Consumer complaint received 2018-04-20
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY
State: VA
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint:
This complaint is related to a late fee charge of {$130.00} assessed on the above-referenced mortgage account.

Wells Fargo ( WF ) Mortgage drafts my monthly mortgage payment from a WF checking account that I was required to set up prior to closing on my mortgage loan. This checking account is supposed to draw {$3500.00} on the XXXX  of every month from my XXXX XXXX XXXX checking account. That money funds my {$3400.00} monthly payment that is automatically drafted by WF Mortgage on the XXXX  of the subsequent month.

I do not use my WF checking account for any purpose other than to make my mortgage payment. The only reason I do not have my mortgage payment drafted directly from my main checking account ( through XXXX XXXX XXXX  ) is because per my original LO, I have to pay my mortgage through a WF checking account in order to avoid an th increase in my interest rate.

For my mortgage payment dueXX/XX/XXXX, WF Bank should have drafted {$3500.00} from my XXXX XXXX XXXX   account on XX/XX/XXXX, as scheduled. But WF Bank neither executed this scheduled transfer nor informed me that it had cancelled my transfer. Upon calling Customer Service, I learned that WF Bank cancelled my transfer because of an undisclosed, INTERNAL policy that requires 30 days between inter-bank transfers. My last draft occurred on Tuesday, XX/XX/XXXX Since 30 days had not yet passed betweenXX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX WF Bank cancelled my transfer request ( WITHOUT notifying me ), and then charged me an NSF fee on the bank side and a late payment fee on the mortgage side.

When I called WF Customer Service and was informed ( for the first time ) of this day 30 policy, I asked why the waiting period did not take into account weekends and holidays ( sinceXX/XX/XXXX fell on a Saturday, WF Bank did not draft my XXXX XXXX XXXX account until Tues XX/XX/XXXX making my XX/XX/XXXX draft short of the 30 day waiting period ). The rep told me that the weekend actually had nothing to do with the cancellation. Instead, the rep explained, WF cancelled my draft becauseXX/XX/XXXX was a short month ( as it ALWAYS is ) and myXX/XX/XXXX draft would have not have met the 30 day requirement EVEN IF both drafts had been executed exactly on the XXXX as scheduled. The rep stated this is a chronic issue with XX/XX/XXXX drafts because XX/XX/XXXXNEVER has more than 29 days ( as we all know. ) I have been a homeowner for 15 years and have never been late on my mortgage ( or any debt obligation, for that matter ). I have a FICO of XXXX and I earn over {$300000.00} a year. Our household income well exceeds over half-a-million per year. In other words, I am a very well qualified borrower with no history of delinquency EVER. The only reason myXX/XX/XXXX mortgage payment was late is because of an undisclosed WF Bank policy that conveniently resulted in WF collecting almost {$200.00} in unearned fees.

I am also unclear how a {$35.00} late fee suddenly became a {$130.00} late fee, with no explanation ( see attached documentation. ) Please note, I have already paid the full {$130.00} to protect my credit rating, even though this arbitrary fee is an example of UDAAP at its core.

I appreciate you investigating this situation.

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