Consumer complaint received 2020-06-25
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY
State: NY
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: FHA mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint:
I applied and was approved for COVID-19 relief forbearance in end of XX/XX/XXXX for XXXX, XXXX and XXXX and in XXXX was told by a Wells Fargo agent on XX/XX/XXXX ( XXXX XXXX ) that my Forbearance payment arrangement for paying off missed payments during the forbearance period was confirmed and would involve option of it being moved to the end of my 30 year mortgage and that our term would be extended out for an additional XXXX months for us to pay it off over these three added months. Since end of XXXX I also spoke with two other Wells Fargo agents in XXXX who reiterated to me the same exact thing as far as how my repayment of forbearance would work yet on XX/XX/XXXX upon calling the main customer service number to inquire about something unrelated regarding how my escrow would be impacted by our forbearance and for ensuring how we can avoid risk of any shortage since no one from Well XXXX ever explained this to us upon us entering forbearance and this was the first time my husband and I had ever gone on forbearance I was shellshocked to learn from the person to took my initial call Wells Fargo just received new info from FHA on the day before on XX/XX/XXXX regarding new forbearance payoff terms and conditions for FHA loan holders that would affect us since we have an FHA backed loan that requires us to pay everything off in one lump sum in our final 30 year mortgage term - completely retracting everything that every other Wells Fargo agent had told me in XXXX and XXXX. With multiple agents all telling me the same thing regarding my option for adding the forbearance balance to the end of my 30 yr mortgage term and this being added on as additional months to my term for us to payoff in monthly installments each having every opportunity to inform me that Wells Fargo hadnt made any final determinations on repayment yet if that had been the case but thats clearly not what was stated here - you can imagine how I felt completely misrepresented and completely taken advantage in having the rug pulled out from me three months into my forbearance period with Wells Fargo suddenly just changing the rules and terms on me so late in the process and on top of multiple agents telling me that I would have option to payoff whatever forbearance balance I had over monthly increments added onto my 30 yr term mortgage at the tailend of it. 

The very same I learned about this sudden unforeseen and unacceptable change I immediately was transferred to Wells Fargo 's Exec Relations Dept that same day on XX/XX/XXXX and requested that a case be opened challenging what Wells Fargo was doing and provided the person opening up the case with the very names of all agents I spoke with along with the respective dates I spoke with them that the proved evidence of these conversation and requesting that Wells Fargo would have accountability in standing by the word of what their own people told me and that regardless of any FHA changes they may or may not have received months later that they would honor the pay off arrangements their agents who represent Wells Fargo told me I would have the option of abiding by well before the agent I spoke earlier that day XX/XX/XXXX who all of sudden was changing the rules of engagement on me. 

The case worker, XXXX XXXX, conducted a so-called investigation and closed the case on XX/XX/XXXX after two weeks, explaining she finished her research and claimed she pulled all the calls and that all the agents were " addressed. '' She also said she mailed me a letter indicating that all missed payments from forbearance have the option to be moved to end of 30 year mortgage term ; however, I explained to her that this didn't provide me with what I was seeking in terms of resolution on how I was to repay this forbearance and in having Wells Fargo assuring me that it would stand by the words of their three agents who confirmed that our repayment of the forbearance period would be carried to the end of the 30 year mortgage term and extended on as an additional three months for me to repay over in three month increments. She responded that the language in her later basically said the same thing but I pointed out that her indicating how the money is moved doesn't have anything to do with explaining how we are expected to repay it or how Wells Fargo plans on making good on their repeated misinformation and misrepresentation by their three agents. Interestingly she even agreed with me during our conversation saying that I was correct in what I was saying during the call yet when I challenged her on why she couldn't clarify this in the letter if she was agreeing with me verbally she just responded that once her letter is written and mailed the language can't be changed and that all she could at that point was open a new case for another case worker to be assigned with hope that that case worker could possibly send another letter containing different language providing me with what I was looking for once he/she closed the new case. 

Since I had spoken with XXXX XXXX about her closing the case on XX/XX/XXXX and while waiting for case to be assigned, I received her letter and in her letter she even wrote the info I was given by the agents was correct yet how can they have been correct and yet if Wells Fargo is still saying that FHA terms are dictating that we will have to repay our forbearance balance as a lump sum at end of our 30 year mortgage term - that is unless we refinance or sell our home earlier. I was told by XXXX XXXX I would hear from new case worker within 24-48 hrs on XX/XX/XXXX yet by XX/XX/XXXX ( 2 days later ) I had not heard from any case worker yet and called the exec relations dept only to find out that no case number or worker had even been assigned yet at which point I requested that as supervisor call me back the next day. 

