This isn't a story uniquely our own, but my husband and I did experience some things similar with Wells Fargo. Much of what happened to our friends was about to happen to us, so this is a true account of what happened to them, to us, and to many homeowners today.

Wells Fargo seemed to be the answer to everything a few years ago for our best friends - an older couple who'd just experienced a year of unusually severe medical problems. Wells Fargo came along at just the right time for them. The representatives were helpful, courteous, friendly, and bent over backwards to get Bets and Johnny their mortgage and an additional credit line for which they hadn't applied. Soon after closing, they received an additional credit card from Wells Fargo, once again, unsolicited. How great could a mortgage company be? I remember Bets feeling very pleased with how the financial picture had changed with the great new mortgage and lines of credit.

There was one problem, but it didn't seem to be one that couldn't be overcome. WF didn't offer any escrow accounts for property taxes and homeowner insurance. Bets said they'd always had these expenses escrowed before, so I wondered how it would work out for them in the long run. But how much of a problem could that be, if they budgeted those amounts each month in a separate account, just like an escrow account? Bets reasoned this would be okay - she wasn't going to worry.

The problem soon became evident - taxes rose and their budget couldn't handle the extra amounts. Insurance rates went higher and there was more having to be set aside. Bets' job ended, and Johnny had reached the age to receive Social Security so he was only doing some part-time work for friends. Bets was starting to worry, and as we talked, I sensed things were getting worse for them, financially.

Then the big fixed-rate-changing-to-an-adjustable-rate time came. It had been three years since they got the mortgage. They knew this was supposed to happen, but were assured the monthly mortgage payment wouldn't be more than about $100-150 more. When they got their first statement after the switch to the ARM, it was almost $400 more! Bets burst into tears on the phone, describing their predicament.

In the meantime, and while Bets was scraping up the additional money to make the first higher payment, their other bills were being put on hold. This wouldn't do, so she started using some of the mortgage money to pay utilities. Wells Fargo offered to "help" by

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