Consumer complaint received 2023-02-19
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY
State: MD
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Struggling to pay mortgage

Complaint:
My home was foreclosed upon by wells fargo in XXXX. I see theres a settlement but i dont understand how i can trust wells fargo to right the many things that happened to me during the time i fell behind. Thats my initial complaint. 

But to elaborate let me explain some of the issues i had ( and there was a multitude of issues ). i purchased my home in XXXX using the neighborhood conservation program. I received a grant for {$39000.00}. The assistance required that the county commissioners be a second deed holder on my mortgage in the equivalent amount. If i lived in the home for 10 years the grant money would be forgiven. In XXXX, the co-borrower was XXXX. Months later i became very ill and continued to be hospitalized. I resigned from my job with the XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX 

Understandably, i fell behind on my mortgage. When i requested mortgage modification assistance ( XXXX i believe ) i was told that i did not qualify because the grant i received would not allow my deed to be re-written. 

I continued making payments the best i could but basically only made a payment and a half every other month. In XX/XX/XXXX, i began having problems with my XXXX. I had been diagnosed thereabouts with a very rare XXXX  XXXX. This caused my XXXX to start having issues. One day i was XXXX XXXX XXXX and called 911. I was flown from my local hospital to XXXX Hospital and placed on XXXX XXXX. It was at that time that i began getting letters from wells fargo requesting that both me and the co-owner come to an office 50 miles away because our signatures were needed. Later, i find out that my paperwork was incomplete from settlement and therefore wells fargo did not legally own my home. It was because they didnt own the home that they had been unable to initiate the foreclosure process and had tried to trick us into signing papers. They needed the co borrowers signature as well and since he was XXXX, it wasnt possible to go sign what they needed signed. 
I continued to be hospitalized, almost monthly. I had filed for XXXX as well. In XXXX or XXXX wells fargo contacted me and told me that they wanted to offer me a HAMP modification ( although a short time earlier i didnt qualify ). I gave them all of the documents they requested although the process was slow due to my frequent hospitalizations. Finally, i assume the modification went to underwriting and was approved. I dont remember all of the specifics but was basically told that i needed to make three consecutive mortgage payments of the revised amount in full and on time and once i had shown i could make the payments, we would go to settlement. 

After making all three payments and having not heard from wells fargo, i called to inquire about the next step. The person i spoke with told me that the co-borrower had a {$250000.00} judgement that would have to be paid before the modification could be completed. How ridiculous. If i had {$250000.00} then i would have simply paid the {$130000.00} i owed on my house. Further, how did my loan complete underwriting without WF knowing about that judgment. In fact the judgement had been filed prior to the purchase of the house so why was he allowed to be on the deed to begin with ( a lawyer i consulted with said that the judgement would have been placed on the house and not on the co-borrower even though it shows up on case search as being filed before we ever purchased the house and further, no where can i find that the proceeds from the sale of my house went to the judgement. The judgement still shows against the co-borrower. ) Also to be noted is that the house was titled whereas if the co-borrower died, his 50 percent ownership would pass to his heirs and the same with my 50 percent. So i dont know how it could be placed wholly on property he only owned in part. 

Regardless, WF had asked me following this incident if i wanted mediation. I declined. After all, what good was mediation if i needed to pay the judgement. Its at that point that i found out WF didnt have legal standing to file for foreclosure. A process server began leaving notes and papers at the door. As i said, i continued to be hospitalized  and the co-borrower was XXXX throughout this ordeal. Papers were then left in my door explaining that WF had filed with the court asking that the court to grant them the ability to sign the corrected paperwork from settlement on mine and the co-owners behalf because they had been unable to locate us. That was when i realized that they had tried to trick us into signing. 

I was present at the court hearing. The representative from WF was dumbfounded when the case was called and i appeared. When the judge asked her if she was ready to proceed, she replied that she thought that we were supposed to only be at a preliminary. The case was re-scheduled. 

When the trial came, i showed up to the hearing. I was told, however, that WF  had filed a summary judgement which explained that they had been unable to locate us and therefore the judge ruled in WFs favor only a day earlier. Foreclosure legally began at that point. I contacted WF and asked that i be granted mediation because my social security case had finally been given a court date and i would soon be getting five years worth of back money and could bring my loan current. I was informed that i could not have mediation because i had previously denied it. As i explained, howeverWF did not have legal jurisdiction to enter mediation with me at my prior denial since they legally were not deed holders then. It fell on deaf ears and i was denied. 

Im not sure what happened after that because in XX/XX/XXXX i was admitted to the XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX. I spent the next 6 months in XXXX  struggling to stay alive. The doctors assured my family that i had less than a XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX as i suffered XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. My mother could only come to visit every few weeks but would bring my mail to me. It began to pile up until i was able to somewhat review it. I was having XXXX XXXXXXXX every four days. But about 4 months after being admitted i found a letter from WF explaining the cash for keys option. I phoned the company listed in the paperwork and explained my situation. I asked if they could potentially extend my departure date or potentially offer me a little more money so i could hire someone to move my belongings. The lady i spoke with told me that she was sure they could reach some sort of agreement. She would inquire and get back to me. Not only did i not hear back from her, no one returned the 20 or more calls i made and left messages That was the last contact i had with Wells Fargo. In late XXXX or early XX/XX/XXXX wells fargo formally foreclosed. The house sold about 45 days later for {$250000.00} although even with the grant needing to be repaid, i only owed {$170000.00}. I saw no proceeds from the sale and wasnt able to find out why. 
So perhaps it is understandable why i do not trust wells fargo to compensate me properly, if at all.

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