By mid-day the next day Thurs XX/XX/XXXX I had not received any call from a supervisor and called back exec relations dept and was told I needed to speak to XXXX XXXX 's supervisor, XXXX, who I was then transferred to and left a message for asking that he call me back. The following day on Fri XX/XX/XXXX I had not received a call back from XXXX so I called back exec relations dept again and spoke with another one of their agents who told me the that since speaking with XXXX XXXX on Mon XX/XX/XXXX after she said she'd be opening a new case and I could expect to hear from a new case worker within 24-48 hrs that it appeared no case was ever initiated for assignment so that agent, XXXX XXXX, finally opened the case and moved the needle for finally getting a case number and worker assigned five days after the fact and then messaged XXXX XXXX 's Supervisor XXXX again to let him know that I was still awaiting his returned call. I finally received a call back from XXXX later that Friday and explained all my concerns and frustrations to him. XXXX said he understood my point of view and seemed empathetic with my position in terms of the original info I had been told by multiple agents from Wells Fargo prior to the sudden new terms and conditions that were being changed on me as of XX/XX/XXXX relating to our forbearance payoff. I expressed to him that I questioned how much work if any XXXX even did when working on my case and that I was really hoping for a better job and resolution with Wells Fargo doing the fair and honorable act in honoring what its agents have been telling me since XXXX and XXXX before doing what I believe is a bait and switch on me so suddenly in XXXX after I've already been so far into the forbearance period and said that if there were any late new rules and terms pertaining to FHA payoff for forbearance that this should really be something worked out between Wells Fargo and FHA and not involve me where as they should be the ones to pay off FHA in one lump sum and still honor the original terms their agents had told me repeatedly regarding my paying my forbearance balance off as an extension to my 30 year term over additional months in monthly increments as this is how it had been consistently presented to us and is what gave us peace of mind in believing the pay off would be manageable for us. 
XXXX said he was adding notes for the new case worker and said he would he would leave notes asking the new case worker to make sure he found out with the exact payoff terms are and, depending on what they are, to see if there is anything they can do to work with me based on what Wells Fargo agents have told me that is contrary to the new info that was first being changed on me when I blindly called in with my escrow question on XX/XX/XXXX. I even wonder if/when anyone from Wells Fargo would have informed me on this sudden new change of terms if I had not called in that XX/XX/XXXX? 

Beyond this, when XXXX XXXX first took on the first case, I also expressed consideration in extending our forbearance for another three months and without us officially making any formal request for this she went ahead and pushed this extension through for approval anyway- authorizing extension for another three mos ( for XXXX, XXXX and XXXX ) despite my explaining that before we would make any decisions on extension we were waiting on clarity from her how our payoff of the original three month forbearance period would be expected yet here we are with a further extension. XXXX neglected to do her job in providing us with this clarity and resolution and still went ahead and gave us this extension without giving us the answers she knew we were seeking that was contingent on us making this type of decision. 

When I talked with her supervisor XXXX about this he said he could cancel the extension but warned against it saying that when canceling forbearance after it's approved it can create issues and problems and recommended we stay on it for this reason. So know instead of accruing three months of forbearance balance and facing what we didn't expect as far as paying a lump sum of a three month balance of missed payments we are now left facing an even larger balance of 6 months of missed payments that Wells Fargo will expect us to pay as a lump sum as a balloon payment at end of 30 yr term. Interestingly enough, when considering this initially, an agent who suggested that we consider extending it in case we need it because it can difficult to get it back and that it also can cause issues with your credit when requesting it back said that while on forbearance you can make full or partial payments toward your forbearance balance when you during this time that would go toward your forbearance missed payments but if not still have forbearance as a safety net if you can't make any and yet on XX/XX/XXXX when I called the main number to make an escrow payment for XXXX so as to keep up with our taxes for avoiding any escrow shortage during our forbearance period the agent, XXXX, who took my payment enlightened me with even more contrary information I had been given by the earlier agent, explaining that we can't just make small independent payments separate from making our escrow payments to go toward our forbearance balance and that only full mortgage payment or payments covering just escrow is acceptable for being applied toward payments during our forbearance period that would be applied toward the balance we would owe on the backend. Now you can imagine how frustrating this contrary news is when all this time I was under impression that if we can't make full mortgage payment we could at least make a smaller payment separate from making escrow payment to help bring down the back balance we would owe for missed payment during our forbearance, especially since XXXX XXXX took it upon herself to approve an extended XXXXhree more months of forbearance that is now making it an even larger amount that we will have to pay at the back end of our 30 yr mortgage term that Wells Fargo is now changes rules on us suddenly with us now expected to pay as a balloon payment and is also now changing the rules suddenly stripping us from having options to pay smaller amounts if/when possible toward this balance separate and apart from escrow if we can't pay the full mortgage amount for helping to bring this full larger balance down that has resulted from XXXX XXXX extending our forbearance without us ever officially asking for this and it now being a problem to cancel this extention without facing some risk of repercussions. 

