Who has your Mortgage and do you like them?
 

My mortgage was with Washington Mutual who got gobbled up by Chase.

I'm looking to refi and my Dad (retired businessman with too much time on his hands) is researching banks for me.

He thinks Chase has a pretty good deal.

Since Chase took over my loan they have screwed up several times and I think they suck donkey balls.

Who has your mortgage and how do you like them?

A tiny local bank has mine. IMHO, this is the only way to fly. I've never had a problem, but if I did, I could walk in the office and speak to the loan officer personally. I like that.

Last house was WaMu. Dumped before the Chase buyout but had a business account converted over. Not happy with Chase at all.

This house originally National but refi'd 1st year in with a company that has their own capital and resells so have Wells Fargo now. Funny thing is I went to WF for refi and their deal was not great but getting in the back way I'm perfectly happy with their service.

We like to do automated bimonthly and with National they charge you fees to do that. Wells Fargo was just like WaMu, log in, set it, forget it.

I had mine with a small local bank, who sold it to National City, who sold it last month to PNC.

Very rarely do small local banks actually carry mortgages, IMLE.

I like USAA.

Almost all of the bit players out here do, at least for a majority of their loans. But their lending standards tend to be stricter as a result. YMMV.

GMAC 'owns' my loan now and I've been pretty happy with them. The web site has a lot of the information I'd normally need to call in for.

Citibank, not too terribly thrilled with them but I do get a pretty good, low fee checking account because of it. I'd love to go with a small one branch bank, but what's the guarranty they aren't going to sell it off?

NOt sure if this is true nationwide, but here in MA, the banks disclose to you in writing what % of their loans are sold. Which isn't to say that a bank that never sold loans can't change their mind and start, but it is certainly less likely.

Hmmmm... I already have accounts with USAA and Citybank ;) I'll have to check with them.

Thanks for the replies!

Mine was with National City, who got bought out by PNC.

I never had a problem with National City, but we'll see what happens.

When I sell in the spring, we will probably get our new loan with either my credit union or through my employer (these were not options last time due to lack of credit history). Both do not sell their loans.

Mine has been sold three times now. Having a high FICO score tends to do that.

Its now with CitiBank and they are not very easy to work with. Last was with ABN-AMRO and they were a lot more personable.

I was a "friend of a friend of a friend of Angelo"...until they were bought up by B of A.

They keep wanting me to refi. I'm not sure why...They only will lower my interest rate by maybe .25-.5%. That isn't really enough, since it extends my mortgage and adds cost.

Maybe it isn't to save me money.

Aw come on... I'm sure they only have your best interest in mind

:D

Just like the greasy kid in the cheap suite and the big toothy grin at my local Chase branch.

I had mine through First Horizon and really liked them. It's now through MetLife (bought the loan from FH) and it took me a few months to figure out how to avoid all of the ridiculous auto pay fees.

I found that MetLife had a ton of hidden fees that you'd never see (until it was too late), unless you read every detail of the "I agree to these terms" mini windows. I was going to set up a bi-weekly auto pay through them, until I read in the last to second last paragraph of their mini-window of terms, that there it would cost me nearly $400 to set it up. FH offered the same auto pay w/o the fees.

I eventually found a way to set up an auto draft through my bank which not only eliminated the set-up fee, but also saves me the $25 monthly "convenience fee" for not sending them a check. I still can't understand why they want to charge me more for a direct deposit transaction vs. them having to manually process a check.

National City used to send me ads for their "equity accelerator" program.

Instead of my mortgage being due once a month, they halved the payment amount and made it due every two weeks. In theory, this would add up to me making an extra (monthly)payment a year. Reading the fine print, there was a $50 "convenience charge" per payment for this program. My mortgate is $1100 a month.

That's right, I would end up LOSING $100 in equity a year if I signed up for this program (as the "convenience fee" would eat up MORE than the additional payments). Even better, my grace period on payments would go from 15 days to 5 days--and be due twice a month. They'd be almost certain to ding me on late fees (which I have never had paying monthly) if I were travelling or my paychecks didn't line up just right with their due dates.

I throw an extra $100 on every payment and come out much better with no extra fees or penalties.

Personally, I have had the best experiences with USAA for all banking, insurance etc. Just a great organization!

With that said I occasionally do purch & refi's for family & friends and we've seen the best rates at WF recently (as you all know Brokers get different pricing then through the banks front door).
EX:
My brother bought his home [closed early Oct] (short sale/family trust nightmare) and we got him an FHA 30yr fixed 4.875% with a 3.5% down payment.

Pretty sweet as both local CU & WF couldn't touch the rate on that program...

Dad's refi at 10yr was smokin as well, bi-weekly payments etc.

I absolutely hate Chase, Citi, BofA..

Not trying to make this a rate, broker vs bank comparo etc.

I'm just sayin...

YMMV

Paid house...What's a mortgage....?:D

Nicely done ZEF!

some day, someday soon...... I hope, make that I'm planning on it :)

You should never get a mortgage based on who you think will service it. Nat. City held more of their own loans than anyone else and even they got bought up by PNC. There is never a guarantee that your loan won't be sold, so don't do anything based on servicing. HSBC has had mine for the last five years and I hate them with such a burning passion. They won't let you pay online unless you bank with them too. They sent me a pile of hate mail when the post office sorting machine made my check to them undepositable, acting like I was some kind of deadbeat. Indian call centers don't make me love them any more either.