Mortgage Wars

Okay, so now I'm having a battle with the mortgage company.

In early May, I spent several days tearing my house apart looking for my mortgage bill.  I knew I had to pay it (like death and taxes...) but I couldn't find the stupid bill.  Finally, I decided to just send the check, with a letter accompanying it, explaining what had happened...and including things like our names, property address, loan number, and all that jazz.  I have done this before, and had no problem with it, so I wasn't TOO worried the money would eventually end up where it was supposed to.

About a week later, I was balancing my checkbook online, and I noticed the payment had cleared the bank, so I thought, "Ah, good!  They figured it out!"

Last week, however, I get a voice mail  from Wells Fargo.  A little recorded message saying, "Please call Wells Fargo at ###-###-####." I had kind of a bad feeling about it, so I went ahead and called back. After going through phone system hell before I could even speak to a human being, I am connected to an Extremely Nasty Collections Woman who is asking me why I haven't paid my May mortgage bill.  I tell her, I did pay it, and the check cleared the bank like a week ago.  She starts insisting that I need to send them a copy of the cancelled check from my bank.  I tell her that it's obvious that THEY lost the money, so why in the world would I have to jump through any hoops for them?  We come to a stand-off...I tell her I want to speak to her supervisor, so she puts me on hold and leaves me in muzak limbo. 

I go online, call up my bank statement, and then call Wells Fargo back on my cel phone.  Go through phone system hell AGAIN.  Get connected to Extremely Nasty Collections Woman #2,who immediately starts telling me I need to send them a copy of the cancelled check.  I tell her I am, as I speak, LOOKING at my bank statement, and it's telling me that Wells Fargo put through the payment, it was received by my bank on 5/17, and I AM NOT going to order up a copy of the cancelled check because Wells Fargo LOST THE MONEY.  We go around and around about this again, and she finally slams me over to Customer Service, where I deal with a very nice man who apparently has the ability to look for my check, finds the check, and tells me he is going to "open up a case" on it to try to figure out where the funds went.  AND that he will suspend all late charges and collection attempts, and make sure that this doesn't end up on my credit record.  I hang up the phone, satisfied, smiling and thinking how good, competent, and wonderful "William" the Customer Service Boy is. 

Well, by golly, guess who I got a call from today?  Extremely Nasty Collections Woman #3.  She starts right out insisting that I send them a copy of the g*d-d****d check.  One thing I learned from Good, Competent (or not) William the Customer Service Boy, was that Wells Fargo puts mortgage checks through as debits, makes copies of the checks for their records, and then DESTROYS THE CHECKS.  So, I couldn't get a copy of the stupid check if I wanted to!  The only place where such a copy exists in the whole wide world is at ....WELLS FARGO!  I tell ENCW #3 this, and whoops! she immediately starts backpedaling.  Suddenly, the call has been terminated, and I am looking at the phone saying, "Well, I know it can't be THAT easy."  So, I call Customer Service, knowing that I will have to, yes, endure phone system hell before I will be able to speak to a human.  Sometimes, you just gotta do what you gotta do... 

I speak to two different Sweet, Sympathetic Customer Service Women.  One woman tells me one thing, the other tells me something completely different.  The case has been closed, the case is NOT closed; they found the money, they have NOT found the money.  You know what?  All I know is it's NOT my problem.  I sent the money.  You lost it.  Figure it out.

One of the SSCSW's tells me that she will make sure the collections calls are halted.  That's the most positive thing I've heard, so I say, "Thank you!" and hang up.  I'm fully expecting another collections call from Wells Fargo before the end of the week, and when it comes, they're going to get it with both barrels.  Something to the tune of, "I know there are plenty of mortgage companies out there who would be very happy to have my business, including my local credit union.  Where all I would have to do if a problem like this came up is walk down the street and talk to a live human being."   I'm sick to death of dealing with huge companies, and their phone representatives, who follow a tight script, and couldn't come up with an independent thought to save their miserable lives.  In a situation like this, I'm walking this fine line between Customer Service and Customer Harassment.  And I'm REALLY starting to resent it!