@StartingOver10 wrote:I don't know the rest of WF criteria because I have made a point to stay away from them for years. The rest is going to sound harsh.
In my area the fall out rate (that's how I think of it) for a Wellls Fargo pre-approval to an actual closing approaches 80%. In other words, given a pre-approval generated by WF, the loan has an actual closing rate of 1 out of 5. As a Realtor, this is unacceptable odds to risk having the buyer even make application with Wells. It puts the buyer and the seller in extremely bad positions by accepting an offer where we have to rely on a lender that is not reliable. Consequently many, if not most, real estate agents in my area, won't accept a WF pre-approval at all without having the buyer make application and obtain another pre-approval by nearly any other lender in addition to any written 'pre-approval' by Wells.
This also has nothing to do with their approval criteria. It has to do with WF method of processing a mortgage through their inexperienced 'application takers' rather than having actual, knowledgeable LO's. This includes applications made locally, thru the 800 number or online. Getting a pre-approval is a slam dunk,. Getting it closed is another issue altogether. The thing is this: in almost every instance where the borrower was initially approved by Wells but then denied in u/w days before scheduled closing (many weeks after application), the borrower could not have been approved by any lender due to some obvious shortfall. Such obvious shortfall as income where the tax documents don't support the application income that normally is picked up by a good LO on the date of application and not many weeks into the deal. Or some other application error that could have been corrected but the WF LO missed it and now that it is in u/w, the error can't be fixed. WF doesn't pick it up these snafu's until it hits official underwriting, not processing, much later in the deal. I could go on with examples, but I won't.
I have to admit, this is anecdotal developed through personal experience, experience through hundreds of agents in my direct local area and experience through title company closing representatives and local closing attorney's. Most Realtors in my area won't even accept a pre-approval generated by Wells Fargo any more without also requiring the buyer to go to another lender to "check" the validity of WF's approval. This reputation by Wells has been earned throughout our region for more than five years.
Having said the above, many of the correspondent lenders here originate the loan and then after closing either sell the loan or the servicing or both to Wells Fargo
Nothing wrong with their servicing, just their origination process.
I have and do use Chase. I also use other correspondent lenders here and elsewhere in the country, some you know on this board
FYI: Chase actually has a good program for Jumbos. Yes, they are score sensitive for Jumbos unless you have substantial deposit assets. The greater your deposit assets either in Chase bank accounts or in another depository, the easier the Jumbo program becomes for the individual borrower.
I am sorry I was not able to answer your specific question other than "stay away from WF if you are actually looking to close".
Thank you for the well thought out and detailed reply S10!
I'd seen reference to WF in the national media as being a paper mill mortgage lender, so it doesn't surprise me regarding your experience.
In talking to the mortgage banker inside Chase I came away fairly impressed; I'm not a mortgage expert but I've read enough things here (seriously, thank you to everyone who contributes to this forum) that I have some idea on how things go with underwriting which made for a good and detailed conversation with the Chase banker as compared to what he suggests typically comes into his office (though shining on the customer is never a bad idea haha).
They did suggest that my becoming a CPC member might influence the mortgage process, and it's stated in their CPC welcome literature as well (which the CPC rep at the branch tossed me as part of a sales pitch, this information from here helped me in that discussion too, so many bonuses to participating here) but it's hard for me to accept when my short-term and cash assets that'd qualify me for entry CPC are going to get nuked when I make the absurd (to me) downpayment and I'm happy with my discount brokerage for my accounts I'd really not touch.
Have to talk to multiple lenders or just go through a broker anyway but I'm happy to hear from a professional that they have a good product.
Thanks again!
Chase has some good LO's, not all. But that is the nature of the business. It's the same with Realtors, some good - some not.
When I was discussing the jumbo product with the Chase rep I use, they will give you special u/w benefits if you have deposits on account with another non-Chase entitiy. In other words, if you have $1M on deposit outside of Chase, you get special exceptions on your jumbo u/w. I believe IIRC the special u/w consideration begins at about $1/2M on deposit. This comes in handy for self employed borrowers. Naturally, if you have these types of deposits with a Chase account you reap the same benefits
Even if you don't have those extra funds, the jumbo product is great.
Saw your other thread - on ARM's, the thing to look at is the margin and the index and the adjustment period as well as the start rate. In fact, I would venture the margin and index are more important than the start rate. Some lenders offer a better start rate, but hit you hard with a high margin (you don't want that).
