Consumer complaint received 2022-11-03
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY
State: TX
Product: Payday loan, title loan, or personal loan
Sub-product: Installment loan
Issue: Getting the loan

Complaint:
Summary : Perfect 'Bait and Switch " Wells Fargo ad that misled an old customer with excellent credit score and history into applying for a XXXX XXXX on undisclosed terms and conditions. Those terms and conditions constitute the material information required for a customer to make a borrowing decision. That material information was neither disclosed in the advertisement email not in the fine print. 

Details : Being a Wells Fargo deposit and credit card customer for nine years years with outstanding credit standing, I received a an email from Wells Fargo on XX/XX/2022 saying ( screenshot of complete email also attached ) : " Your rate awaits Check your personal loan rate in minutes with no impact to your credit score XXXX, Are you looking to consolidate debt,1 improve your home, make a major purchase, or cover unexpected expenses? A personal loan could help. 
And when you check your rates at wellsfargo.com/loanoptions, youll get personalized rate and payment options, so you can choose the option that fits your budget. 
Best of all, theres no impact to your credit score just for looking. 
A Wells Fargo personal loan offers : Loan amounts from {$3000.00} to {$100000.00} Terms from 12 to 84 months Same-day credit decision for most customers No collateral required '' Now the most important misleading action by Wells Fargo XXXX nowhere in the email it is mentioned that the approved loan amount can be lower than the amount applied for. But, they ended up approving lower amount that wouldn't be of any use to me and it also affected my credit score when the credit report was pulled. Perfect BAIT AND SWITCH malafide tactic employed to grab business from unwary XXXX customer who trusted the bank and wanted to do business with them. 

My case : After viewing the email on XX/XX/2022, I checked the rate and was immediately given option up to apply for a personal loan up to XXXX. I opted to apply for {$60000.00} loan for 48 months at 11.99 % APR. However, after a day I was informed that they have changed the terms of the loan ( a fact they actively concealed from the customer in the bait and switch email ad ) to {$40000.00} for 48 months at ~ 11.99 %. That is {$20000.00} less than what I had applied for. I immediately declined the counter-offer and called Wells Fargo customer service on the same day at XXXX XXXX CT to request application closure as I had already declined the counter-offer based on undisclosed changes in terms. 

Now here the second problem surfaces, the customer services agent, XXXX, informed me that the application will remain active for 60 days and it is based on Wells Fargo policy. 

First they do not provide all the necessary information that would help a customer reach an informed borrowing decision and secondly they deny the customer request to close the application. 

Result : 1. I was not provided complete information in the ad email to help me reach an informed borrowing decision. It was a perfect Bait and Switch ploy from a bank already known for their anti-customer policies and malpractice that resulted in change of top management a few years ago. However, that malpractice still continues. 

2. It affected my credit score because my credit report was pulled.

3. When I have already declined a loan based of undisclosed terms and conditions, then refusing to close the application on customer request is unlawful.

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 non-monetary relief