[mikester]

I use wells myself but haven't had any problems. They have actually been quite good.

As far as the escrow - We had that with our original mortgage but through some foul ups by the escrow company (estimated the taxes wrong) we ended up just eliminating that from our mortgage payments and handling our property taxes on our own.

I would highly recommend not leaving the tax bits in the hands of someone else because if it gets screwy they aren't to blame - YOU are.

In our situation the previous owners of the house had only owned it for a few months. Not long enough to have to make a real tax payment nor long enough for the county to send them a bill. So the escrow company estimated our taxes based on the previous sales information from the county. Then the county updated their records and we ended up behind on our taxes based on the new and correct information. Wells informed us much the way you have been updated on your new tax liability but it was THOUSANDS different - not chump change. We were a little on the edge to begin with on affording the house so this was a serious blow. We sent in a check to the county to cover things and the county - in their infinite wisdom REFUNDED THE PREVIOUS OWNERS THAT SAME AMOUNT. Seriously, they started to say that we still owed them the money and I said - 'Uh, no way. I sent you a check - you cashed it. What you did with the money is your problem - not mine. We're square.' And they agreed basically. Wells let us eliminate the escrow and we basically manage it ourselves through a higher interest account. We save monthly for it and send it in when it is due.