Consumer complaint received 2020-05-06
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY
State: CO
Product: Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports
Sub-product: Credit reporting
Issue: Incorrect information on your report
Sub-issue: Information belongs to someone else

Complaint:
XX/XX/XXXX : Husband and wife ( me ) opened up a joint account when purchasing furniture at XXXX XXXX XXXX ( funded through a retail account with Wells Fargo Financial XXXX Bank ). 

XX/XX/XXXX : All charges made on this account ( approved by both husband and wife ) were paid in full on this date, leaving the account at a zero balance. All further purchases reflected on Wells Fargo statements beyond this date were not approved by wife ( me ). 

XX/XX/XXXX : Legally separated. All joint accounts between husband and wife were all satisfied and split accordingly in to individual names, or closed entirely ( this Wells Fargo account was part of the closed accounts ). 

XX/XX/XXXX : Ex-husband and his new wife went to XXXX XXXX XXXX, re-opened his account that ex-wife ( me ) was a joint borrower on, and charged items totaling {$320.00}. Ex-wife ( me ) was unaware of this until XX/XX/XXXX and did not approve or sign anything for any transactions to be purchased on her former " closed '' joint account. The statements for this purchase reflect the payments have been made on time and paid in full by XX/XX/XXXX. 

XX/XX/XXXX : Ex-husband and his new wife went to XXXX XXXX XXXX, again, used his account that ex-wife ( me ) was a joint borrower on, and charged items totaling {$680.00}. Ex-wife ( me ) was unaware of this until XX/XX/XXXX and did not approve or sign anything for any transactions to be purchased on her former " closed '' joint account. The statements for this purchase reflect the payments have been made on time and paid in full by XX/XX/XXXX. 

XX/XX/XXXX : Officially divorced. Colorado state granted decree of dissolution of marriage with name change. 

XX/XX/XXXX : Ex-husband and his new wife went to XXXX XXXX XXXX, again, used his account that ex-wife ( me ) was a joint borrower on, and charged items totaling {$570.00}. Ex-wife ( me ) was unaware of this until XX/XX/XXXX and did not approve or sign anything for any transactions to be purchased on her former " closed '' joint account. {$35.00} payments were made during XXXX and XXXX billing cycles in XXXX, however, no further payments were made on this account. 

XX/XX/XXXX : Statement indicates this account has been charged off in the amount of {$900.00}. 

XXXX, XXXX : To my complete surprise after retrieving my ( ex-wife ) annual credit report, I found out several things : 1. Closed account was re-opened by my ex-husband and XXXX XXXX XXXX without my consent. 
2. Charges were made to an account that I was formerly a joint borrower on without my authorization or signature.

3. I was unaware any of this had been going on this entire time until I received my credit report.

4. Negative information such as late payments, collection activity, charge off, etc. were reflecting on my credit report.

5. My credit score declined rapidly due to this entire situation.

Actions Taken : 1. Contacted ex-husband and was told he is filing bankruptcy and that he will not be making any payments to satisfy this account.

2. Contacted XXXX XXXX XXXX to receive statements of everything that has evolved on this account and to inquire why it was re-opened without my permission and why charges were made without my consent. I was told by a manager that I had to contact Wells Fargo to get the statements. I was also told that as long as the primary borrower authorizes the purchases, that the co-borrower does not have to consent and sign. They were unwilling to help me any further and continued to direct me to Wells Fargo. 
3. Contacted Wells Fargo multiple times within multiple departments. Requested to speak directly to a manager. No matter who I talked to, I was told that no action could be taken due to the account being processed as a bankruptcy, that the account no longer has a balance due to being charged off, and that it should not negatively reflect on my credit once the bankruptcy process was finalized. 

XXXX : I did not see this account negatively reporting on my credit. 

XX/XX/XXXX : I received a credit alert that Wells Fargo Financial bank has added this account back on my credit as " charged off '' and it, again, rapidly decreased my credit score. I thought this had been resolved, but clearly it has come back. 

Actions Taken : 1. Called Wells Fargo and was told that ex-husband was relieved of this debt due to him filing bankruptcy and now it is my responsibility as the " co-borrower '' to either pay the remaining balance in full to satisfy the account, or it will continue to reflect negatively on my credit. They refused to remove me from the account, or do anything to help me, other than to mail me all of the statements associated with this account. I did some research and was led to believe that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ( CFPB ) may be able to help me resolve this extremely unfair financial matter. I called CFPB and confirmed that my situation does apply and to submit an online complaint and that Wells Fargo will be required to respond. 

*Supporting documentation of Wells Fargo bank statements and our divorce decree is attached to this complaint.

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