Delivering My Change.Org Petition to Wells Fargo

Delivering My Change.Org Petition to Wells Fargo

Wednesday May 9^th.  11:00 a.m. Arrived in San Luis Obispo with my friend Melanie, a veteran, and my service dog Raphael accompanying me. Parked in the lot of Wells Fargo Bank and Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, 665 Broad Street, San Luis Obispo, California 93401. Occupy SLO was conspicuously absent; perhaps they no longer exist. Down the street, two men were setting up a KSBY-TV camera. We approached these cameramen who then asked me for a short interview. I was more than happy to comply. 

 

Again they filmed the large, bound petition book I was carrying, and asked many questions about Change.Org. I told them how supportive Change.Org’s staff had been to me, but I re-emphasized that these opinions of Wells Fargo were my own, not those of Change.Org. I explained that Change.Org only provides a platform and voice for me and the thousands of others who signed up with them. Then KSBY-TV supposedly filmed us walking into the front doors of the bank, but instead filmed another woman walking into the side door. This weakened the spot on the local 6:00 news. Still, I was grateful for the coverage.

 

11:35 a.m. Melanie, Raphael and I entered Wells Fargo Bank. As we looked around for the staircase to the Home Mortgage Division on the second floor, a man in a suit politely approached us and asked if he could help us. I saw right away he was waiting for us. He introduced himself as Mark Corella, the district manager for the Central Coast Market. 

 

Ah, see there! I hadn’t known the Central Coast was a “market” for Wells Fargo. Silly me; I’d thought this was a geographic area.

 

Mr. Corella told me that he and the branch president, Mike Henson, had been waiting for us. Mr. Henson arrived and shook my hand. Both men escorted me and my companions upstairs where we were invited into a conference room to sit down and talk. On my way up the sweeping staircase, I observed that the building’s interior was round with a domed roof, along the Byzantine architectural style of cathedrals, temples, and mosques. A fitting sanctuary, I mused, for the altar of the almighty dollar.

 

Melanie noticed that the mortgage department, which took up the whole second floor, was bereft of customers that day. Interesting. Keeping the children out of the busy street?

 

Both men immediately expressed great sorrow at the fact that I had suffered so much at the hands of Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, and begged to hear my story. Mr. Corella seemed especially sympathetic, and claimed he had “no idea” this was going on in his community until he saw the newscast on KSBY the night before.

 

(Scary, huh?)

 

To their credit, the men tried to make me feel welcome and comfortable. Before I launched into my story, I let them know that I was aware that Mr. Henson’s domain was generating new mortgages and not dealing with loan modifications. However, I softly chided them, this has been a sore issue: The ironically named “Home Preservation Department” is a warehouse of, I suspect, temporary, untrained employees without face-to-face presence. But I was here demanding  that the bank sit up and pay attention to this issue face-to-face, i.e., this issue of endless runarounds, bad faith, dual-tracking, lies.

 

They asked if they could look at the petition, and I told them, “Here! It’s yours. This is what I am presenting today.” They were quite astonished to see so many signatures from all around the country and, I pray, embarrassed. 

From about 11:45 to 12:30, I spoke, telling them every detail I could squeeze in, and how I was shafted by the bank at every turn. Both Corella and Henson appeared to listen attentively. I explained about how I had so far received good media attention, much of it from the almost 17K signatures. 

 

I recounted some examples of other people’s miserable experiences with Wells Fargo, and that many were horrific and morally repugnant (not to mention criminal, but this was not a tribunal. Yet.) I explained how the banks had created this economic downfall to begin with and had unleashed an American tragedy. These Wells Fargo representatives could hardly believe their ears because “we always try to help people and do the best for our customers—and our community right here in San Luis Obispo.” 

 

To this form of dangerous and willful ignorance, I suggested that first, they drive around and see the empty houses in their community; and second, they pay more attention to the walloping the WF Brand is getting on the Internet and in other media. “Oh, not just from me but from thousands of customers—and, uh, former customers,” I drawled sweetly.

