Wells Fargo Mortgage SUCKS!!!

I don't rant often, but sometimes companies or people just set me off and when I have had enough, I have to either vent or blow.

In February 2009 our home in Edmond was hit by a tornado. It did significant damage but luckily, we were covered by Oklahoma Farm Bureau Insurance. They were quick to respond and have done an excellent job in helping us get our home back in shape, providing us with a rental home, and just being great folks.

The big delay in rebuilding our home as been our mortgage company, Wells Fargo. We did not chose them when shopping for a mortgage. I am guessing they either bought the mortgage, or are just the servicing agent for the mortgage. After my experiences with them, I would NEVER EVER chose them for anything.

Since we have a mortgage on the property, our insurance company has to write the rebuilding check to both us and the mortgage company. So my wife Kay and I must endorse the check, send it off to Wells Fargo, and then wait for them to process it and send us the money. We wait. And wait. And wait. And then wait some more.

I think it is just their policy to delay processing of the money for as long as possible so they can earn interest on the money. In the meantime our house sits vacant, awaiting contractors to finish the repair jobs. Our "friends" at Wells Fargo always has some type of excuse. They need a document signed. Then they need an inspection. Then another document. Then 48 hours to process a document. They have to wait a week on an inspector, then wait a week for the inspector to get a report to them. They even forced me to sign a document that wasn't accurate - a document stating the home was complete. I clearly told them it was NOT complete, but the only way they would release some of the funds is if I signed the document - it was their policy. I signed the document and hand wrote on there the house was not complete. That was fine by them as long as they had their document that said it WAS complete.

All in all, we have wasted well over two months waiting on Wells Fargo to send us the money. So our home is empty, only half completed, we are stuck in a tiny rental house that is NOT our home, I have to mow two yards, pay the electricity at two places, it is just very, very frustrating. Of course the Wells Fargo people will only give you an 800 number and won't give you their last name. They hide behind corporate anonymity, they could care less if we are out of our home, they just want to hold the money a bit longer.

I would highly recommend that new home buyers look elsewhere and stay far away from Wells Fargo Mortgage. What a horrible company to work with.

Oklahoma Speeding Tickets

Australian flashing speed limit sign

One of my biggest irritations is how we do speeding tickets here in Oklahoma. I haven't had one in 3 years and generally try to follow the posted speed limit, but the way our system is set up here, it is all about the money, not about safe driving.

Kay and I were in Australia last year and they are very serious about safe driving and speed limits, much more so than in Oklahoma. How can I tell? First off, they have three times the number of posted speed signs. Many of them flash, the standard speed sign is much bigger than here, and you see them EVERYWHERE. In Oklahoma, our road engineers just post maybe one or two in a 20 mile stretch of highway. You might see one small sign semi-hidden or posted unobtrusively on the way into a small town. Does the town complain? Heck no, that is a license to print money from unsuspecting motorists! These small sparsly spaced speed signs are not really designed to warn motorists, but instead just to give police officers the ability to easily write more tickets. If towns were serious about slowing motorists down that pass through their town, they would invest in flashing speed signs like in Australia, or the ones used on the Interstate that flash your current speed as you approach a construction zone. But no, these towns are more interested in the money they can collect from motorists who do not live in their town. They don't really care about safety or speeding at all. If we took the revenue they collected from speeding fines and put that into the general Oklahoma operating fund, then you would see them cut the number of speeding tickets and find more creative ways to slow motorists down as they approach a small town.

Welcome to Oklahoma Rant

As a publisher of Ride Oklahoma Magazine, and a writer for several other publications, I enjoy writing. But sometimes because of editorial restrictions I can't always write about "politically incorrect" things that but me. Normally I try to have a positive outlook on life, but sometimes I will see or read about something that really irks me and I just want to write what I think - and this is the place to do that.

If all you follow is my Oklahoma Rant blog then you won't really get a good idea of who I am. I really don't complain that much and enjoy life. This is my little tiny corner of the Internet where I complain!