Member Stories

USW Member scores good rate with Union Plus Mortgage Program

The Union Plus Content Team

April 16, 2025

Tom Bixler has worked hard at his job making glassware molds at a manufacturer in Toledo, Ohio for over four decades.

Bixler bought his home in 2000, and in 2013 he refinanced the mortgage – this time 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.

Mortgage transactions took place over phone and email until closing, when Wells Fargo sent a title company representative to Bixler’s home. 

“It was all taken care of over the phone, and it was just as smooth as silk,” Bixler says.  

Bixler was also able to set up automated mortgage payments and increase the frequency of the payments to twice monthly instead of once per month. More frequent payments mean Bixler pays less interest on the loan. 

“That’s one of the great benefits for me,” he says. “It’s easy, you don’t have to worry about it, don’t have to think about it and you can actually pay it off early. That’s one of the things I like about Wells Fargo and got me sold on it after I got the mortgage.”

Another benefit of the Union Plus Mortgage Program is the added security through the Union Plus Mortgage Assistance Program, which Bixler said he learned about through an email from Union Plus. The Mortgage Assistance Program provides interest-free loans and grants to eligible union members to help them make their mortgage payments in the event they become disabled, unemployed, locked out, or go on strike¹. 

“I look at all [the Union Plus benefits] to see if there’s something available for whatever I’m doing,” Bixler, who is also a Union Plus Credit Cardholder, says. 

To learn more about the benefits of the Union Plus Mortgage Program, visit unionplus.org/mortgage.