Consumer complaint received 2023-03-28
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY
State: CA
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Closing your account
Sub-issue: Company closed your account

Complaint:
I recently received a lawsuit summons from Wells Fargo where I do not feel they followed proper protocol prior to the lawsuit as well as other consumer rights. I am afraid they will leave me in a state where I am unable to pay for my utilities and mortgage due to their acts. I would like to go over the history I have with Wells Fargo. I had been called into the local Wells Fargo branch in XXXX CA for a issue my parents were experiencing when trying to refinance their home. They needed to improve their credit before the refi could occur. The loan officer had asked if I would be willing to cosign on the auto loan for their XXXX in order to get their bills up to date. I was in the process of trying to purchase a home so I was very apprehensive to put my name on any new loan. The branch officer had promised me that their refi for the home was already underway and approved for three months out so the longest the loan would be out was the three months. I believed the loan officer and co-signed on the refinance. As I was leaving the branch officer told me as part of the auto loan they also issue out a credit card. I never applied for a credit card with Wells Fargo and had not requested this but I was told after all papers were signed that I needed to have a existing relationship with them in order to have the auto loan. I was very young and did not understand what the meant but I assumed I would not need to worry as the auto loan would be out of my name in three months. After the three months, I noticed that the loan wasnt removed. This caused great distress between the relationship between my parents and I. I called Wells Fargo to ask them how to remove myself, at that time I was told the loan was not actually a co-sign loan, I was the sole person on the loan. I would like to request Wells Fargo pull phone conversations as I called numerous times on this very upset as they agreement was went into fraudulently. At one point, the auto loan payments were late which impacted my credit score which caused a pause on purchasing a home. I am stating this background to state Wells Fargo is very shady in their business practices. 
The credit card site for Wells Fargo is very confusing. You need to log into one place to check your balance, then another to pay the bill and the user id and password requirements are different. This caused it to be very confusing on when something was due and how to pay as I was locked out many times. If Wells Fargo pulls their logs, they will be able to see this. Because it was so hard to get into, I would list out months in the future to pay, I believe it only let you schedule six months out so I would go in, schedule a future payment, then only log in when I needed to do this again. 
At one point, Wells Fargo would not allow me to access their site. My recollection had that I had scheduled payments out til XXXX so I went in XXXX but was no longer able to access the site. I tried to reset using my card info but my account was not found. I had not gotten paper statements and could not get through when trying to call so I waited to try to figure out what was going on. I received a letter stating my account was closed which I believe was due to non-use as my goal had only been to pay off the credit card. The papers I was given show a agreement, but this is not a agreement I ever received. 
I was always willing to pay in payment as I was but I could not afford the lump sum payment they were demanding due to closing the account. I felt like I was always paying the card on time, I would have continued to pay but I did not have the funds to pay in full as I was already into a debt consolidation agreement where the payments were really high. The Wells Fargo card was my oldest card, when they closed the account this impacted my score negatively as I had no other credit at the time. I am still trying to recover my credit from that initial closure, they did not give me the opportunity to let me know why the account was being closed. I have been told by XXXX XXXX ; accounts get closed if you do not use within a year which is why I am assuming Wells Fargo closed mine since I was paying. 
Due to the debt consolidation, I became aware that when a account is past due, you will get a collection notice that offers a way to pay the debt so I was waiting for this to try to settle the account. Wells Fargo never gave me the opportunity to do this as the next step was them filing the suit. I would like to request a payment plan, but I would also like the court to consider how the credit card was obtained, and the shady business practices Wells Fargo has performed. I have been so incensed by it that I have stated in in social media to try to get them to contact me. Calling them does not help as the people who work there say they can not speak for a branch and the branch has closed. I trusted Wells Fargo to be honest and their actions have directly impacted my credit history. As stated, I am willing to pay what I owe as I always was, but I do believe I deserve compensation for the way they unlawfully obtained my business and negatively impacted my credit score. There is no way for me to truly know how much I owe due to their faulty log in system. I do not feel like Wells Fargo is providing me the option to pay in payments as credit cards usually do but instead will only take lump sums as they did with the initial closing of the account and now with the lawsuit. I can not afford this. There is interest that has been added due to how they are doing this. Had they kept my account open, this would have been paid now in the monthly 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