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Avoid this mortgage company! Bad enough Wells Fargo is in the midst of a scandal but it turns out they use Sterling Appraisal Group to appraise properties, this appraisal group is involved in a felony federal tax evasion arrest! Simply Google this appraisal company! Why would these people use this company? Avoid Choe Hung and Marie Viray who work for Wells Fargo mortgage in Pasadena! This branch is full of incompetence, inept practices! They go out of their way to devalue your property! Avoid! Do not allow appraiser Michael M. Collins anywhere near your property! He is an inept appraiser. Appraised my property $50, 000 below value. Disgraceful shady operations here! Avoid!
Yes, you are forced to use their appraisers. I asked if I have to use their company and was told I had too. The appraiser significantly appraised my house for much less, thereby having Wells Fargo raise the interest rate. The appraiser compared houses to mine that were about 10-15 years older than mine, smaller than mine, and made out of different materials. I found different houses in my neighborhood that were the same age as mine, same materials, and same size and also sold at the same time as the houses the appraiser used. The appraiser was on my property and in my home for less than 10 minutes and the appraisal said my home was above average. Stay away from Wells Fargo!
We refinance with WellsFargo more than once. They force us to use their appraisers and charged us about $1200 for each appraisal (this doesn't shown on the loan doc.) vs.$400 - $600 (normal charges from other bank). They also make us to open an account with Wellsfargo before closing for each refinance in order to keep the rate that we locked not to increase.
I do believe that WellsFargo knows what they are doing is fraud, because if you look at the settlement statement on the loan doc. it doesn't shown that they charges $1200 for appraisal. At one time, we had 3 active accounts open and we cannot get them to close some of the inactive ones, etc.
Wells Fargo ONLY uses Core Logic for appraisals, so your original post is false. Also to Mozie, we don't "force" you to use our appraisers, the appraisal company has to be a neutral 3rd party and we only use one company so everything is consistent always across the board.
https://www.housingwire.com/articles/38413-wells-fargo-to-pay-50-million-to-settle-claims-of-overcharging-for-appraisals