We're getting ready to take the plunge into home ownership. Given we don't have several hundreds of thousands of dollars lying around, we're looking for a home loan. I emailed my bank, Washington Mutual, to ask them about their home loans. I had two simple questions:
- Do we need to go to a branch in person to get a good-faith estimate? Or can it be done over the phone?
- What Washington Mutual locations are staffed with people who can help me with this?
My initial mail:
Hi there, I'm interested in receiving a pre-qualification /Soon, the first reply comes back:
good faith estimate for a home mortgage. I have a couple of questions:
- Is this something that is done in person, or can it be done over the
phone?
- In either case, what WaMu locations are staffed with people that can
provide this for me? I live in Seattle.
Thank you for your inquiry about your Washington Mutual home loan.Hmm...but I don't have a home loan or a property address. Let's try again. Mail #2:
Unfortunately, I need more information to assist you with your inquiry.
Please provide your property address, and loan number so that I can
assist you.
Thank you for the opportunity to assist you. If you have any additional
questions or concerns, please reply to this email. We can also be
reached toll free at 866.926.8937.
Hi, I don't have a property or a home mortgage from WaMu rightA second reply comes back from them:
now. I'm inquiring about obtaining a pre-qualification / good-faith
estimate from a WaMu loan officer. I'm a first-time home buyer.
I hope this clarifies my question.
You have reached the home loan servicing division for existing homeOh, come on. Other financial institutions (BECU for example) provided me with this information over email. Why can't WaMu? My email #3:
loans and we are unable to assist you with new loan or refinancing
information. Please contact our New Loan and Refinancing Department toll
free at (877) 800-9268 Monday through Friday 5 a.m. to 6 p.m. CST for
assistance with your inquiry.
My questions are very general. Can someone from Customer CareHere's WaMu' reply:
not contact the Loan and Refinancing department with my two questions
below and report the answers to me back in email? Really, it's just:
- do I need to be present in person, and
- what locations in my area (Seattle, WA) should I contact?
I trust you'll be able to produce the answers to these questions in
short notice. As a point of comparison, another financial institution
answered all these questions over email for me with just one reply.
Thanks for contacting Washington Mutual!What?! I know where WaMus are, and I know how to use the web site to find them. That wasn't my question.
To find a Washington Mutual financial center, ATM, or Home Loan Center
near you:
- Go to wamu.com
* Click "Find a branch/ATM."
* Type your local address,
*Select the desired location type then click "Find Location."
If there's anything else, you may call us toll-free at 800.788.7000,
send us an email by visiting wamu.com, or visit a Washington Mutual
financial center. To find the financial center nearest you, please go to
wamu.com and select "Find a Location."
I try again:
This is email #4 for me and you've yet to answer my questions.And they reply:
Please try again.
Unfortunately, I need more information to assist you with your inquiry.And...we're back to the initial reply.
Please provide your name, property address, and loan number so that I
can assist you.
OK, Washington Mutual. What. The. Hell. I have two simple questions for you. It's been 4 emails now, and not only have you not answered them, but you're repeating yourself word for word.
I'm convinced WaMu's customer service department has been taken over by evil, but dim, robots.
As a point of comparison, here's the single, illuminating, email I got back from BECU after asking the exact same questions. Hmm..I wonder where I'll be taking my business?
Dear George:I'll update this post as the conversation with the WaMu customer service robots continues.
There's a 3 ways you can apply for a home loan.
1) Online at www.becuhomeloans.org;
2) You may go into the nearest Express Center or Financial Institution
(Everett or Tukwila) and apply in person. This doesn't require an
appointment. It's on a walk-in-basis.
3) You can also call 206-439-5772
You can also get Good Faith Estimates from our website above.
=====
Update #1: The fun continues.
My reply #5:
Nope, that's the same response you gave me initially. Try again.
Their reply #5:
Thank you for your inquiry about your Washington Mutual home loan.Unfortunately, I need more information to assist you with your inquiry.
Please provide your name, property address, and loan number so that I can assist you.
My reply #6:
I don't have a property or loan number. All I need is a good faith
estimate and a truth-in-lending for a mortgage. I need to know how and where to get one from WaMu.
Their reply #6:
Thank you for your inquiry about your Washington Mutual home loan.Unfortunately, Wamu does not have those documents on file. You will need to contact your closing agent. I do regret any inconvenience this may have caused you.
Does anyone want to take bets on how long this will go on?
=====
Update #2: It's still going.
My reply #7:
I have to ask - are you all reading my responses?I don't have a closing officer. I don't have a loan with WaMu. I'm just asking two simple questions
about who I need to contact, and where,for a good-faith-estimate for a home
loan.
Their reply #7:
Unfortunately, due to security and privacy reasons, I am unable to provide you with your loan information. However, you may contact your closing agent for more information. I regret any inconvenience this may have caused you.
I'm pretty sure they're not reading any of my responses. Why do they think I have a closing agent or a loan when I've repeatedly told them I don't?
=====
Update 3: I got a different reply, but quickly regressed back to the old automated pattern.
My reply #8:
Hi. I don't have a closing agent. I don't have a WaMu loan. My questions have nothing to do with an existing WaMu loan.
Their reply #8:
What the...? So they can't answer this question over email, but they're building some service to be able to in the future? What, they can't pick up the phone, call the number, ask the questions, get the answers, and relay them to me? I try again.Unfortunately, we're unable to respond to email messages regarding consumer loans (auto loans, lines of credit, etc.) at this time. We're preparing to offer email service in the near future, but we still want to help you find the information you need right now. For information and service on your consumer loan, please call our Consumer Loan Servicing department toll-free at 888.800.8738. We're available Monday through Friday from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturday from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. (PT).
