Wells Fargo Paper Pushers are a PAIN!

In the past several months, Wells Fargo has taken on a new policy wherein they want a copy of all lien releases for any outstanding liens on the property PRIOR to submitting the file to the negotiator for review. They are now pulling their own title work and reviewing it to make sure that all liens are being reported to them. This may cause a huge battle because often the Second Lender will not approve the lien release until they have the written approval from the First.

I have always said that Wells Fargo is one of the strictest Banks that requires a crazy amount of paperwork for them to move forward. We recently had a file wherein the second mortgage, even though they had a second mortgage on the property, took the Sellers to court on the Note and received a Final Judgment against them. The seller was even garnished. However, in Florida, if you are head of household, you can stop the garnishments if you do not agree with the garnishment, so that ended. We have been fighting with a Negotiator that cannot put the second mortgage payoff and the Final Judgment Payoff together as one.

The Bank Negotiator keeps asking for another payoff from Citi Financial which is both the second mortgage and the Final Judgment Plaintiff. She just can’t get it thru her head! We have gone over her head multiple times to a supervisor and she refuses to submit our file. I requested a copy of her title work so we could see what she is seeing, but she just keeps sending us the recorded page number of the Judgment. We have contacted Citi Financial and they said yes this payoff includes the mortgage and the Final Judgment. We have asked Citi Financial to state that in their letter but they complain that this is a standard letter and it will not be tailored to the request of the First Mortgage Company.

So … What do you do??? I have requested our title company to provide us with current marked up title to verify that they have all lien releases and we can move forward. Marked up title is usually done at closing if the Buyer and/or Seller has an attorney, just to confirm that that are no more liens on the property and that they can guarantee the title free and clear from all outstanding liens.

At this time, we have submitted this information into Wells Fargo and asked for a supervisor as the Negotiator is not a title agent and has no idea what she is doing due to the fact that there are over 7 liens on this property and she doesn’t understand anything. All I can say is that many of the Banks have no intelligent life form working there to understand this process.

Many of the processors and Negotiators are thrown into Short Sales without knowing what is right or wrong. They just follow a checklist and if your file does not fit in their standardized checklist then it will not get through. That is why your Title Company may need to help you and/or the Bank supervisor needs to help. If that doesn’t work then send an email directly to the investor of the loan such as Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac or FHA, stating in the subject line of your email “Wells Fargo does disservice to FHA!”

That is my next step if she doesn’t move this file through as I am fit to be tied and I want this deal to close. It has not yet been submitted to the investor for final review and she is withholding a deal that can close immediately once it is approved.

Know your lender and learn the key things to tell your negotiator to get your deal through. Stay tuned to hear about a short sale deal that I just negotiated and closed with my partner. We could wholesale it for a profit of $20,000, but we’ve chosen to rehab and sell it for a profit of $40,000-50,000. I will tell you more in the next article, but remember, short sales DO work and people are cashing in BIG checks on short sales!!!

Please keep sending me your questions and topics that you would like to hear about, so I can be sure to keep feeding you with the information that you need in order to move ahead in your real estate dreams for 2015!!

Happy Negotiating!

Kimberlee Frank