Has anyone refinanced their mortgage with Wells Fargo?

sherry7 · Feb 20, 2013

Has anyone here refinanced their mortgage with Wells Fargo?

DH and I have been talking about refinancing for a few months. However, I am probably being transferred at work later this year, and there's a significant possibility that we will move if that happens. So, we kind of figured that it wasn't worth the risk of paying closing costs, appraisal, survey, etc, since there's a possibility that we might be selling anyway.

Over the weekend, I was on the Wells Fargo website to pay my mortgage payment. I saw something about refinancing on the website, and I submitted a request for more info. They called me tonight, and this was what I was offered: 15 years, 3% fixed rate, and no fees at all. She told me it was a "3 Step Program" for qualified existing mortgage customers of Wells Fargo. Everything is done by mail (FedEx). They will mail me a packet, we fill it out and get it notarized, and send it back. There's no appraisal or survey required. She did say that we might have to submit proof of income, like a W-2, pay stubs, bank statement, etc. Basically, my only cost is going to be a few bucks to pay the notary person.

I went ahead and did the application over the phone, and I'll be getting the packet of info in about 3 business days. However, this just seems too good to be true! I can't understand why my mortgage company WANTS to save me money. :confused3

For comparison's sake, here's the numbers:

current rate 5.375% fixed
new rate 3.00% fixed
current mortgage is 30 years, with 20 years remaining to pay it off
new mortgage is 15 years
new payment will be $58.75 less per month

I did some quick math. If we actually stay in this house until it is paid off in 15 years, we will end up saving $75,000 in interest fees compared to our current mortgage. (On the flip side, if we have to move and sell it, I don't have any money invested in closing fees, etc.) I was also given the rates for a 20 and 30 year mortgage, but decided to go with the 15 year option. I googled "Wells Fargo 3 Step Program" and didn't find anything bad written about this program. But, I just can't wrap my head around it. Why does my current mortgage company want to save me money?

If anyone here on DIS has used this program, I would appreciate some reassuring words.

JessB320 · Feb 20, 2013

Yes we did this about three months ago. Sorry I can't give you many details (DH dealt with most of it) other than to say it worked out great, our payment went down by almost $500 a month and with direct deposit the payoff date did not change, also no fees. I can't tell you why they are offering thus but it's real

disneylove69 · Feb 21, 2013

I did it with Chase. No fees, etc. Notary came to house and I got a .49 cent check back. It was through the HARP program. Took 3mths because they were taking in order received. Banks have to show govt they r working with home owners so they encourage those who make payments on time.

disneylove69 · Feb 21, 2013

Ooo and I saved over $400 a month and no payoff penalty.

cvjw · Feb 21, 2013

We refinanced our house 10 years ago with Wells Fargo. We got an overnight letter from them one day, asking us if we would refinance our house with them - we were not previous customers. They offered a low rate, no fees, and a huge gift card if we did. It seemed too good to be true, but we did it. We only had to go to their office for closing to sign the papers.

I think they sought us out because we had never missed a payment, and had plenty of money in the bank. We were very low risk customers, and they wanted to do business with us. It was a win - win for both of us!

Gr8t Fan · Feb 21, 2013

We did a no cost refi with Wells Fargo several years ago via the same process you describe. We got a packet in the mail, signed the docs before a notary, and reduced our term to 10 years and our rate by about 2%. Just make sure there is no penalty (reimbursement of recording fees?, closing costs?) if you have to sell soon. We are still in our house, and didn't plan on moving, so I didn't look for any fine print, but just check to be sure there isn't any.

daughtersrus · Feb 21, 2013

Several years ago we got an offer in the mail. I was sure it was a scam because we don't even have Wells Fargo banks in IL. I put it aside but decided to call. Apparently one of our credit cards from a local furniture store was with Wells. Long story short, we did the refi. It was as simple as getting the papers in the mail, signing them and dropping them off at Fed Ex. When rates dropped again, we did the same thing. Rates are lower now but we only owe a few years. I just don't want to go back to 10 or 15 years and be tempted to only make the lower payment. I admit that this would be a huge temptation for me. I know my limits and we're really paying mostly principle and very little interest now anyway. I'd say to check and make sure there's no penalty if you sell soon and then go for it.

artesian · Feb 21, 2013

Legit. Wf contacted me via snail mail and i too thought it was a scam. Turns out when i called and verfied it was fine. Was able to close everything and process all through the mail

MN Disneyfan · Feb 21, 2013

We are currently refinancing through Wells Fargo with the same deal that you were offered. We would like to move, but we've been saying that for years. So the idea of refinancing and paying the closing costs, appraisal, etc really have deterred us, not knowing how long we will stay in our current house. Like you we have 20 years to pay off our house on the current mortgage and are refinancing to a 15 year and are basically paying the same monthly payment.