My reply #9:
But my questions are very general, and don't refer to any specific product or account. I just need to know where to go or who to call to receive a good-faith-estimate on a home loan.If the phone number is the only way to get this info, why can't you call, get the info, and relay it to me over
email?
Their reply #9:
And, we're back to the stock line. I'm speechless...but I'll keep trying. At this point I'm just curious how many times we'll get back to stock answers, versus some actual intelligent response to my questions.Unfortunately, I need more information to assist you with your inquiry. Please provide your name, property address, and loan number so that I can assist you.
13 comments:
I would suggest you work through a mortgage broker, there fees are nominal and often paid through the mortgage company, they will shop rates for you and give you some financing options. More importantly (at least to me) was that he helped me decipher the benefits and disadvantage of different options and what the contracts really meant.
I considered briefly shopping mortgages myself, but my realtor started telling me horror stories about ditech and eloan and my credit union didn't have good options... anyway... I would ask friends who have recently bought homes in your area on the advice of a good mortgage broker. There is one guy here who we *all* use and we are very pleased.
I found your site while trying to look for an address for WAMU's Consumer Loan Servicing department. I have a complaint for the manager.
It is interesting to note we have similiar complaints about the operation of this department.
If you have an address please let me have it will you? Thanks.
brenda_d_simon@yahoo.com
Hi Brenda, I don't have a general number for consumer loans. You may want to try calling your local branch. I've found contacting them has led me to my answer more quickly than email support or some big call center.
Well George...
God Bless You for your patience. Far more than I can muster. I can only add that it doesn't matter what the topic of question is, the result is the same...circuitous rerouting with no answer from a mechanized system.
Presently, I am working on physically mailing a REAL snail-mail letter expressing my exasperation just to see what kind of "return" I might receive. Use of a telephone certainly did not get me to an answer to my question.
Given that I told them if I was a lawyer, they would owe me at least $150 for my time, do you suppose they will interpret that in a similar fashion as your requests and SEND me $150?
Gee...maybe tomorrow will be a lucky day for me at WaMu's expense.
I have recently had a home loan with WAMU. The wanted raise our rate from 7.2% to 10.2%. We have NEVER been late. Always on time or early. They don't take each file into account, it is just a general raising of rates. It didn't matter to WAMU that we were good payers.
If you want to find someone who is looking out for you and only you, you need to call my finance Lady, Sandora. She works for Seattle Savings Bank. She really works for the customer and not the bank. I will use her every time.
You can email me and I will give you here number.
Sluggermom31@gmail.com Don't go through WAMU ever. I will tell everyone that!
I recently closed my WAMU account because of a similar experience. When I discovered fraudulent charges on my debit card account, I immediately phoned their customer service number, where after the usual quarter of an hour on hold I was finally permitted to speak with someone who barely understood English and could tell me nothing other than what was written down in front of her. After several more phone calls, including one where I got hung up on after complaining that the rep wasn't even listening to my question, I finally spoke to a supervisor, who at least had the wit to forward my call to the security department -- where I was once again left on hold. I then tried dealing with the matter by e-mail, with the same result you got: nothing but boilerplate. They could have solved the problem with one personal phone call to me explaining my options, at which time I also could have given them the culprit's IP address. Instead, after cancelling the debit card, I got an automated phone call from a cheery robot thanking me for using their customer service department! That was the last straw. When I cancelled the whole account, I explained to my branch manager that providing the "illusion" of service is not the same as providing service.
I wold suggest you man up and just go to a damn branch. The reps that are working your emails have pre-defined responses, and you're probably emailing the wrong department.
Anonymous, it's 2008. WaMu should have been able to give me the info I needed without having me show up in person at a branch.
exactly... 2008.. the year of automated responses. if you want a human to review your questions, talk to one. Don't send an email.
I too have had a similar bizarre experience with WaMu that would take up several pages to explain. However, after many, many phone calls and about 8 hours of time I finally reached a person who had me fax them the docs they needed (the had given me a wrong address to send them to earlier). She said she would call me back and let me know she received them. She didn't. The next day after about half an hour I convinced a service rep to send her an email that asked her to call me and tell me if she received the docs and if they were OK. Rachel then called me back about an hour later while I was on another line and left the following message, 'Hello this is Rachel returning your call. If you would like to speak to me please call (general number). Once again I call and get a service rep to send another email to Rachel. She finally calls back and says it is being processed. This story is just the last third of the saga. All done I have made a couple of dozen calls - almost all with less results and the loan has almost gone to collection. All because my mother died and they cannot shift over the loan to her estate without repeated phone calls, mail, and faxes... thanks for letting me unload... It helps to know I am not the only one that landed in bizarre-ville
I also found your sight while searching for WAMU customer service help. I am currently on my third home mortgage with WAMU. The first two went very well - no problems. The current one has been a nightmare -- and the nightmare continues. Central to the problem seems to be a total collapse of communication between the different offices. I have dealt with no less than 5 people, each of whom know little about any prior conversation or exchange of information. (And NONE seem to know or care that I have been an excellent customer for 10+ years) I have rarely been treated so poorly.
If I had to start again, I certainly would go elsewhere.
Oh' that was so sad! Many company uses robots for customer service rather than a real customer service representative. Customers do not expect perfection, however, they do require a sincere and consistent effort on their behalf. Anyway, thanks for sharing this post. Keep posting!
-mel-
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