Consumer complaint received 2018-06-05
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY
State: OH
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Other type of mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint:
My husband lost his job in XX/XX/XXXX. I was a stay at home mother at the time and hadn't worked a fulltime job in 15 years, Pre-emptively, because my husband was having some XXXX XXXX issues, I contacted Wells Fargo in XX/XX/XXXX and asked for forbearance. I was told at the time, now I know better, that they " didn't do that ''. When I asked what recourse I would have, because I literally would have no income coming in until I could find a job, I was told that I would have to actually be behind on my mortgage and call back so that the process of modification could be started. I found a job, though making a fraction of what my husband made, and didn't make the next month 's mortgage payment. I eventually was told that I would need to submit mountains of backup paperwork and agree to make a minimum mortgage payment for a 3 month period. I went through that process over and over again until the next year. I asked repeatedly about what a modification actually was and whether or not my credit would be affected by the process and was told over and over again that it would not affect my credit. Eventually, a woman showed up at my house with only the signature pages of documents for the modification ( NO original documents of any kind were left with us ) and we signed while she notarized them. She claimed she was just a notary and had no access to the documents, she couldn't explain anything to us, she knew nothing. I questioned our loan representative about what had actually transpired and he explained that our principal had been modified and we would now make lower payments. Long story short I eventually found out that we had a " silent second mortgage '', I had never even heard of this. I asked if/when it would be released and was told first that if we made 12 months on payments on time we could ask for it to be forgiven. A year later I was told it was actually 24 months. Two years later, none of that was true and it will never go away, so I actually with all of the fees, interest, etc,. now I owe more on my upside down mortgage than when I started out. I am hoping that the phone calls have been recorded at Wells Fargo. Also, I received a letter in my husband 's name stating that an account had been closed, one that we never authorized and had no idea had been opened! My credit is ruined, because Wells Fargo continued to show our account as delinquent though we were making the payments on time. When I called about this, I was told I could always refinance with another company. Of course I couldn't though, because they ruined my credit. In XX/XX/XXXX, I requested a payoff letter and also spoke on the phone again with someone hoping to get forgiveness on the silent second and was told I didn't have one. I waited on the phone while he checked, and he claimed there was nothing in the file about a second mortgage and sent a payoff letter only listing the first. However, I checked the recorder 's website and it is still there!!! Help!

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