Consumer complaint received 2018-03-06
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY
State: CA
Product: Payday loan, title loan, or personal loan
Sub-product: Installment loan
Issue: Charged fees or interest you didn't expect

Complaint:
Thank you for reading into my complaint ... 

I'm writing to express how disconcerted I am with the way Wells Fargo 's personal loan system closes out accounts. This seems to be an unfair, systemic problem rather than a lone wolf issue. I applied for a 2nd lower interest rate loan through WF, just enough to pay off the balance from the 1st WF loan, which was viewable online. Nowhere did I see online that I needed to contact them by phone or go into a bank to close the account to get the ACTUAL remaining balance ( which would include " interest '', {$66.00} ), though I'm told it's within the online statements, which I still haven't found. The phone banker informed me people have expressed frustration with this before. 
It makes no sense why this " final interest '' amount is not written in bold or red text within the online page where that total balance is being paid off. It was XX/XX/XXXX when I paid the remaining balance and I planned on calling today, XX/XX/XXXX, to actually close the account. It was only at this point that I saw a {$66.00} balance online. 

It's taken me 1 hour of phone time and a lot of push to get {$10.00} waived since I feel strongly that this is unfair practice, it's sneaky and makes me feel like this remaining interest may not in fact be that! It draws the sense that they are just tagging on extra random fees and calling it interest. 
I paid the unwaived {$56.00} reluctantly ( via transfer from another WF acct ) and closed the account over the phone, but after reconsideration called back and requested the {$56.00} be refunded too. After another hour of reexplaining my situation to a handful of employees from various departments I was told it's " impossible '' for them to reverse the transaction since my personal loan account is now posted as closed ( even though XXXX initially approved the refund after the closure ). I gave up with them today but am reaching out to you because there is no way this isn't an issue for others and I don't want this to continue happening. 
I was told there is a XXXX cent daily accrual on these " interest '' fees after what I thought was my final balance. What if I didn't check my account for a month?! What if I were impoverished and literally scraping for pennies to get by? For someone like my mother who never goes online ( I sometimes go online for her and do transfers, etc. ) we wouldn't think to even ask about a remaining interest balance for a loan we thought was paid off. 
This isn't a checking account that we view the balance of at ATMs or online most days, it's a LOAN that many people often receive the balance for once a month when they get statement letters in the mail! So XXXX cents times how many days or months for older citizens or people who aren't able to view these balances regularly? Wells Fargo allows these accounts to continue accruing interest. 

There needs to be a better way to regulate this. 

Thank you again for reviewing my complaint. 

Best, XXXX

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 monetary relief