Consumer complaint received 2022-04-23
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY
State: MD
Product: Payday loan, title loan, or personal loan
Sub-product: Personal line of credit
Issue: Problem when making payments

Complaint:
XXXX ( now XXXX ), in addition to an energy provider, performs certain home repair services, including installation of HVAC systems. XXXX XXXX with Wells Fargo, to provide XXXX customers with option to finance purchase of HVAC system replacement, by purchasing on a Wells Fargo retail credit card, with 0 % interest for first 18 months. It's called a credit card, but it's really a loan, you don't actually get a credit card, that's just how they describe it- which is fine, no issue there. The problem is that after establishing the retail credit card account with Wells Fargo and charging the HVAC installation to the card, I experienced several obstacles that made it difficult to pay the first and subsequent minimum payment installments due under the loan. First, the Wells Fargo website option to enroll online and manage account online, did not work, the retail credit card account would not link to my online account that I created. The wells fargo website recognized me as having an account, permitted me to establish an online account for that reason, but every time I would attempt to log on, it would say I could not access at that time, to try again later, or to redo the online enrollment process. When you redo the online enrollment process, it tells you that you can't re-enroll because you already have an online account. When I would call the Wells Fargo customer service line, it took three times calling before a representative was willing or able to confirm my account, provide me with the account number, and to inform me when I would be receiving the first statement in the mail. I had to actually make an appointment at a branch in order to successfully link the retail credit card account to my online account, and to successfully log in and be able to manage that account. It this clear form the experience that this was not the first time that the in-store representative had dealt with exact issue. Then in setting up autopayments, my first payment is not due until XX/XX/2022, I set up autopayments today, XX/XX/2022. At first the webpage indicates that autopayments will commence on XX/XX/2022, the first payment due date, but then after autopayments are set up, there is a note that autopayments will not commence in time for the first payment, they will instead commence on XX/XX/2022, the date for the second payment. Therefore, the borrower has to conduct a second transaction to make a one-time payment to cover the first payment. Please note, the account from which the autopayments will draw, is the identical account from my one time payment for the first payment will draw. The duration of time between today, XX/XX/2022, and the first payment due date, XX/XX/2022, NOT INCLUDING the XX/XX/2022 due date, is 12 days ( so 13 days counting the actual due date ). If it is possible to make an immediate one-time payment on XX/XX/2022 ( same day as placed ) from my personal checking account as XXXX, it is obviously and undisputably possible to establish autopayment such that the first scheduled autopayment could be made on or before the first payment due date of XX/XX/2022. It would seem to me, that the most reasonable conclusion as to why ( a ) it was so difficult to obtain information about my retail credit card account from Wells Fargo by phone, including account number and payment due date, ( b ) it was impossible to manage the retail credit card account online without making a personal appointment to meet with a Wells Fargo representative in person at a Wells Fargo bank ( leaving the borrower with only one undesirable alternative, to write a check and mail it in each month, with the payment stub from the statement received in the mail each month ), and ( c ) it was impossible, even 12 days prior to the first payment due date, to establish autopay that would commence in time to pay via autopay such first payment, and the borrower is therefore required to conduct a second transaction, however, notably, this requirement is not clearly identified to the borrower ( increasing risk that borrower will fail to make this second transaction, and miss the first payment, and then, having set up autopay, and also having set up electronic communications, makes it likely that now on a " set it and forget it '' mode, the missed payment late fees will go unknown, and will result ultimately in the borrower FAILING TO PAY THE MINIMUM AMOUNT REQUIRED TO GET THE BENEFIT OF THE 0 % INTEREST. You have to pay at least a certain amount by the end of the 18 month period in order for that amount to be interest free. Obviously, if you miss the first payment, and you've set up payments to be the minimum amount owed to avoid paying interest on that portion of the loan to which interest is deferred, then the borrower will fail to pay that minimum portion, and will be liable for the interest, and lose the primary benefit ( and reason for financing the purchase in the first place ) of financing via the Wells Fargo retail credit card loan, the 18 months 0 % interest. The amount of time and effort I had to go through in order to simply set up an online account that functioned, is not something many people can afford to take time from their busy days to do. And then once that online account was functioning, the fact that the autopay can not be used to cover the first payment, but at first when you start the autopay set up process, it represents to the borrower that the first payment day will in fact be the first payment due date -- it is difficult to reach any other conclusion other than that the autopay setup process is designed purposefully to reach a result where the borrower fails to make the first payment due, resulting in late charges/fees, and if not caught before the 0 % interest period runs out, would result in the borrower not getting the benefit of the bargain that enticed the borrower to agree to finance the purchase using the wells fargo retail credit card loan in the first place - the 0 % interest period. Having entered into a credit / loan agreement, in reliance on the promise of 0 % interest for 18 months, such reliance to the borrower 's detriment if wells fargo 's tactics are successful, these difficulties/ obstacles to timely making the first and subsequent payment installments are potentially cause for concern, and that is the reason why I am filing this report. I owned a wells fargo account years ago, and it was essentially impossible to close, I would go to the wells fargo banks, show them the account wasn't closed, they'd promise it was closed, but it wouldn't be, it was seemingly a scheme to keep the account open to assess charges against the account holder. This experience was reminiscent of that.

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