Consumer complaint received 2019-09-23
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY
State: MN
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Applying for a mortgage or refinancing an existing mortgage

Complaint:
In XX/XX/XXXX, my wife and I were in the process of refinancing our home in XXXX XXXX, Minnesota. Our existing mortgage was with Wells Fargo, so we worked with Wells Fargo Bank for this transaction as well. I had been banking with Wells Fargo or its predecessors, including XXXX XXXX Bank, XXXX XXXX Bank, and XXXX Bank, since XX/XX/XXXX. When we applied for the refinancing, in addition to my personal account, I had a joint account with my wife, with each of my XXXX children, my business operating account, my lawyers trust account, and our existing mortgage. The loan we applied for was for 15 years, in the amount of {$230000.00} at 3.25 %. I never had any reason to distrust Wells Fargo, until now. 

We went through the loan application process, filled out all the required forms and our home was appraised. The closing on the new loan was set for XX/XX/XXXX. 

We, eventually, received a copy of the appraisal. The appraisal, dated XX/XX/XXXX, was addressed to XXXX XXXX, an entity we had never heard of before. It indicated a market value for our home of {$390000.00}, which made our loan approximately 61 % of the appraised market value. The valuation, however, was below what our understanding was of the values of homes in our area. Nonetheless, as far as we knew, we were still on track for an XX/XX/XXXX closing of the loan for which we had applied. 

Sometime after XX/XX/XXXX and before XX/XX/XXXX, we received the following communication : Counteroffer Notice/Notice of Action Taken Date : XXXX XXXX Loan Number : XXXX Lender Name : Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. 
Applicant : XXXX XXXX XXXX Property Address : XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX, MN XXXX You have submitted to us an application with the following terms : Loan Amount : {$230000.00} Interest Rate : 3.250 % Term : 180 Months Product ID : Fixed Rate Mortgage Unfortunately, we are unable to offer you mortgage credit on the terms that you requested for the following reasons : Value or type of collateral not sufficient We can, however, conditionally offer mortgage credit on the following terms, subject to our standard underwriting terms and conditions : Loan Amount : {$230000.00} Interest Rate : 4.000 % Term : 360 Months Product ID : Fixed Rate Mortgage When we read this communication, we were stunned. It was not what we had been led to believe we were getting. Moreover, there was no indication of the meaning of the phrase, value or type of collateral not sufficient. We asked our loan officer if we could get a second opinion on the valuation of our home to test the insufficiency and he said, simply, No. Additionally, we asked what the specific deficiency in the valuation of our home was. That question was never answered. So, with less than three weeks until the scheduled closing, we had no realistic choice other than to accept XXXX XXXX counteroffer, even though it meant an extra 15 years and an extra {$100000.00} out of our pockets. We went ahead and closed on the loan on XX/XX/XXXX. 

At the closing, which was in the offices of XXXX XXXX, we signed no fewer than 30 separate documents. Documents 23 and 24 of this set of closing documents were Affiliated  Business Arrangement Disclosures. In those documents it was revealed, for the first time, that the XXXX entities were somehow affiliated with Wells Fargo. These documents identified the XXXX entities and read : This is to give you notice that your Lender has business relationships with the following entities. These entities are affiliates of the Lender. Because of this relationship, this referral may provide the Lender a  financial or other benefit. 

The full nature and extent of the relationship, however, remained undisclosed. It never occurred to us, even at that point, how much of a financial or other benefit Wells Fargo would derive from its 49.9 % ownership of Rels. Utilizing a fraudulent and, by Wells Fargos dictates, unchallengeable undervaluation of our home, conducted by its subsidiary, along with undisclosed parameters for an acceptable or sufficient loan-to-value ratio, Wells Fargo changed our loan from 3.25 % for 15 years to 4.00 % for 30 years. This benefitted Wells Fargo to the extent of {$100000.00} in excess interest. 

I received a letter from XXXX XXXX, Senior Vice President, Customer Remediation Office, Wells Fargo, shortly after XX/XX/XXXX, that said, in pertinent part, As part of our commitment to make things right for customers, we are contacting current and former customers of Wells Fargo who may have submitted a complaint to us, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, or another government agency about receiving an unwanted consumer or small business product or service sold through a Wells Fargo branch. We want to ensure you are satisfied with how your complaint was resolved. 
If you submitted a complaint about an unwanted consumer or small business product or service and feel your complaint was not fully addressed, please contact us at XXXX. 

I did that and have been bounced around between departments of Wells Fargo since then. In fact, I tried to reach Ms. XXXX directly. I was told that all she did was sign letters. Its impossible to believe that a Senior Vice President anywhere in the Wells Fargo organization does nothing but sign letters. For six months, Wells Fargos express desire to ensure that I am satisfied with how my complaint was resolved, has been unaddressed, sidestepped, dodged and has made me even more dissatisfied. I regard the letter I received in XX/XX/XXXXas a disingenuous attempt by Wells Fargo to repair its tarnished reputation. 

Today, I received a letter from Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, under date of XX/XX/XXXX, telling me that we had agreed to Wells Fargo 's counteroffer in XX/XX/XXXX. It ignores that we did not have all of the relevant facts, including the identity of XXXX XXXX, that it was at all related to Wells Fargo, or the full nature and extent of that relationship. The letter also thanked me for providing Wells Fargo with information that would help it to " identify areas of training and processing improvement. '' It concluded with Wells Fargo 's " determin [ ation ] that the account was handled properly and no corrections are needed as no error has occurred. '' My conclusion is that if Wells Fargo needed my input into identification of areas of training and processing that needed improvement, it follows that Wells Fargo did, in fact, do wrong. 

At this point I want Wells Fargo to credit my mortgage account {$100000.00}, which is the excess amount of interest in our existing mortgage over what it should have been.

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