 

Near the end, Mr. Henson asked what they could do to help me.

 

Someone suggested that he call the Executive offices in Des Moines to see if he could bring attention to this matter. At that I reeled off the names of people in that executive office I had spoken to in the past, and how they no longer answered my calls or returned my messages, at least as of March. Yes, even Ms. Dawn Nelson, from the Media Division, who chatted so amiably with me and insisted I reapply for a loan mod. Ms. Nelson recited all the perfect formulaic hogwash previously spewed at me, such as how she would “be there” for me and serve as my exclusive point of contact, and how she would help me with the new application, and so on.

 

Okay. Now let’s break and try out your psychic abilities: How many times since that call do you think Ms. Nelson talked to me or even returned my calls? Yes, by golly, zero times. How many times did I call leaving frustrated messages only to hear that Ms. Nelson was “out of the office” for weeks on end? Bingo! Yes, every time.

 

After this, Mr. Henson declared that I had ventured closer to the President’s Office than any of them ever had. I told them that was thanks to my enlisting the help of U.S. Congresswoman Lois Capps’ office.  As to my attempts to open a case with the OCC, that was a waste of time. The OCC, not surprisingly, did nothing but stick up for Wells Fargo and tell me that WF did not have to follow any regulations. No, those OCC “regulations” I was quoting, the OCC person told me, were really only guidelines, for did I not know that “the banks can do what they want?”

 

Do I know that. Ya think? That’s exactly what I’m fighting to change.

 

The meeting with Corella and Henson ended by Mr. Henson promising to contact the executive offices in Des Moines, send them the petition, and let them know they I had spoken with them, and as a result, they, Henson and Corella, wanted to try and help me succeed in obtaining this loan modification. Henson frankly admitted that it would probably do no good as he was “small fry,” but at least he was willing to try.

 

Back in the car, I asked Melanie’s opinion. Melanie is a U.S. Marine veteran with her feet squarely on the ground, so her opinion counts. 

“A game of Klingon Boggle would prove more productive," she sighed.  "Seems like the same dog-and-pony act from what you described before: they’re nice, they listen, they do absolutely nothing.”

 

“Then, while they have you on infinite hold, they send the foreclosure attorneys out. Don’t forget that step.”

 

“Even in there, I was worried that the nice guys in suits might just be shape-shifters and any minute would revert to their true form of cosmic gases.”

 

“Oh, Melanie. Don’t be so unkind. I’m sure Star Trek does not want to be associated with…such…deceptive practices.”

 

Friday May 14, 2012.  Not a word from Wells Fargo in SLO, a word like, “I phoned the executive offices in Des Moines but they will be closed for three months while renovations and remodeling take place. I’ll try back in early September.”

 

I couldn’t stand it, so I phoned Mark Corella, the more sympathetic one. He answered, but seemed very surprised to hear from me.

          “Uh..oh…Maria!” he exclaimed. “Uh, remember I said that mortgages were not my area? I gave your case to Mike Henson to take care of.”
          “Well, then let me speak to Mike, please.”
          “He’s not here.”
          “Aha. Where might he be?”
          “Well, he and his whole group are out of town. In a training session. Yes, they are all in Santa Barbara at a training session. I won’t see him till Monday morning or so.”
          “Can you at least tell him I called? Give him a message?”
          “Yes, sure. In fact I’ll call him right now on his cell phone. But—he probably won’t be able to get back to me. But I’ll try. I know before he left he did send some emails to the executive offices, but I don’t know any more."

A few hours later, Mr. Corella left a message on my home phone stating that he did indeed put that message on Henson’s cell phone.

Monday, May 14, 2012, 4:44 p.m. No word. No calls.  SUPPORTERS: You are WONDERFUL! Couldn’t do this without you. More updates soon!