Consumer complaint received 2023-09-21
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY
State: CT
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Struggling to pay mortgage
Sub-issue: Foreclosure

Complaint:
Our family has struggled as restaurant owners to survive the pandemic and shutdown and are trying to rebuild but are facing foreclosure because our lender Wells Fargo has not given us access to options to restructure or modify our mortgage loan after being granted a CARES forbearance. We have been misled by Wells agents regarding how they would deal with the past due payments from that plan and find ourselves in limbo with Wells Fargo. We have had a change in financial circumstance and believe that if Wells Fargo followed guidelines and conducted a review of our current financial situation that we would qualify for assistance instead of facing a sale date. 

We bought our home in XXXX and refinanced through Wachovia back in XXXX which became part of Wells Fargo a few years later. My husband and I own and run XXXX XXXX restaurant for the last 19 years. We never had a problem making our mortgage payment until XXXX when we were forced to change locations which really hurt our business. We applied for and were granted a modification by Wells Fargo in XXXX but as business continued to struggle we were forced to file XXXX XXXX bankruptcy in XXXX to reorganize our debts. We began getting back on our feet with the bankruptcy but within a year XXXX hit and our restaurant had to shut down due to local declaration of disaster. As a result we could not keep up with the trustee payments on the bankruptcy and the judge dismissed the case. At that time we reached out to Wells and we were given two consecutive six month forbearance. We were grateful for assistance through this government program to help business owners negatively impacted by XXXX. 

We were told by Wells Fargo agents after the plan ended they were going to defer the past due payments from the forbearance or put them back into the balance of the loan and that we would be able to resume making regular payments. We provided the requested paperwork and their agent told us that they were going to send out a notary so that we could execute the documents for the restructured loan. Not long after that everything started going sideways with Wells and we received a denial letter that did not provide any specific information as to why our application for assistance was denied. When we tried to call to follow up no one could give us details, they just said that we need to short sale the home and if we did not like that we could appeal the decision, but Wells never gave us information on how to do that. We have been receiving letters from a law firm XXXX and XXXX stating that we owe Wells Fargo {$100000.00} and that we are in foreclosure. We dispute that we owe this amount. We would like a full and complete accounting of all payments made and applied. We would also like a full and complete accounting of the payments made to the bankruptcy trustee and the application of these payments to the mortgage. We would also like to know how much Wells Fargo has put into suspense from payments we have submitted and also a breakdown of all fees charged on our account. We do not owe Wells Fargo {$100000.00} and would like to know what the true facts are. 

Our restaurant has been doing well for the last year and we have had a significant change in financial circumstances. Wells Fargo is required to conduct a review based on our current and correct financial circumstances to determine ability to pay and also review for all possible loss mitigation options such as loan modification, deferment of delinquent payments, recapitalization of arrearages or repayment plan. We have no problem making the mortgage payment, but at this time Wells Fargo is demanding full reinstatement and we want the opportunity to be considered for all options to resolve the delinquent payments.

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