Secured Personal Loan (Wells Fargo)

[Anonymous]

I asked this in my very first thread but no one really is touching on that at all. Specifically that was one of the most important parts I wanted people to respond to. I need help with pfd as well however before I can get to pfd I have to know if this loan is even possible for me to get first of all, and second of all if it is a good loan. So I have 2700 medical collections currently on my report, however I have another 2800 that was removed but will likely be added back, so in total I have roughly 5600 in medical collections. They update every single month and I was contacted recently so I need to get a loan to pay them.

I am looking at a secured loan with my bank (wells fargo, customer since 2009) and it would be for 60 months. I wouldn't take 60 months to pay it off but I need it to be 60 months to make the payment affordable. I would probably pay it off in 2 to 3 years. Does this sound like something I could be approved for, and if I could, does it even sound like something I should do? Are there better options for a loan that I could get? Also I see on here mentioned a consumer finance account, I don't want one of those whatever it is, so is the loan I am considering a consumer finance account?

[DaveInAZ]

- What would a "secured personal loan" be secured with?

- Wells Fargo is pretty conservative, not sure they would approve a loan with collections on the credit report, even if the purpose of the loan was to pay off those collections

- A "consumer finance account" is a personal loan from one of the big personal loan lenders like Prosper, Best Egg, Lending Club, etc., easily identified by the credit reporting agencies because that's pretty much all they do. A personal loan from a bank or CU is not identified as a consumer finance account because personal loans is a very small part of their business.

Regarding the collections, have you checked your state's laws? When I had a big medical expense and no insurance 10+ years ago I found out that Arizona has a law the medical services must accept a payment plan with a minimum of $25 per month, they can't place a collection as long as you make the minimum monthly payment. Among others I had a $1600 ambulance bill, I sent them $25 / mo. for a year or so and they sent me a letter that they had written off the balance and no more payments were necessary.

[Anonymous]

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@DaveInAZ wrote:

- What would a "secured personal loan" be secured with?

- Wells Fargo is pretty conservative, not sure they would approve a loan with collections on the credit report, even if the purpose of the loan was to pay off those collections

- A "consumer finance account" is a personal loan from one of the big personal loan lenders like Prosper, Best Egg, Lending Club, etc., easily identified by the credit reporting agencies because that's pretty much all they do. A personal loan from a bank or CU is not identified as a consumer finance account because personal loans is a very small part of their business.

Regarding the collections, have you checked your state's laws? When I had a big medical expense and no insurance 10+ years ago I found out that Arizona has a law the medical services must accept a payment plan with a minimum of $25 per month, they can't place a collection as long as you make the minimum monthly payment. Among others I had a $1600 ambulance bill, I sent them $25 / mo. for a year or so and they sent me a letter that they had written off the balance and no more payments were necessary.

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I have 6k in a wells fargo savings account, I have 1300 at home, and I treat my utilities as separate "savings accounts" so I have 800 with the gas company, 500 with the power company, and I just started doing this with my internet bill 5 months ago so I only have 400 there. So I have lots of money (for me it is a lot, I couldn't even save 300 2 years ago) I don't want to use my savings though so I would be using that as collateral. I don't know anymore though, I don't want to do it unless it is pretty much guaranteed. Hmm, I do need to do it, but I don't know. Thank you for explaining the consumer finance account, definitely glad I didn't do that then. I was looking at one of those you mentioned 2 years ago.

As far as the collections I had insurance, however I couldn't pay them. I lost my job of 10 years, 2 years back (it will be 3 in October) and I had recently gone to a genetic specialist, and to get some things in my breasts clipped and monitored, (it was very expensive and all but 1 of my collections are from that appointment). So I am suddenly jobless and I have all these bills that I didn't have the ability to pay. They would not work with me on a payment plan, 1 of them would but not $25, I was offered a payment plan for each account now in collection. I can't remember the total amount but it was way more then I could afford. (to be fair I couldn't afford anything, since I had no savings and I lost my job)

If you think wells fargo is super conservative, is there another option that would be easier to get? I have a credit card with them that sees tons of purchases going through it(over 20k since I opened it 9 months ago) and it is payed off. That and the fact I have 6k sitting with them, I figured they would be a sure thing pretty much.

