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Sharon Ostermann doesn't have a lot of free time. She's one of just two veterinarians at a municipal animal shelter in California and she's the mom of a three-year-old boy.

So, she was grateful to find out refinancing through the Union Plus Mortgage Program could mostly be done online. Ostermann and her husband were able to sign loan documents outside, enabling everyone to stay safe during the Covid-19 pandemic. And closing took place after hours when their son was asleep — which meant they didn’t have to find and pay for childcare.

"It was really easy," recalls Ostermann, a member of the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE) Local 21 since 2014. "It was safe and comfortable for everybody."

With financing available through Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, the Union Plus Mortgage Program helps union members, their parents and their children purchase or refinance their homes while also offering exclusive union member benefits.

The couple soon found out there are a number of benefits to the Union Plus Mortgage Program, an award after closing on a refinance loan valued at $300¹.

Ostermann encourages fellow union members to keep up with Union Plus emails and the latest programs and perks.

"It's a benefit we’re already getting," she says. "We're paying our union dues, we might as well take advantage of the discounts."

Ostermann recently received a bonus benefit — she won $1,000 in a sweepstakes for Union Plus mortgage holders. She and her husband plan to use the sweepstakes money to finish their DIY bathroom remodel and other home improvements.

Mike Arnett, a United Steel Workers (USW) Local 608 member, settled into a manufacturing job with Clearwater Papers six years ago. Shortly thereafter, as his family started expanding, Arnett decided it was time to purchase a home.

He became a homeowner in 2017 through the Union Plus Mortgage Program.

With financing available through Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, the Union Plus Mortgage Program helps union members, their parents and their children purchase or refinance their homes while also offering exclusive union member benefits.

Arnett praised his Wells Fargo loan officer and her husband, who also works at Clearwater Papers.

"[My loan officer] made it a really great experience for me," Arnett recalls. "She told me all the steps I needed to take to get things squared away on my end. With her making most of the phone calls for me, it was an awesome experience. And [her husband] was super helpful with all the union stuff, which was new to me at that point."

Arnett was recently selected as a $1,000 winner in the 2021 Union Plus Happy Homeowner Sweepstakes for Union Plus mortgage holders.

"I was really surprised to win," Arnett says. "It was a very nice bonus. I have five kids, and they went back to school in August. So, the money came in handy at the perfect time."

To learn more about the Union Plus Mortgage Program and its associated benefits, including gift rewards¹ and mortgage assistance², visit unionplus.org/mortgage.

Josh Schrader, a United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 431 member, and his wife purchased their first home in 2016. Schrader, a longtime Wells Fargo customer, was happy to secure a home loan through the bank.

With financing available through Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, the Union Plus Mortgage Program helps union members, their parents and their children purchase or refinance their homes while also offering exclusive union member benefits.

"Wells Fargo is all we’ve ever known," Schrader says. "They are trustworthy, and the union has close contact with them. It made sense to go with Wells Fargo."

Schrader, a Knoxville, Iowa, resident, recently learned he was among the winners of the 2021 Union Plus Happy Homeowner Sweepstakes, which was open to union members with a Union Plus mortgage. His family won $1,0000.

"There’s a lot going on for us right now, so we were very excited to win the sweepstakes," Schrader says.

The Schraders recently enjoyed the birth of their second child and are in the process of home renovations.

Schrader says that his sweepstakes win has caught the attention of his coworkers.

"More people at work are looking into Union Plus because of me winning the sweepstakes. It was an eye-opener for a lot of people," he notes. "If you’re in the union, you might as well take advantage of all the benefits you can to help yourself and your family."

Schrader also endorses home ownership.

"You get a lot more if you own your own place,” he says. “You’re the boss, and you can do what you want."

For 21 years, Albert Ong was a renter living in apartment building. Then, he got married. He and his wife had a son and then a daughter.

"Having kids, we needed space for them to walk or run," says Ong, an American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) member.

