Consumer complaint received 2018-03-27
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY
State: CA
Product: Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports
Sub-product: Credit reporting
Issue: Incorrect information on your report
Sub-issue: Account information incorrect

Complaint:
Over the past 18 months I have diligently repaired my credit. As a law student graduating in our worst economy in XX/XX/XXXX, I have finally laid the foundation to repair my credit. I have paid numerous collection accounts, have paid off some accounts and have been auto-paying over $ 1,700/mth in Federally Subsidized and UnSubbed Student Loans. Backtracking now ... 

In XX/XX/XXXX I contacted Wells Fargo Credit Card Services ( WF ) regarding a {$6400.00} CC balance. I was specifically told, " I could not pay '' and that " I would very soon be receiving a 1099-C, your account is now closed, no collections would be pursued and your debt is Cancelled ''. I inquired, " Does this make my balance zero? '' We have cancellef the debt, meaning " There is no debt it is cancelled, there is no balance if there is no debt ''. Why? " We are doing this a lot, it is a tax loss for WF ... BUT please be advised sir you will still have to pay whatever is on your 1099c as income or you could be in trouble with the federal government for failing to pay your taxes ''. Ok. Well, I was calling to pay. " Well, sir, now you'll just be paying the US government instead, we've cancelled your debt ''. 

I would instead be paying income tax on the amount, I learned, as WF strategically benefitted ( by now accepting money towards an account WITH A BALANCE ) ... from a formerly-claimed tax loss. At that time, there had been no negative reporting since XX/XX/XXXX. 

No Problem I thought, turning my life around. I included the 1099-C along with my other 1099s and had my accountant file my XX/XX/XXXX Income Tax Return, not thinking about this ( 107 % utilization! ) account again until about 2 months ago when I first realized that WF was still reporting the account as " Open '' rather than Closed, above the utilization balance ( 107 % ) and to top it all off ... reporting that I have negative payment history throughout XX/XX/XXXX ... negatice history on a tax loss ... negative history on a " Cancelled '' debt ... negative history on Income?!. 

I contacted XXXX, I mean WF, and the repm told me they were not " pursuing collections '' on my cancelled account but I could still pay the cancelled debt because I still had a balance. Of a cancelled debt?! 

WF is trying to intentionally confuse the consumer by virtue of attempting to mislead me in stating that " Pursuing Collections was cancelled, NOT the Debt ''. Bahaha. Wrong. Sir we cancelled the collections not your account. OMG XXXX, I mean WF stopppp!!! 

***That is literally federal tax fraud in the form of misleading consumers and double-dipping write offs and liabilities. As soon as I included that income on my return, I accepted the offer made bt WF, IRS and Myself, The Govt essentially paid WF in the form of a loss and zi paid the government for that debt. *** There is not a second way of looking at this equation ... just as there is no legal way for WF to accept money on a federal.tax loss or to legally pretend otherwise in response to a credit dispute investigation. Other than close the account, that is exactly what WF is trying to do now.

So any future payments on a cancelled account to WF would negate the legality of their tax loss benefit and of the way I filed. Since those payments would obviously not be contemporaneous with any new 1099s and since a cancellation of debt was promulgated. 

Please advise as my dispute with the bureaus only resulted in reporting the account closed. 
However the unfair part is ANY AND ALL reporting of non-payments after XX/XX/XXXX would be akin to WF stealing from the consumer and further manipulating the federal Gov't, since the benefit has already accrued in their XX/XX/XXXX corporate tax return.

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