Consumer complaint received 2018-10-08
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY
State: NE
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint:
My name is XXXX XXXX, I currently have my mortgage loan financed through Wells Fargo and I am writing to you as I would like to file a complaint against Wells Fargo Home Mortgage in regard to the banks insurance tracking program. 
On XX/XX/2018 I called Wells Fargo and requested the escrow insurance address for my new insurance company XXXX to send my escrowed insurance to. I spoke with an XXXX and informed him I was switching insurance companies. I was cancelling my XXXX XXXX XXXX  and was having a new policy issued with XXXX. I emailed my new agent the same day with the escrow insurance address and let him know I would be in on XX/XX/2018 to pay the down payment on my auto insurance policy and to sign my insurance paperwork. 
On XX/XX/2018 I went into my agents office and signed the paperwork and made sure the loss payee/mortgagee was listed on my hazard policy and also verified that the lien holder was listed on my auto policy as I have a loan for my vehicle also. Both policies started on XX/XX/2018. 
I then walked to my XXXX XXXX agents office 4 doors down and cancelled my XXXX XXXX hazard policy effective the renewal date of XX/XX/2018. Since XXXX XXXX had already pulled the funds from my escrow account they stated they would mail me the refund check to give back to Wells Fargo. 
I received a copy of my hazard insurance in the mail from XXXX on XX/XX/2018 which meant that Wells Fargo should have received a copy of the hazard policy about the same time. XXXX does send insurance renewals electronically through what is called XXXX XXXX XXXX and normally those are sent and received by the mortgage company within a matter of 3 days from the time the loss payee or lien holder is listed on a policy. 
I then received two letters from Wells Fargo on XX/XX/2018. The first letter was postmarked XXXX-18 and it stated my hazard policy had been cancelled effective XX/XX/2018 and I needed to send in my current hazard policy or Wells Fargo would add insurance to my mortgage loan. There was no premium amount listed for the force placed policy on this letter. 
The second letter was dated XX/XX/2018 and postmarked XX/XX/2018 and stated that the temporary force placed policy that Wells Fargo had obtained had been cancelled and there was no charge left on my loan. 
On XX/XX/2018, the day after I received both letters, I called XXXX XXXX insurance tracking company at XXXX and spoke with a XXXX. I explained I had received the two letters and wanted to make sure they had my current XXXX policy. She stated they had received my policy. 
I then explained to her that I have worked for an insurance tracking company for the past 24 years and that they were out of regulation by force placing on my loan and she stated they had strict guidelines they had to follow. I explained that they are not being followed. 
XXXX stated the force placed policy had been cancelled and I then stated again Wells Fargo is not following the regulations as they force placed on my loan and did not give me the appropriate amount of time before force placing and that I knew CFPB regulations on notices and she stated they had a stringent policy that they had to go by and they were following it. 
CFPB regulations are very clear. The 1st notice is to be sent 45 days before force placing, the 2nd notice has to be sent 30 days before force placing and the CPI certificate has to be sent 15 days prior to charging the loan. 
The 1st notice I received from Wells Fargo was clearly not sent 45 days prior to force placing. Had I not worked for an insurance tracking company, as a consumer, I would have only looked at one of the letters from Wells Fargo thinking the second letter was a duplicate. 
Working in the insurance tracking industry for a company that follows all CFPB standards I feel what Wells Fargo is doing is completely illegal and as this bank has shown in the past they cant follow compliance standards in regard to their insurance tracking. 
Previously, thousands of people lost their homes and vehicles when Wells Fargo did an inadequate job of tracking and force placing on hazard and vehicle loans. Unfortunately, those people were never be able to get their vehicles or homes back and the repossession will stay on their credit report for years. 
When you take into consideration the amount of consumers that have their mortgage payment automatically taken out of their account each month, with this type of notice guideline that Wells Fargo is currently using, thousands of people will be losing their homes as they assume their agent has sent in their insurance. In reality more than the normal mortgage payment will be taken out by Wells Fargo and soon these people will be in default of their loan due to the force placed policy. Also, Wells Fargo will be making interest off of the money the extra money they are taking from the borrower. 
Thank you and feel free to contact me in regard to this complaint and I believe this insurance tracking company needs to be audited based on their disregard of their standards set by the XXXX. 
XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, NE XXXX

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