The couple turned to the Union Plus Mortgage Program.

With financing available through Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, the Union Plus Mortgage Program helps union members, their parents and their children purchase or refinance their homes while also offering exclusive union member benefits.

Ong found out about the Union Plus Mortgage Program from a coworker. He looked up information on the Union Plus website and within hours, someone from Wells Fargo had reached out.

"Somebody contacted me by email, told me the documents they needed," Ong remembers. "It was fast — it was a fast process."

He had shopped around to other lenders but found other banks had higher rates and either didn't return his call or weren't quick to get back in touch with him.

During his search, Wells Fargo had the best rates and the best customer service, according to Ong.

He says buying a house was the right move.

"The kids can sleep in separate rooms and if one wakes up early, it won't wake up the other," Ong says. "And having a house, you can invite close friends and family since you have the space to entertain."
 

Melissa Koski and her husband were renters saving up to buy a house for their family when their process got a kickstart.

"The people we were renting from wanted to get back into their house," recalls Koski, a member of American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Council 65 Local 580 for the past six years.

Koski and her husband realized the time had come to search for a new home for themselves and their two young kids.

"We wanted to have something of our own," says Koski, who works in accounting for a county government agency in Minnesota. "We wanted to do what we wanted to do in a house where no one else was in control."

The couple reached out to Wells Fargo Home Mortgage. The lender asked if either of them were in a union.

"They said, 'We’ve got this program you can join, and it’s got all these benefits,'" Koski says.

With financing available through Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, the Union Plus Mortgage Program helps union members, their parents and their children purchase or refinance their homes while also offering exclusive union member benefits.

"We checked out other lenders, but Wells Fargo had the best program," Koski says.

Koski received an award after closing valued at $500¹ that they used at Home Depot. It came in handy to help fund renovations as they moved in.

"We put it toward the house," she says.

She and her husband also qualified for Union Plus Mortgage Assistance when her husband lost his job, which included a one-time $1,000 grant².

Roddy Johnson is a maintenance mechanic foreman for a school district in upstate New York. A 30-year member of American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees' (AFSCME) Council 66 Local 2419, he's looking forward to retirement in a few years.

In the meantime, he has another big responsibility — taking care of his elderly parents.

"That’s my part-time, full-time job," Johnson says.

When it became clear his aging parents needed more help, Johnson moved them closer to him. Eventually, they moved in with him.

About five years ago, Johnson got an email from Union Plus and realized he could refinance his 30-year fixed home loan down to a 15-year fixed loan through the Union Plus Mortgage Program. With financing available through Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, the Union Plus Mortgage Program helps union members, their parents and their children purchase or refinance their homes while also offering exclusive union member benefits.

The refinancing process went smoothly.

"It was streamlined, everything was pretty much online, and we were able to use the computer for a lot of it," Johnson says.

An unexpected bonus came a few months ago when Johnson received an email from Union Plus announcing he had won $1,000 in a sweepstakes for Union Plus mortgage holders.

Johnson intends to use the sweepstakes money to cover his parents' expenses as they grow older.

"I'm going to make sure they get everything they need," he says.

"We lost two incomes right off the bat," Mr. Ramirez recalls.

Faced with new financial challenges, the Ramirezes were grateful that they had chosen to finance their new home through the Union Plus Mortgage Program a few years before, since their mortgage came with a payment assistance program called Mortgage Assistance.

"I hadn't given [the Union Plus Mortgage Assistance Program] a second thought until the strike" Mr. Ramirez says.

The Union Plus Mortgage Assistance Program provides interest-free loans and grants to help union members make mortgage payments when they’re disabled, unemployed, furloughed, locked out or on strike. Eligible members must have had a Union Plus mortgage for at least a year.

Mortgage Assistance paid the Ramirezes’ mortgage for one (1) month. They also received a one-time $1,000 grant to off-set other expenses.

