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Wells Fargo Mortgage vs Country Wide bank accepted but wants another pre-approval letter

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Anonymous
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Wells Fargo Mortgage vs Country Wide bank accepted but wants another pre-approval letter

My wife and I have been trying to find a house for 6 months or so we got pre-approved for 150k from Countrywide.  We have put 6 offers in and have been outbid every time until now.  We asked for closing and the counter was 2k more for house and they pay up to 4200 closing, (no biggie I low balled the house)  but they want us to go get a pre-approval from Wells Fargo.  Which right now is freaking both of us out because her credit scores are way lower then mine and we were surprised that we got pre approved with countrywide.  So was wondering if anyone knows which one is easier to get approval from?  We really want a house because a mortgage would be cheaper then our rent.

 

Thanks for any info

Brendyn

Message 1 of 8
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Anonymous
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Re: Wells Fargo Mortgage vs Country Wide bank accepted but wants another pre-approval letter

This seems very odd to me.  I have never heard of restricting the buyer to a lender but I'm no expert.  A lender is a HUGE decision.  What if they don't have the best rates or charge hefty closing costs?  Or do they want for you to get approved with Wells Fargo and then you can get your loan whereever you want?
Message 2 of 8
Anonymous
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Re: Wells Fargo Mortgage vs Country Wide bank accepted but wants another pre-approval letter

this happened to me to. I placed on offer on a house owned by countrywide and they would only accept my offer if I had a pre-approval through countrywide.  I did NOT have to finance through countrywide but they were able to get me a better rate and waived a lot of the fees since it was a home they owned.  Doesnt hurt to try. 
Message 3 of 8
Anonymous
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Re: Wells Fargo Mortgage vs Country Wide bank accepted but wants another pre-approval letter

Is this house a foreclosure/REO? I'm betting if it is, it's owned by Wells Fargo. A lot of the REO properties are putting in their MLS listings that they require a prequal or even preapproval from such-n-such lender.  I think they don't want to waste their time offers that may fall through, they want to unload these properties in a timely manner and not waste time on dead deals. I don't think it's necessary that they request the preapproval come from them, but I see where they are coming from.
Message 4 of 8
Anonymous
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Re: Wells Fargo Mortgage vs Country Wide bank accepted but wants another pre-approval letter

Is the house a foreclosure/REO? Does Wellsfargo own the home?  Usually when its a REO the bank that owns the home also wants you to be preapproved through them...I've heard that sometimes they want to talk to you to to use them as a lender so they can keep the loan.  but you do not have to you can keep countrywide if your offer gets accepted.  this has been my experience but getting the preapproval letter from the other lender was never a big deal my broker just sent over my packet and we got the letter in a day to submit with the offer. 
Message 5 of 8
Anonymous
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Re: Wells Fargo Mortgage vs Country Wide bank accepted but wants another pre-approval letter

Ha, I think we all were posting around the same time with similar answers.
Message 6 of 8
Anonymous
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Re: Wells Fargo Mortgage vs Country Wide bank accepted but wants another pre-approval letter

This just happened to me...what a coincidence....lol....We just found a great house and its an REO owned by countrywide, so to be able to put an offer down, we have to get pre-approved by Countrywide. I was a little hesitant at first because I don't want too many lenders pulling our credit. my husband is a little under 580 and I'm a lot under 580 but our scores have been going up..up..up since November. I think some lenders who own the home just want to make sure that whoever wants to purchase the house can actually keep the house so it doesn't go into foreclosure again.
Message 7 of 8
ShanetheMortgageMan
Super Contributor

Re: Wells Fargo Mortgage vs Country Wide bank accepted but wants another pre-approval letter

A lot of times it'll say "All buyers must be pre-approved by Greg at Countrywide" or whatever, but really you just need a pre-approval from any Countrywide branch (even through a broker going to Countrywide works).  This has helped tons of buyers out when wanting to make an offer on an REO because everyone else is trying to call that 1 loan officer and it's taking forever to get a return phone call.
Free Mortgage Advice & Pre-Approvals (FHA, VA, USDA, Fannie, Freddie, Non-Prime, Construction, Renovation/Rehab, Commercial) since 2002
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Message 8 of 8
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