My wife and I applied for a home mortgage with Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC). The good news is that it approved us! The bad news is that if I sign the loan application, as the bank generated it, supplied it and have instructed me to sign, I'll be committing a crime in the state of Wisconsin. It's a good thing I studied the Wisconsin statutes.The documents by Wells Fargo that I have in hand are fatally flawed, yet when informed of that, a representative of the bank insisted that we should sign them and send them back. I haven't signed them, I haven't sent them back and I won't. Now here's why:
First, I was amazed to be informed by Wells Fargo that I am in a lesbian marriage with my wife. Yes, the truth is out although I must not have known what the truth was. Wells Fargo has told me that I am a woman. I'm okay with that but I didn't realize that same sex marriage has been legalized in Wisconsin. Wells Fargo must have a very liberal yet uninformed document proof reader.
Second, I must inform our daughter that either she does not exist or that she's really not ours. Wells Fargo has deemed and seeks to document that we have no dependent children... shhhh, don't tell the IRS. Even though it say she's not ours, we've decided that we'll keep her anyway. We do like her a lot.
Third, Wells Fargo has informed me that the house we rent from my brother-in-law is actually owned by us. I honestly don't remember purchasing it. Now though, I'm wondering how to go about reclaiming all that rent we've paid.
Fourth, Wells Fargo determined that I have worked for my current employer for the last 12 years. That must have been one hell of a commute when you consider that three years ago we lived 300 miles from where we are now. Wells Fargo also claims on these documents that it took this application by telephone when in actuality the original information was provided in a personal interview in one of its branch offices. Additionally, Wells Fargo states herein that we've applied for an FHA loan when this is neither our first home purchase nor would I ever borrow FHA funds, even under threat of a slow and painful death.
I'm going to keep these documents for a good long time and I have even considered inquiring of my attorney if the insistent instruction to sign these documents qualifies under Wisconsin law as solicitation to commit a crime. I feel certain that a "mistake of fact" defense would never hold up. In any case, I find the whole thing quite hilarious on its face but really folks, deep down I'm not laughing. Yes, I'm going to keep these documents but I'm going to find myself a different mortgage lender. You can count on that.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
7-16-2007 @ 5:31PM
Lisa said...
Hmm...maybe Wells Fargo will give me a personal loan with the terms I want--maybe they will see me as actually a good credit risk compared to BofA's automated system.
Honestly. I AM a good credit risk. I pay all my bills on time, I pay more than the maximum, I don't engage in recreational shopping (as shown by the long-term zero balances on my store credit cards) AND I have a net worth of about $297,000, of which about $50,000 is in non-retirement fairly to highly liquid assets.
BofA acted like they were doing me some big favor offering me a personal loan at 19%, when my highest credit card rate is less than 16%. Okay...so I can continue to do business elsewhere. I think I'll try Wells Fargo, especially with that no-commission brokerage account thing.
7-17-2007 @ 12:40PM
Steve said...
I think your thought line is flawed. These are mistakes that need to be corrected on your application. This happens when an originator does not take due diligence when inserting information. Scratch out the errors, initial them and send them back the documents, or go to a different company if it bothers you that much. **it happens.
8-03-2007 @ 11:48PM
Kelly57 said...
I work for WF and I am appalled at your story. For over 10 years, I've never heard of or seen such gross inaccuracies. This is data accuracy from H***, and I would bring it to the attention of the loan officer's supervisor. I agree with you - do not sign them. I am ashamed that the company I love so well has given you instructions to sign them as is. This is NOT the way we do business. I repeat - ask for a supervisor, and if the supervisor is just as unreasonable, ask for your issue to be escalated even further.