"With Christmas coming up, it  made life a lot easier" Mr. Ramirez notes. “It also helped us catch up on other bills from companies that didn’t help us at all."

Ms. Ramirez and Mr. Ramirez made sure their fellow union members knew where to check for benefits.

"We were very outspoken about Union Plus helping us out," they emphasize.

"It's an honor to be involved with somebody near the end of their life," says Goodman.

A few years ago, Goodman joined the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), Council 5, Local 2474 after the small non-profit hospice care group she worked for was acquired by a larger hospice care firm that was unionized.

"Eventually, I learned about Union Plus," she says.

When Goodman started to refinance her home through Wells Fargo, they asked if she was a union member; when she said yes, they introduced her to the Union Plus Mortgage Program.

With financing available through Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, the Union Plus Mortgage Program helps union members, their parents, and their children purchase or refinance their homes while also offering exclusive union member benefits.

"They made refinancing so easy for me," says Goodman.

Last year, Goodman clicked on an offer to enter the Union Plus Mortgage Program sweepstakes. When she received a text notifying her that she had indeed won $1,000, she was shocked.

"I thought, 'wow, what a wonderful blessing!'" recalls Goodman. "I'm going to turn right around and use that money to bless others. That's what I believe about getting unexpected money — you should pay it forward to someone else."

Goodman is enthusiastic about recommending Union Plus to other union members.

"It's been such an amazing benefit of being with the union," Goodman says. "The perks are amazing."

Benefits of the Union Plus Mortgage Program include a gift card after closing1 and mortgage assistance in times of hardship².

But Lencioni, a member of the International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE), acknowledges his real luck was securing a 30-year fixed home loan through the Union Plus Mortgage Program. With financing available through Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, the Union Plus Mortgage Program helps union members, their parents and their children purchase or refinance their homes while also offering exclusive union member benefits.

“One of [our Wells Fargo mortgage broker’s’] first questions was, ‘Are you in a union?’” Lencioni recalls. “We found out [my union participated in] the Union Plus Mortgage Program. It worked out beautifully for us.”

Lencioni and his wife Rebecca qualified for a great rate, but most of all, they liked the security behind the Union Plus Mortgage Program.

All Union Plus mortgages include access to the Union Plus Mortgage Assistance Program¹, which provides interest-free loans and grants from Union Plus when members out are out of work due to a union-approved strike, lockout, involuntary unemployment, or disability.

“If you lose your job, they help you out,” says Lencioni.

Lencioni and his wife intend to use the sweepstakes money for new exhaust fans in the bathroom and to mend their back fence.

“It’s money we weren’t expecting,” he says. “We’re going to reinvest it in the house.”

Thomley has worked in meatpacking for 28 years. Amid COVID-19, he is diligently working to fill orders, pack meat and ship product with a high level of safety and precision.

"I'm just grateful to have a job," Thomley says.

Across his nearly three decades of service, Thomley has also been a dues-paying UFCW devotee.

"The union is everything [in this profession]," he says. "I'm union proud."

When Thomley and his wife bought their St. Paul home 15 years ago, they turned to Union Plus to finance their loan.

"My wife checked to see if there was a home mortgage option [through Union Plus] and we went for it," recalls Thomley. "Wells Fargo made it very easy."

With financing available through Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, the Union Plus Mortgage Program helps union members, their parents and their children purchase or refinance their homes while also offering exclusive union member benefits, including gift cards after closing1 and mortgage assistance in times of hardship².

Thomley's wife encouraged him to enter the mortgage sweepstakes last year.

"I totally lost track of it until I found out I’d won," Thomley says. "When I found out, you know, with all of the crap that's going on in the world today? It was just wonderful."

Thomley decided to use his winnings to resupply on lawn and garden supplies.

"I've always had great feelings about Union Plus, but now? Now I’m going to let everyone know about Union Plus," says Thomley. “The perks of Union Plus just make me love my union even more."