I totally agree with you. They did the same thing to me. I honestly feel the WF is on some sort of insurance fraud scam. They forged appraisal orders and appraisal reports on me then filed a state complaint. Because I have program technical knowledge I identified where they went into the system and modified the original order. I also provide proof of the original order when it was summitted to me. WF then locked me out of my Appraisal port account and deleted the information for every order I had ever completed, thinking that I had no records. Smh! I’m a former Civil Engineer and Telecommunication Engineer I save original e-documents like a stamp collector saves stamps. Won my case against them with the MD state appraisal board, but they still got away with black calling me. The black listing has cost me to lose work. It’s crazy WF is using the appraisal board complaint process to recoup monies and fines that they have had to pay out by what I think is filling false complaints against one independent appraiser at a time. Most independent Appraiser can’t afford to fight back.
Most unfortunately do not have program language knowledge such as myself to identify when a dos text document has been modified.
In such cases not only are they blacklisted; more than likely the Appraiser will lose their license permanently because they are unable to payback the related fines, and last but not least could be charged criminally. Its crazy how they getaway with this behavior.

We’ve all been there, done that at some point in our careers. Heck I remember when I thought WF was a good client one could be proud to have.

Anyway Nick, CYA…always. There are still good clients.

Mike you are correct in your assumptions regarding my report. I guess it’s a lesson learned on my behalf, I probably should have know better than to work with the devil.

Md Appraisal Llc

Consider yourself doubly blessed on that one! While they were wrong based on the summary you provided (USPAP does NOT forbid consideration of supplemental non arms length or distress sales in addition to open market typical arms length transactions). In fact, comparing the two is one of the best measures of their impact in a given market. They’d have had a valid issue IF that’s all you used or if you didn’t disclose what they were; or based your conclusion only on them, but that isn’t the take I go from reading your post.

TAF has made numerous special interest concession changes to USPAP over the years that do not serve the public well.

Typically WF does a phony desk review (actual desk review but no ones ever figured out what standard they are done to yet as far as I know) in order to ‘find’ a technical oversight that they can use as an excuse to go appraiser shopping and THEN just to maintain the pretense of compliance they turn the appraiser in citing Dodd Frank!. Frankly you should have turned them in for attempting to influence the direction of an appraisal. These are NOT good people!

To ALL appraisers. I’ve mentioned this before. WHY on earth would ANYONE do ANY kind of work for a firm that has been fined, cited or acknowledged as many instances of financial wrong ding as Wells Fargo has? They have a well documented track record of serious ethical breaches going back two decades! Dont take my word for it. Look up their record!

I was asked to perform an exterior appraisal on a property in an area of Baltimore city where the subject market is dominated by both short sales and foreclosures displaying similar differed maintenance and appeal as the subject. Based on my research and 16 years of market knowledge in this area, market participants do not assign any measurable premium to arm’s length sales when compared to non-arm’s length sales of SIMILAR CONDITION, therefore no adjustment was warranted. Furthermore, I previously performed an interior inspection and appraisal of the subject in 2016; therefore I had actual knowledge as to the subjects C4-C5 condition. This information was clearly presented and supported in my report, in addition to the prior services performed, however the out of state (FL) reviewer wanted me to use properties in C2 condition when the subject was a C4 (borderline C5) that sold in excess of 11 month from the effective date. They even went so far as to recommend fully renovated comparables and stated that they felt my arm’s length sales in a distressed market were not the best indicator of value and the additional supporting non-arm’s length sales were not USPAP compliant. In short, they did not care about the data and market dynamics, all they wanted was someone to support a higher value when it was obviously not there. In the end, I told them to remove me from the Wells Fargo Panel as it appears that Wells Fargo nor the reviewer were interested in obtaining valid assignment results, but simply real property valuations based on broad analytical observations through data aggregation and mis-information.

After additional research, I found out that Wells Fargo just started foreclosure proceedings on the subject and the appraisal was to be used to aid Wells Fargo in mitigating the damages/ cost of a secondary market buyback.

If you are performing appraisals for Wells Fargo watch out, as they are back to their old unethical games.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-08-31/wells-admits-it-created-14-million-more-bogus-client-accounts-previously-thought

It is way past time to file criminal charges…not merely seek meaningless punitive fines. We all know the feds are feckless in terms of meaningful actions, but what about a Grand Jury? ANY state affected can start the ball rolling.

Fines based on income is necessary to incentivize prosecution. As it stands now these giants easily bury opposition in paperwork and cost draining battles. AG’s know better because one try at this whale will certainly break the bank. Fines based on income is an essential reconciliation between outdated fine tables and modern operational processes. This would incentivize the free market, and the ag’s could follow up quite easily after that. But to answer the previous posters question, people keep banking there, that’s why the company persists. They also seem to have a hard time letting consumers actually cancel those accounts, I remember shutting down my wells account required many repeat letters with identical requests, then another round at a later time to get it off the credit report. Easy to engage, tough to get away.

A more important question is “How do their regulators still have jobs in civil service, ostensibly protecting taxpayers; consumers and the investors foolish enough to still trust the fine folks at Wells Fargo?

The question is not rhetorical. I know some federal regulators read this blog. Isn’t it way past time to have done something to the  executives that keep repeating the (alleged) crimes?

Fining them only encourages continued bad behavior. I mean, whats the downside? They violate the law and common decency and IF they get caught their investors that have near zero control take the hit?

Start putting these people in jail or SHUT THEM DOWN! Better yet, do BOTH!

https://theintercept.com/2017/08/12/theres-a-new-wells-fargo-scandal-this-time-its-the-trucoat/

Good one Vince.  Where do they come up with these whacky irregular fee numbers?  I can see 300, 325, 350, but 318?  Did dumb and dumber put together that fee schedule or what?  I’ve got this thing, I bill in metric amounts, I don’t want to get out the calculator just to look at monthly billing.  I won’t be training my kids in appraisal, but I’ve already instilled a healthy fear of debt in their young minds, that’s always for the best.

Mike,   We release updates all of the time.  We just did a 90 minute webinar on everything we have recently done and are doing.  Listen to it.

Woody, I think we all agree we want what is best for the industry. From my perspective, AI has not been very transparent on what they are lobbying for. Even your post seems to eludes that. This is why there is so much AI bashing. Please share with us what AI is doing with all those lobbying dollars you speak of. Are they fighting C&R fee abuses? AMC hiring staff appraisers? Broadcasting of orders? These are the issues I and many others perceive as the ones on the forefront. Without open transparent communication, how does AI expect appraisers to support their efforts? Please share what AI is lobbying for.

https://www.housingwire.com/articles/40921-corelogic-acquires-real-estate-tech-and-consulting-firm-clareity-security-solutions?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=housingwire

Agreed-just because they get offered, doesnt mean those fees are accepted.

In-n-Out burger pays more than that. My lawn guy charges more than that… LOL