"These are mistakes that could cost someone their home"

A huge investigation into Wells Fargo's foreclosure process shows overworked workers, crazy managers (you'd think this was a newspaper) and major errors that just fall through.

Workers are ordered to meet a quota, even if they have to skip meals, and are told not to socialize. And funny thing, one executive vice president says there isn't a quota. Even though the whistleblowers show e-mails demanding it. The VP now gives the "We'll look into it" response.

These workers are also supposed to be able to testify under oath that the information on the document is true. Except, they have to rush through them and they can't check every single fact.

http://economywatch.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/04/19/11269115-inside-the-foreclosure-factory-theyre-working-overtime?lite

You'd think the nation's largest servicer of mortgages which made $3.3 billion in profit would be able to hire a few more workers to make sure ever i is dotted and T is crossed. Right?

 

I wouldn't walk into a Wells Fargo branch if they were giving away money. Our home mortgage was sold to WF five years ago. Two years ago we tried for a modification and were turned down three times. Once, it was because they said we made too much money. Turns out they didn't factor in the two car payments we had. When I asked them to just run the numbers with the car payments, they said, "you have to do the app all over again."
The next time they turned it down because they said we were late paying the property taxes. We weren't and offered proof. They said the same thing: "do it all over again."
The last time we tried, they said they had sold the note to someone else. Couldn't tell us who the someone else is. When we asked them why we were sending a house payment every month to Wells Fargo, they said they were essentially just the bill collector but not in a position to modify the terms because they didn't own the note any more. We asked them to find out who did own it.
To this day, they haven't been able to tell us.
But all you Wells-Fargo execs, have fun at that PGA Tour event in two weeks that you pay $6 million a year to title sponsor.

 

If you live in a state where court approval is needed to foreclose and you want to move, just stop paying the mortgage and save.

 

Of course, all this wouldn't have happen if those pesky regulations force the poor banks to go through all this. They should just be able to call the sheriff and have you thrown out of their home bag and baggage on their say-so!

 

Thank God these hardworking banks had nothing to do with all those deadbeat mortgages.

 

This probably could have been nipped in the bud if they would have given the CEO another raise.

 

Sam Zell and Dean Singleton don't see what the problem is here.

 

I have been pleading with several different friends out here not to pay their underwater mortgages because they'll never dig themselves out of the $200,000 hole. They won't listen -- think there's a moral component to it. Maybe seeing this article will change their minds.

 

If they're current with their payments, then, unless they're planning to move, they should keep on paying their mortgage so they have a house to live in.

But if the bank is already foreclosing, rightfully or wrongly, then it's foolish to keep making payments. Save the payments for your next house down payment.

 

They're current with their payments, but they could stop paying, save the money for at least six months (I have heard of people stall it for as much as two years by asking the bank to produce all loan documentation) and renting in the meantime. When you're that far underwater, particularly on an interest-only loan or in the first years of a 30-year, you're building no equity anyway so it's like renting.

 

That might not be such great advice. In many states, the borrower can be tagged with a deficiency judgement, so the lender can attach those mortgage payments that had been socked away elsewhere.

 

Also, there's an argument that at least it's the house you have, and that if you can afford it, no matter how awful the payments might be and how underwater you are, that's better than the instability of renting. After all, the house you're going to rent is likely one that's up for sale, so if by some miracle it does sell, you could be out the door on fairly short notice.