What I have laid out here is Wells Fargo continually misrepresenting and changing its rules as it relates to forbearance and regardless of whether these changes are being made by FHA and if/when made made by FHA Wells Fargo should have a responsibility and accountability for what their own agents are telling their clients, and in this particular case, what they have been telling me. There should be consumer protections against them doing " bait and switch '' where after months on forbearance they just change the rules or make the rules up as they go. To this extent, I also question FHA 's late and continual changes of its terms if they are also involved in dictating such terms to lenders as it is no appropriate that a lender or FHA be making up forbearance rules, regulations and conditions regarding COVID-19 relief forbearance payoffs as they go or so late in the game. They should also not be so restrictive, offering more flexibility in the options they are offering considering not everyone is in the same financial boat and it is also impossible to predict where people will be so far ahead in the future when it comes time to repaying off the forbearance balance, which in our case is about 20 yrs from now and we have no idea what kind of health we will be in, nor what kind of work or financial situations we will be in either. 

Even if FHA is making changes, it is very unfair that those with FHA like ourselves should be caught in the middle between the lenders like Wells Fargo and FHA who are constantly changing its rules on forbearance after so many people are already on forbearance or have even finished their forbearance period and are now being thrown for a loop in learning new rules over how they are expected pay everything off in one balloon payment without alternative options like other loans that offer options to pay it off in monthly installments, which in my case should be honored regardless since this is what Wells Fargo 's agents had told me consistently months before XX/XX/XXXX and is therefore what they should honor - let alone Case Worker XXXX XXXX went ahead in approving another three month forbearance extension when she knew we were awaiting her clarification on our forbearance repayment rules before making any decision on this, which she failed to do and yet still with notifying me until after the fact granted extent where we are now are stuck in extended forbearance. Beyond that, who knows how many other consumers like myself have been on Wells Fargo COVID-19 relief forbearance who have been told they have the same option to have their balance added and extended out by extra months to end of their term loan for paying off in monthly increments only now to suprisingly stumble on learning about new terms and policies they are suddently expected to abide by that is superceding everything that the prior Wells Fargo agents have told them up until now just like me. 


I have names of those I have spoken with from Wells Fargo who have all given me the info regarding it being confirmed that I have my repayment of forbearance was confirmed for being added to end of my 30 yr term and it being extended by additional months for me to pay it off in monthly  installments. It is either XXXX XXXX XX/XX/XXXX or XXXX XXXX XX/XX/XXXX ( one of them is also the person who also advised about having options to pay separate smaller amounts toward balance during forbearance period even if it wasn't full mortgage amount to help keep balance down who was recommending it may be better for us to continue with extension on forbearance when I was inquiring about this and how it would work for considering this option - not deciding on it ). Another rep I have name and date for who I believe also told me the same info about our forbearance repayment option is XXXX XXXX also on XX/XX/XXXX. All of these names and dates were provided to XXXX XXXX - though I can vouch for what she did in terms of even listening to these calls. 

These same names and dates were also provided to the new case worker on the second opened case that opened last Fri XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX XXXX, who I spoke with at length regarding my concerns and contentions this past Mon, XX/XX/XXXX. 

How and why should I be in the position after rightfully relying on the expertise and direction of more than one Wells representative of Wells Fargo to now be expected to abide by another option that was never presented to me before XX/XX/XXXX despite the contrary confirmed info I was given my MULTIPLE Wells Fargo representatives before? It is this basis that Well Fargo should be expected to stand by its original representation of the forbearance repayment information to me or that it be shamefully be expected to accept this misrepresentation. As a consumer, if I unable to trust what is being told me by a Wells Fargo representative, in this MULTIPLE, then where is the trust and credibility of Wells Fargo?

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