Complaint Review: Webster Bank

Please be careful before committing to a mortgage with this bank - do your research:

Imagine paying your mortgage for 20 years with a small local community bank.

Then bingo - a larger bank buys the bank that you've dealt with for 20 years.

This bank seems friendly, until you fall behind a payment and can;t seem to get caught up on that one payment .... suddenly a single late charge - hundreds of dollars - is added to your account - and along with some creative excuses for misplacing or not depositing one of your payments and BINGO -sign this costly forbearance agreement - or lose your home ...

Now - cut to years later and we are still living in some horrific and stressful state of flux with this heartless bank.

26 years into a 30 yr mortgage- we can see the light at the end of this long tunnel- 

But this bank continuously threatens to take our home if we  don;t come up with some erroneous amount of past due + fees, costs, and  more fees .. thousands of dollars.

They have taken an account where we were one month behind 6 years ago added 130% of the allowed late fee for one month - forced forbearance during the worst recession in generations -subjected us to collections despite us honoring their own legal document  with on-time payments ... while they took TARP money.

They filed public notices of foreclosure when we complained out loud

. ..And for 5 years have been continuing the threat with incremental steps involving more embarrassing public legal postings- statements of court action - ALL WHILE RECEIVING monthly payments and applying them who-knows-where.

We have no statements or records of payments , received NO response to multiple modification applications as required by statute.

Even if it all seems illegal (we hear about foreclosure protection and protection from predatory practices etc) if you live in MA, beware, despite the fact that Fed laws are changing next year and much of this WILL be illegal, consumer protection is not found in our AG's office with this bank. 

 The only way to get anyone to consider the legalities in all of this is to take it all to court, and like in our case, because MA is a non-judicial foreclosure state, you have to initiate court action, $$$$$......

That's probably why they've focused on expanding into MA.

Webster is a NA/charted bank, regulated by a Fed agency that does not protect the consumer but is an advocate for the bank.

Webster Bank likes to bill itself as a community bank whose roots are in some sort of commitment to service established by the current CEO's father, the bank's founder Harold Smith.

They boast of roots in helping people during "the depression"  their motto is:

 "We find a Way"

- sounds good, but remember, they're responsible to their investors first.

Even 26 years into a 30yr mortgage, profit is profit and when there is more to be made by foreclosure, hey- gotta consider theinvestors.

"We'll find a way ... to help you move out of your home."