Consumer complaint received 2019-03-21
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY
State: NY
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Home equity loan or line of credit (HELOC)
Issue: Struggling to pay mortgage

Complaint:
Complaint against Wells Fargo by XXXX XXXX. 
Loan Number : XXXX Borrower : XXXX XXXX Property Address : XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, NY XXXX I purchased a house with my partner XXXX XXXX. The house was bought as joint tenants with rights of survivorship. 
XXXX passed away on XXXX, XXXX during hurricane Sandy . Immediately upon his passing, the house became 100 % mine, by operation of law. It should be noted that the home was NOT inherited, did NOT have to go through probate, but simply went from being jointly owned to being 100 % mine when he passed away. My name is on the deed/title, so there is no dispute, nor has there ever been, as to current ownership of the house. 
A few years before his passing, in XXXX of XXXX, XXXX had taken out a home equity loan with Wells Fargo in the amount of {$250000.00}. 
XXXX was the sole borrower of the loan. He was the ONLY person who signed the note. In reviewing the note, he also made fraudulent statements, testifying to the fact that the house was his primary residence, etc. which it clearly never was as all his tax documents point to the XXXX apartment as his primary residence.. As I understood from the note itself, it is a personal loan which could be called at anytime, ( particularly should it be discovered that fraudulent statements were made, which they were ). It states on page 11, that if any facts were misrepresented, the lender may require immediate payment of the entire amount remaining unpaid under the debt instrument. 
Despite being informed in a written letter in XXXX, ( attached ) that fraudulent statements HAD been made, Wells made no attempt to collect the debt from the estate. 
While XXXX was the sole borrower, both our names were on the document that secures the house as collateral for the loan. However, it must be pointed out that the signature which attempts to secure my house as collateral is CLEARLY not mine. ( I have attached documents showing MY signature on other formal documents and the obviously forged signature on the mortgage ). 
While there WAS a 1 page notarized document that DOES bear my signature, it was NOT attached to the mortgage, at the time I signed it. NOR did I appear before the notary. As the document sent to me from Wells Fargo Clearly shows, there was a page 13 of 13, dated XX/XX/XXXX that notarized XXXX   signature. THEN, what follows is a property description, then a SECOND page 13 of 13, where XXXX wrote both of our signatures and which was given to me separately. XXXX had printed my name, and asked me to sign. I NEVER appeared before XXXX XXXX, and thought I was notarizing the property description! 
Any perfunctory due diligence would clearly alert the bank that there were TWO page 13 of 13s, and that the two signatures, the forged one on the mortgage and the signature that was subsequently notarized, are completely different! ( attached ) The funds were directly, electronically delivered into XXXX XXXX XXXX account. ( also attached ). 
Wells was informed shortly after XXXX death, that XXXX had this outstanding note, that he was the sole borrower and that Wells Fargo should immediately seek repayment from the estate as there were MORE than ample funds in XXXX estate to cover his loan. 
Wells DID receive this correspondence as it soon responded ( attached ) asking to see the death certificate. 
When I called to attempt to speak to someone at Wells Fargo regarding the loan, I was told that the bank could not speak to me as I was not the borrower on the loan. 
Shortly thereafter, a letter was sent from Attorney XXXX XXXX, stating that, as the loan was in XXXX name, I would not be paying and that Wells needed to file against the estate and failure to do so would constitute an abandonment and forfeiture of these claims. 
No response was received from Wells, thereby Wells extinguishes its claim. 
This has been causing me an inordinate amount of stress as my house is my only significant asset and a property on which I bank my future. 
I was forced to hire an attorney to try to get this resolved as, despite numerous attempts on my part, I could not make any headway and was given absolutely NO direction from Wells Fargo. 
I, unfortunately, had to deal with numerous health issues last year ( 17 days in the hospital, 2 XXXX, home aides and the like ), while trying to deal with this as well. Subsequent discussions between my then-attorney XXXX XXXX, led to the request by the bank to have me fill out fraudulent forms. 
The forms were filled out in late XXXX and sent to Wells Fargo, but, suddenly, out of the blue, rejected due to the fact that there was that 1 page that was notarized. As I stated above, it was NOT attached to the mortgage, it was dated XXXX XXXX, a FULL 8 days after the mortgage was notarized by XXXX. And the signature on the notarized page clearly bears NO resemblance to the forged one on the loan. 
I suspect what happened was that XXXX handed in the note and forged mortgage on XX/XX/XXXX., Then, after review by the bank, may have been told that both names had to be notarized, he then must have written both of our names ( that is his printing on the printed names on the right of the second page 13 of 13 ), and just given me the property description and that one page and asked me to sign and then later had it notarized. 
Wells has not specified as to what exactly is meant by any additional documentation, but this documentation clearly should be more than enough to prove this claim?! 
This is NO way to treat anyone! 
1. Wells Fargo NEVER sought payment from the estate 2. There were clearly fraudulent statements on the loan that were pointed out to Wells Fargo in XXXX, they could have immediately called the loan and gotten payment from the Estate. 
3. Wells NEVER responded to attorney XXXX XXXX XX/XX/XXXX letter stating that DEMAND IS HEREBY MADE that you immediately present and pursue any claims you may have for repayment of this debt to and against the estate of XXXX XXXX. 
WE WILL CONSIDER ANY FAILURE TO PROPERLY AND TIMELY FILE YOUR CLAIMS AGAINST THE ESTATE AS AN ABANDONMENT AND FORFEITURE OF THOSE CLAIMS, AS WELL AS ANY SECURED CLAIMS AGAINST ANY PROPERTY. 
DEMAND IS HEREBY MADE that this correspondence be acknowledged in writing. 
4. Did not perform any due diligence as they could clearly see that the notarized signature and the forged signature do not resemble each other at ALL! 
5. Refused to talk with me about the loan as I was not the borrower. 
6. Wells is now not offering any specific direction as to what other documents would be needed.

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