Never again
Written: Jan 18 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Loan application process was easy
Cons: Terrible service, didn't know what they were doing
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| CoachB's Full Review: Firstar |
Our first and last experience with Firstar Bank was when we got our construction loan to build our current house back in 1993. The loan/approval process was the easiest part of this entire transaction.
After our construction was complete and we signed the mortgage our problems began. I should have known better when we wanted to establish an escrow account for insurance and taxes and they acted as if they've never handled one before but they humored us and allowed us to set up an account. This account was handled incorrectly from the beginning. I never received any statements so I had no idea the account wasn't being credited the proper amount. I don't recall now what sent up the red flag that the account was not being handled properly but when I brought this to their attention and told them that I never received any statements or I would have known sooner, I was told that this was not my account, I could not make withdrawals from it, therefore the statements stayed at the bank. It took some time to get this mess straightened out because the mortgage payments were handled out of state.
Approximately two years after this escrow account was set up, we received a letter stating that Firstar would no longer automatically make our tax and insurance payment for us. This meant more of a headache for us so we elected to close the escrow account with Firstar and establish a separate savings account at our current bank.
Not long after this, we received a letter telling us that they were no longer going to store our abstract and we should come pick it up and put it in safekeeping. At this point, we were beginning to wonder if they were going to continue handling money!
When I picked up the abstract, I discovered the lien page included in the abstract by the abstract company had never been released. I had to do the leg work on this and I should not have had to.
In 1999, we refinanced and Firstar charged us $15 to fax a payoff statement to the attorney handling the refinance.
The biggest problem and inconvenience during the refinance was we could not get Firstar to file a release of their mortgage once they received the payoff. We had to have an attorney send a letter advising them that they were in violation of Iowa law for the time limit in which to file their release. They had thirty days from the date of the letter before they were going to have to pay us $100. They filed their release on the very last day. When I would call to check on the status of this paperwork, I got a huge run around and the usual "it's in the mail". The failure to file the release held up the rest of the refinance process.
As I type this, I realize that they sent us the wrong person's final paperwork, which I returned to them, and to date, we have not received ours. This refinance took place almost a year ago (March 17).
Also, when I was looking to set up our checking and savings account locally, Firstar's accounts were not very attractive.
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
CoachB
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Member: Marie Blatt
Reviews written: 131
Trusted by: 10 members
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