February 2018 by Luke K.
My family has banked with Umpqua for years and years. I haven't had as much experience with them personally, but I do know most of the staff here in Los Molinos and they are very nice people. However, the entire bank let me down on some level due to incompetence. I'm not sure if it was strictly a corporate issue, or mostly a branch issue. After 2 failed attempts to receive a home mortgage, our realtor suggested my dad and I do a HELOC loan with our bank (Umpqua) for the entire sum. We only had 2 weeks on our mortgage extension left. My dad explained the situation to Umpqua and luckily they said they thought they could do it, especially since we had already gotten 2 HELOCs within the past year. After reviewing our needs, they even typed and signed a letter for our realtor, saying that the entire payment should be cleared for escrow before our closing date (Friday, February 23rd). Then on Wednesday, February 21st, Umpqua said they were going to be a little late. We found out the money wouldn't technically be ready until "Saturday the 24th at midnight". Therefore, we couldn't wire the money until Monday the 26th at 9am, when they open. This was a big issue and source of frustration for us of course, especially since Umpqua knew with certainty when our closing date was and how important this loan was to us. We had to sign additional paperwork with our realtor and it was a large stressor for him of course too, as well as the selling agent and the sellers. It was our 3rd escrow extension. We tried to look on the bright side, just one more weekend. I had planned on moving all weekend out of my rental (I need to be out of my rental by Wednesday the 28th) but now I have 3 less days. Very unfortunate. I spent my weekend planning my move and planning work on the new house, things like PGE, moving in furniture, setting up utilities, etc. By Monday morning, I had a whole list of appointments for Monday. My dad went to the bank at 9am to wire the money to escrow. He called me at 9:30am and said "they're not sure why, but the money's not ready". I started to freak out. I even called the branch manager myself. I couldn't understand how the money was still not ready. The branch said it was out of their hands, so I called corporate. After speaking with corporate for over half an hour, a customer service rep found that there was a mistake and the request wasn't properly marked online or something like that. She said she'd put a rush on it and we'd have our money in half an hour. Great. I updated my realtor, he was very stressed about the additional complications, but glad it will be resolved "within half an hour" according to Umpqua. Later, Umpqua calls my dad back, and says the bank (presumably the branch?) used the wrong account number for the loan AND the banker forgot to write her own signature on one of the docs, so ultimately we are going to have to wait at least one more day for the money to be ready. One day is not a problem for me personally if it were just me waiting a day, but escrow is not that simple. One more day, our 4th extension, could cost us the entire deal. Escrow is a fragile and hostile environment. There are multiple parties. In addition to the bank, there is a selling agent, a seller (the owners), a title company, an insurance agent, a buying agent, a buyer, and in our case, additional family members waiting and depending on work on the new house. There are well over 20 people who are affected by every hiccup or complication of this escrow. If bankers do not have the experience or knowledge to handle loans of this importance, then I do not believe they should be lending in the first place. This branch is awesome for the small town charm and at handling basic money needs, even basic no-rush loans. But if you have something of extreme importance, I would be a little cautious.
