Consumer complaint received 2020-07-16
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY
State: NJ
Product: Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports
Sub-product: Other personal consumer report
Issue: Problem with a company's investigation into an existing issue
Sub-issue: Problem with personal statement of dispute

Complaint:
I have had a mortgage through Wells Fargo for the last 10 years and I originally got my mortgage through them and did not refinance with another company because I know that Wells Fargo allows investors to access equity on investment properties through a HELOC. I have called several times throughout the life of the loan to make sure that the company 's policy has not changed and that this HELOC is still available to me. I was told that yes the HELOC is available and that I would not have a problem being approved since my personal income is so high and since I have postive cash flow. Due to the recent pandemic I had a need to access this money and so I submitted an application for the HELOC on XX/XX/XXXX. 

I was informed in XX/XX/XXXX that the company is no longer accepting HELOC applications and subsequently that my HELOC was not approved. They denied my HELOC with the premise that my debt to income ratio was too high. I questioned this since I own three properties and all of them have positive cash flow and and they told me that it was because they did not cont my rental income in their decision. I also informed them that I have gotten married since originally taking out the mortgage and that my wife actually makes more money than I do so my household income has more than doubled. In addition we live in one of my apartments we live rent free and have {$120.00} of positive income. I also informed them that the property that I have has less than {$5000.00} on the property that I will be taking the HELOC and that I would be using part of the HELOC to finish paying the mortgage. The rent minus expenses will be bringing in around {$900.00} and my HELOC would be around $ XXXX/month if I utilize all of the money available to me. 

I was then asked to provide a breakdown of my rental income vs expenses and I wrote the letter that I have provided for you in a separate file which outlines exactly what the cash flow is for these properties. After a lengthy review process where it doesn't seem like any of the information I was asked to provide was considered in my application they again denied my request today XX/XX/XXXX. They once again stated that my debt to income was not sufficient enough to warrant approving my HELOC. I tried to reason with the bank representative XXXX who kept giving me the same answer ( that my debt to income was not sufficient ) not really refuting what I was telling him or thoroughly explaining why my positive rental income was not enough to cover all of my expenses. I need this money and I was under the impression that it would be available to me when I requested it. I believe that the fact that I was denied after being assured that not only was a HELOC available to me but that my income was more than sufficient to cover the expenses is unethical and very poor business practice.

Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation