"We firmly believe this new company - which combines the best of both organizations - will become the premier financial services company in the United States and the leading banking franchise in the Midwest and Western United States," said Dick Kovacevich, president and chief executive officer of the new company. "Our customers, communities, shareowners and team members all will benefit from this merger with greater convenience and a broader array of products and services."
Added Kovacevich, "For our 15 million customers, nothing changes yet. Integrating systems is expected to take from six months to two years to complete. During the second half of next year, Norwest customers will begin seeing the Norwest name change to Wells Fargo on their stores,checks, statements and other materials."
Paul Hazen, chairman of Wells Fargo, said the key to a successful integration will be execution. "We're committed to the goal of doing it right so we can continue to provide outstanding customer service throughout the integration," he said. "Dozens of transition teams comprised of hundreds of team members are committed to making sure we begin every discussion with what's best for the customer and ensure the interests of our team members and shareholders are aligned. We're going to take our time. We're going to do it right."
The combined banking franchise has 2,859 stores and covers 21 states from California to Ohio. Norwest Mortgage - the nation's leading originator and servicer of mortgages - has 824 stores and a presence in all 50 states. Norwest Financial - the premier consumer finance company in the hemisphere - has 1,349 stores in 47 states, all 10 Canadian provinces,the Caribbean, Latin America, and elsewhere internationally.
As previously announced, Wells Fargo's Hazen is chairman, Norwest's Kovacevich is president and chief executive officer, Norwest's Les Biller is chief operating officer and vice chairman, and Wells Fargo's Rod Jacobs is chief financial officer and vice chairman. The four will work closely together and will be involved in all major decisions affecting the combined company.
Common stockholders of Wells Fargo receive 10 shares of common stock of Norwest in exchange for each share of Wells Fargo common stock.
Norwest's stock symbol NOB has been retired - stock of the new company will now trade under the symbol WFC. The two companies announced a definitive agreement June 8. The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve system approved the merger October 14; stockholders of both companies approved the merger October 20.
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even if it were ANYwhere within the state of Iowa, but:
From the bottom of the webpage https://www.wellsfargo.com/mortgage/
we find the following:
Wells Fargo Home Mortgage is a division of Wells Fargo Bank, N.A.
© 1999 - 2008 Wells Fargo Bank. All rights reserved.
We call to your attention the name and the date the above was exercised:
by James M. Strother on December 3, 1999
We wish to take you to the following current (12/18/2008) webpage: https://www.wellsfargo.com/about/corporate/executive_officers/strother
JAMES M. STROTHER
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EVP, General Counsel
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Jim Strother became EVP and General Counsel of Wells Fargo & Company in late 2003, responsible for legal affairs and government relations for the company. We reprint here a press release. While it gives glowing accolades and forward thinking positive thoughts, it does not explain why Wells Fargo has chosen to service loans in the manner it has, which has spawned an avalanche of complaints which government officials have been so mysteriously oblivious to up to now, using a DBA which is close to virtually impossible to find - or find out about, even from the OCC , who corresponds with them regularly, which we hope to post on this site soon, although the role of the OCC is now in question in the financial failure of America's banking system and automotive industry as well as their possible shielding of Wells Fargo from engaging in what at least one lawsuit has called criminal racketeering in the servicing of home loans.
One would expect this company and its staff to have the talent to operate a loan servicing division with skill and adherence to law, including tort law, and refrain from conduct which belies the purported goal of this gigantic operation to be done with integrity . Moral turpitude is at issue. Unlawful acts by an unlawful entity deliberately hidden under an alias of a legitimate business calls into question many, many issues of the parent, although unlawfulness is to be decided.
In the lawsuit Heinrich v ASC, Wells Fargo, et al, Heinrich charges ASC, when it found out he was planning on paying his $89,000 mortgage off on a property worth several hundred thousand dollars, induced him to stay with them by offering him a 6.2% fixed mortgage to commence March 1, 2008 with payments set to commence April 1 ,2008, which ASC now says through their attorney, never happened, which Heinrich says the conditions of which were he had to allow his loan to become 30 days late, and then not make any payments whatsoever until the first payment on the new loan began, beginning a spiral of now a years worth of serious and repeated misconduct on the part of ASC and it's prior attorneys according to Heinrich - all to attempt to steal his property and the substantial equity he has in it and to collect enormous fees which Heinrich says far, far exceed the $25 or $30 a month Wells Fargo, throug h A SC, was making on his loan. He claims that is a tactic of a company desperate to raise money using back alley techniques, but Wells saw the opportunity to make a windfall from him and engaged in a constant 12 months of " unconscionable and reprehensible acts." A copy of all documents on file in the lawsuit to date are available by contacting this site, as well as complaints of others' experiences with ASC, which you are free to add yours to should you feel you have been subjected to what you deem to be misconduct, which will be forwarded to Wells Fargo and state and federal regulators and legislators on your behalf.