I thought too the deal was too good to be true. But really what I can figure is that the interest rates are lower then the 3% so they are recouping some of the costs that way. If you do end up staying in your home long term you aren't getting as good of a deal going through Wells Fargo with the zero closing costs, no appraisal deal. If you only stay a year then you wouldn't have recovered the costs of the appraisal and paying closing costs so its a good deal. Either way I feel better about taking Wells Fargo up on this deal.

drinkme · Feb 21, 2013

Is this through the HARP program? Just wondering. Because we are in the process of refinancing from a 30 year to a 15 year with WF (22 years left). We also got the 3% (from 5.875%), but our payments are a little bit higher. We have closing costs added to ours. We have to go through HARP because our house is worth $100,000 less than when we bought it, so we're upside down on our house.

So, let me know if your refi is through HARP.

sherry7 · Feb 21, 2013

Thanks for all of the replies everyone, they have definitely reassured me.

I'm so excited to be knocking 5 years off of our mortgage. :cool1:

mistysue · Feb 22, 2013

I am kicking myself every day for getting a mortgage that is not fannie may/freddie mack backed. Because of that, we don't qualify for any of the new programs... not only are we about to pay $2400 in closing costs, we have to add PMI and will now be paying that for a few years. It will still save us about $20,000 in the next 20 years, but it's so frustrating to see the deals everybody else is getting. I've applied at a dozen places (including all the big banks) and the current deal was the only one who didn't give a flat out no. I need to bring about $3,000 to closing and with the PMI the payment only goes down about $10/month for a while.

LoveBWVVBR · Feb 22, 2013

REALLY??? YAHOO! I am off to check this right now. I've called then about 10 times in the past year asking to "refi in place" with no fees. Is there a catch, like they roll the fees in? They quoted me nearly 6 grand the last time I called.

DawnM · Feb 22, 2013

We just refinanced with 2.6% on a 15 year loan. No closing costs other than the appraisal, and we ended up only paying $300 of that.

We did not use Wells Fargo.

Donnainnj · Feb 22, 2013

We did this about 2 years ago with very little left on the loan. We had Wells Fargo for about 8 years and I had seen the offer on the statement quite a few times but figured they were just rolling it into the mortgage. When I finally looked into it, it truly was no cost. We even used a notary at one of the banks we used and that was free. We decided to go for it not only for the savings (at this point we had about 5 years left on the loan but planned to pay it off in less then 2.) but also to lower the required payment in case of emergency. My DH was having a little uncertainty at work so if there was a time of unemployment we wanted to lower our monthly obligations. Everything worked out and we are now mortgage free.
Donna

Shelly F - Ohio · Feb 22, 2013

I think the program that Wells is offering is called the HARP program. Its a gov. program to help those of us who are current with our mtg. payments and have outstanding payment history who want to refi. You don't have to have an appraisel and the fee's are minimal. Google "Harp" and you can find out more

It seems like a no brainer to refi if you will save $75k or even if you only stay there for the next 5 years think of all the interest you will be saving in those 5 years. Better off putting that money in your pocket than theirs.
Although your monthly payment drops by $60 its the over all amount you will be saving on interest. Remember the money you save on interest will now be applied to the principle.
What is it going to hurt you - DO IT. :cool1:

kelcoppens · Feb 22, 2013

Can you do this if your NOT a current Wells fargo customer? Someone above said they did this with Chase. So maybe we can do this with another mortgage company? We need to refinance and need to avoid the fees.

LoveBWVVBR · Feb 22, 2013

Is this deal only for people who qualify for HARP? Our house is worth a lot more than we owe on it, so it seems like we are excluded from the "deals" on refinancing most of the time. I'm going to call WF now to see what they offer me.

drinkme · Feb 22, 2013

drinkme said:
Is this through the HARP program? Just wondering. Because we are in the process of refinancing from a 30 year to a 15 year with WF (22 years left). We also got the 3% (from 5.875%), but our payments are a little bit higher. We have closing costs added to ours. We have to go through HARP because our house is worth $100,000 less than when we bought it, so we're upside down on our house.

So, let me know if your refi is through HARP.

I contacted the person at WF working with us on this. She said some of the fees will be credited back to us (like the appraisal, since we don't need an appraisal through HARP). The other fees are required by our county. Figures!!

Anyway, I'm still going to do this. To cut 7 years off of our mortgage is worth it for us, and our payment is just slightly higher than what we're paying now.

Good luck to everyone who is trying to get this.