[Anonymous]

I worded something really badly in my response and I don't feel like rewriting it, so I will explain here. I said "They would not work with me on a payment plan, 1 of them would but not $25, I was offered a payment plan for each account now in collection." When I say they wouldn't work with me on a payment plan, and then claim I was offered a payment plan for each account, I mean they wouldn't negotiate a certain amount based on what I could actually afford. They simply offered me a payment plan and when I said yes they gave me set amounts for each. They would not change the amounts, they only gave me 1 option to choose if I wanted a payment plan.

Hopefully I explained that part that is badly worded better.

[Glen_M]

The basic premise of a secured loan makes it unlikely to be rejected (they hold/lock X amount of funds in an account, and give you a loan for X), but I don't know anyone who has taken one from Wells Fargo.  A secured personal loan or SSL is mostly about creating positive account records, not about the money, so they expect people with credit history issues to apply for them.  I know WF had an originaiton fee, but how else it would differ from some of the standard SSLs people here are familiar with, I couldn't say -- they're a regular bank with profit as motivation.

If you thought you could get into NFCU or some other credit union with a SSL, even a non-optimal one, it would be likely to cost you less money than taking one from WF.  If you did get one from WF, I'm sure people here would be interested in hearing about how its terms work.

[Anonymous]

BrokenCredit ... several years back I banked with Wells Fargo and obtained what they called a "Note Loan" which I secured with a WF CD. They gave me a loan and charged me a $50 origination fee (BK showing at the credit bureaus). WF does not like BKs but did work with me. My hope was to develop a relationship with WF for unsecured credit and they refused even to this day.

[Anonymous]

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@Glen_M wrote:

The basic premise of a secured loan makes it unlikely to be rejected (they hold/lock X amount of funds in an account, and give you a loan for X), but I don't know anyone who has taken one from Wells Fargo.  A secured personal loan or SSL is mostly about creating positive account records, not about the money, so they expect people with credit history issues to apply for them.  I know WF had an originaiton fee, but how else it would differ from some of the standard SSLs people here are familiar with, I couldn't say -- they're a regular bank with profit as motivation.

If you thought you could get into NFCU or some other credit union with a SSL, even a non-optimal one, it would be likely to cost you less money than taking one from WF.  If you did get one from WF, I'm sure people here would be interested in hearing about how its terms work.

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I don't know, about the secured part with wells fargo being true. I was speaking with them to go over everything on my credit report to see the odds of being approved and they kept saying they don't know if I could be approved, because they don't care whether it is a secured loan or not. They both have the same requirements, so I really don't know if I could do it with wells fargo anymore because I don't think I don't think I would qualify for a regular personal loan with them.

As for the credit union part, I actually have been thinking about switching to a credit union, (I wouldn't leave wells fargo completely, just would only keep 1 checking account and 1 savings instead of the amount I currently have.) however I don't really know which one I would join yet. I live in Idaho and that made me think I should join ICCU, however I seen that I can maybe join a bunch of credit unions that are way better with a donation. I found this list of 10 I believe and I am trying which one would be best. I am looking at affinity and alliant, as they were at the top of the list, but there might be something better so still searching to try and make sure I end up with the best one.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

BrokenCredit ... several years back I banked with Wells Fargo and obtained what they called a "Note Loan" which I secured with a WF CD. They gave ne a loan and charged me a $50 origination fee (BK showing at the credit bureaus). WF does not like BKs but did work with me. My hope was to develop a relationship with WF for unsecured credit and they refused.

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I tried forever to get a credit card with them, I was denied 3 to 4 times for a secured card. I had been a customer for 5 years at the time as well. I got 11 more collections added and they still approved me for an unsecured credit card, obviously I don't know the real reason for getting the card, however I do believe it was because of the fact that I was finally able to have a savings account and actually continue to add to it. I do believe it would be $75 origination fee now though, I could that get waived as per the person I spoke with on the phone, however I am so uncertain about this loan. I want something that I have really good odds for and I don't know if I do. I have a lot of medical collections, and I would hate to waste a hard pull. I need to look at every option, I can't just go with wells fargo because I like them, I need to really look around for the best offer.

[sjt]

I would move to a credit union for many reasons.