had the best offer when I bought this place. Only one boo-boo in billing when adjusting escrow once, and they quickly fixed it.

[krw]

Been there. This time SWMBO demanded a new house. Guess what? There is more work to be done on a new house than any I've had before. :-(

Yes, our last mortgage was with WF (bought the mortgage from Prudential). They were pretty good about servicing the loan. Not as good as Prudential, but a

*lot* better than the thieves who owned our first mortgage. The only real boo-boo they made was paying our taxes late. Well, it wasn't *late*, but only because SWMBO is on top of such things.

[Fake ID]

It took alot of complaining to get WaMu to even read the coupon. I doubt they cared what was on the check beyond the amount.

After the penultimate payment they (now Chase) sent a payoff quote. They want a cashier's check, a new and onerous requirement, which I imagine was so they'd have an instrument that couldn't be reversed after they file the reconveyance. But they also say that they'll make up any shortage from the escrow acount which turns out has a balance of at least twice the payoff amount. I failed to convince them to just take what they needed from the escrow acount and refund the rest. Not even pretending I paid them $0. Instead it had to be done the extra stupid way. For the final months payment I sent them a regular personal check for $X and they sent a check back for $2X.

m

[Kurt Ullman]

FWIW, generally they can't legally do that. Escrow accounts are things put into the custody of a third party for delivery to the bank, etc. only under the specific terms in the contract. Since the escrow account was most likely for things like insurance and taxes, the money couldn't be released for that purpose.

[notbob]

There's always been something fishy about Washington Mutual. As recently as 5 yrs ago, you couldn't get a credit card from them. What? You can get a Harley-Davidson or a Hello Kitty credit card, but not your local bank? When they finally phoned to notify me they were now offering cards, I passed.

nb

[Fake ID]

Right, the escrow account was for paying taxes and insurance. Because they specifically said they would use escrow account to make up any underpayment of the payoff I thought they'd be willing to take the whole amount.

m

[Kurt Ullman]

Silly boy, the account was to protect THEM, not make your life easier (grin). Thus it makes perfect sense.