JohnsBlog (articles, news, thoughts, advice)

Well I've known for a while through happy hour conversations with colleagues at the big banks that all isn't right with the world.  I regularly hear quotes that customers get from Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and Citi that are very competitive.  I can usually beat their rates and terms, however one aspect that I feel many people overlook where I SHATTER the competition is CUSTOMER SERVICE! 

Here's some news folks.  If you call Louviers Mortgage, you don't get an operating system.  We have a call system that puts you directly into my voicemail, and gives you access to my coworkers and processors in the instance I can't be reached for some reason.  Here are 3 examples I've seen JUST TODAY from 3 of the biggest lenders out there, and are reasons why you, as a borrower, should be working with someone that can offer great rates in addition to great customer service and personalized attention.

Example 1....received via e-mail from a REALTOR working with Bank of America.  Against, this is not my experience, simply an e-mail that was forwarded. 

My realtor got very frustrated with voicemail hell at B of A and finally sent in this email:

"It has been my experience that trying to get through all the options on
the phone numbers just to get through to a human is impossible. How about
you call me? I will be here all day tomorrow from about 10-4."

To which she received the following reply:


"We have received your request for a telephone call from Bank of America.
We regret that we cannot make outbound telephone calls via e-mail
request. If you would like to communicate with us through e-mail, please
reply to this e-mail with the details of your concerns.
If you would prefer to speak with a customer service specialist, we will
be happy to assist you by phone at 1.888.287.4637. We are available
between 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday to Friday and 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday,
Eastern Time. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause."

So, if you send them an email, they can only reply by email. Yet if you call them by phone, you will eventually get put thru to a general voice mail where you must leave a message. Am I the only one that finds this ridiculous?

Example 2...received directly via email from a divorce attorney.  I've blocked out any personal information for obvious reasons.

So citi sends me an e-mail yesterday morning saying that I was closing yesterday. I immediately respond and ask who to send ______’s info to so he could do it for. The processor e—mails backs and says the closer will be in touch. An hour goes by and nothing. By the way the processor is in MO and the closer is in NV. Then I get an e-mail from the closer who says the notary will be out to my house to do the closing. I immediately contact her and tell her that my state is an attorney closing state. She didn’t know that it was. Woops. So another hour goes by and I call again for more information and then she send me the name of an attorney I am supposed to settle with at 4:30. I tell her once again that I have my own attorney and she says “oh, no one told me that”. So I then send her all of _____'s info. While at work attempting to make a living I get another email from the closing company which is Equifax where I am informed that they can’t do title in DE and ______ would need to do all of that and the HUD etc. So at that point I was pissed because no one ever disclosed the Equifax couldn’t work in DE. So I talk to ______ and he says just go with their attorney. So it was too late for the 4:30 settlement so I choose a lawyer from the list they gave me and waited to be told when to be at the lawyer’s office. I finally get a call from some other closer indicating that the HUD was done and he went over the costs with me for the first time. (By the way I have been asking about closing costs since well forever!). So he goes over the HUD which seems right but how do I know since they didn’t send it to me. But they have my taxes too low so I tell him to raise the taxes because I need to make up for this dip into the reserve account. He has no clue what I am talking about and after 20 minutes of going round and round I gave up! So I ask him when I am closing and he says not sure. He’ll call me right back. So I tell him that I have to run an errand by the lawyer’s office so just call my cell phone and I can get over there in 5 mins. The lawyer’s office is by the mall. So I run my errand. An hour goes by and no call. So I am wandering around the  Mall just waiting and waiting. So I call him. No answer. Call again, no answer. Then I give up and go home. Turns out they sent the attorney to my house without telling me. So I stood up the attorney without even knowing it!. Let’s just say the level of mad I was last night cannot be topped. So I have a call into a manager over there. He was nice but we’ll see how this goes.

Example 3...what happened to one of my past clients today

They received a call from their attorney that Wells Fargo needed the mortgage signed again (6 months after closing) because they lost the signed mortgage note!  The MORTGAGE NOTE aka the most important document in the whole process.  My borrower calls Wells Fargo, and Wells Fargo has no record of requesting anything and can't help my borrower at all.  My borrower is rightfully cautious to sign a document so long after settlement.  Now they're playing phone tag with attorneys and Wells Fargo to try to sort it out.  What a mess!

I found it amusing that I got these 3 stories today from 3 different banks (who, by the way, all received TARP funds during the government bailout).  These banks continuing to operate in the fashion they do is scary.  There is complete disregard to customer service, and it's appalling.  Be smart when shopping folks, the big banks are the big banks for one reason.....they make more money off their clients than us ; )