Consumer complaint received 2018-02-28
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY
State: MA
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint:
XX/XX/XXXX : Wells Fargo was contacted by a lawyer claiming to represent my Homeowners Association ( " HOA '' ), demanding payment from Wells Fargo for past due HOA fees plus their legal fees relating to my home. This lawyer was never authorized by the homeowners or Trustees to act on behalf of our homeowners association. Further, the property manager was not authorized by the Trustees to hire attorneys on behalf of the homeowners association. 

Despite this, between XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX Wells Fargo : - paid my outstanding HOA dues and {$550.00} in legal fees to this lawyer - did not verify the validity of these claims - did not notify me before paying the fees - applied these amounts as an " unpaid advance balance '' on my home mortgage XX/XX/XXXX : I disputed the charges through the Wells Fargo dispute resolution process. I stated that : - I am a XXXX of the 6-unit condo association - This lawyer was never authorized to represent the HOA and was not acting on the HOA 's behalf - Wells Fargo should have contacted me to verify the validity of the claim before sending money and applying unpaid advantages on my mortgage - I requested reimbursement of the {$550.00} in legal fees which should never have been paid. 

XX/XX/XXXX Wells Fargo response letter : The bank stated that " As of XX/XX/XXXX, we will send a past due notice to our customers advising we have received a delinquency notice and encouraging our customers to pay the past due fees prior to us paying. '' However, Wells Fargo declined to reimburse me the {$550.00}. 

XX/XX/XXXX : I disputed the charge once again, this time providing Wells Fargo with additional documentation to support my dispute. This included : - The details describing the circumstances whereby the attorney acted without the consent of the Trustees of the homeowners association. The details are as such : the attorney is the President of the management company which performs basic maintenance and accounting for the HOA. The management company does not have a contract with the HOA and did not have the authority to enter into agreements or hire attorneys on behalf of the HOA. Despite not having a contract with the homeowners association to perform functions beyond basic maintenance and accounting, the attorney acted independently to pursue collections and charged homeowners legal fees on behalf of her legal practice, a practice separate from the management company. 
- A XX/XX/XXXX e-mail exchange between my lawyer and the lawyer which received funds from Wells Fargo, whereby the latter admitted that there was no contract between her management company or her law practice and our homeowners association. 
- A copy of my XXXX Certificate to verify my XXXX with the homeowners association XX/XX/XXXX : I received a letter from Wells Fargo indicating that " we've determined your concerns were previously addressed by us, and we didn't find you had enclosed any new information or significantly different details which would change our response. Without any new or different information, the guidelines established by the CFPB do not require us to perform further research. '' Despite the new information I provided - specifically, evidence that the lawyer who had contacted Wells Fargo had no contract with our HOA and was therefore not entitled to recover costs she claimed to incur - the Executive Resolution Specialist I spoke with would not give an explanation for the bank 's decision. 

XX/XX/XXXX : I contacted Wells Fargo to get a copy of the correspondence from XX/XX/XXXX so that I can file my complaint with the CFPB.

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