Consumer complaint received 2018-05-23
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY
State: CA
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Other debt
Issue: Took or threatened to take negative or legal action
Sub-issue: Threatened to sue you for very old debt

Complaint:
RE : XXXX On XX/XX/XXXX my corporation was sold to a new owner, The new owner through a purchase agreement agreed to purchase my business and assume my Wells Fargo Business Line of Credit in the amount of {$28000.00} ( see attached Purchase agreement ). I went to my bank branch on the date of sale and transferred all of my corporate accounts to the new owner. All of the corporate accounts were tied together ( Checking, Savings, Credit Cards, and Business line of Credit ). Since it was a corporation the new owner was to assume my checking, savings, and the line of credit accounts since I agreed to a lower purchase price with the credit line assumption. I met with my banker XXXX and provided documents that I had sole the business as required to complete the transfer. I made arrangements for the new owner to meet XXXX and to have her sign on to these accounts and sign me off as I am no longer associated with the corporation. That day I was told I was to be removed from any and all access to these accounts and that XXXX was to come in and complete the ppwk for the transfer. I was to pay off the outstanding credit card balances, which I did and closed those accounts as per my agreement with the new owner. That was the last I had heard about XXXX XXXX XXXX ( the corporation ) related accounts until XX/XX/XXXX, over 3 years later. I went to log onto my personal checking account through Wells Fargo and an alert popped up on my phone that said I had a late balance of over {$49000.00}. Alarmed, of course I immediately went to the branch to be told this alert was related to XXXX XXXX XXXX. I told the teller I no longer own XXXX XXXX XXXX and have not made any charges on this account since XXXX and the line was assumed by the new owner in escrow. They said the did not know and I had to call and talk to the correct department. I then decided to contact the new owner via text and let her know that for some reason I was getting an alert on my phone. The new owner said I am not using the line of credit, you are. She also said " I hope you catch the crook '' and " I think you need a legal team and a new credit history lol. '' I decided immediately to go back to the branch because of the nature of her response to me and get to the bottom of this. The bank told me I no longer have access to these accounts and they would print out the over 100 pages associated with the line of credit for the new owner to pick up and go through to see if any unauthorized charges were made. The teller could not give me details but she did tell me that there were corporate expenses paid over the last 4 years that tied the spending to the new owner. I asked XXXX to kindly resolve this immediately since she assumed responsibility on this credit line. I told the new owner that to go to the bank and look through the statements and if she did not use the credit line and I obviously did not then someone else was and she needed to report it as identity theft or fraud. I decided to cease communication with her and call the bank again and try to reach the correct department since my branch was not at all helpful. After calling many, many times and speaking to many phone representatives at the bank I was finally transferred to the correct department. I was advised that they did not know why I was getting the alert on my phone. There should be a recording of this final call I made to the correct department. I asked them why was this alert not associated with me popping up on my phone through my personal account. They said to disregard it because the new owner of the corporation is responsible for this loan since this was a corporate loan. I said are you sure that my SS # is not linked to this account? I ask them to look it up because I very upset about this. They said no the corporation is liable. They then notified me they would remove this alert from my account and proceeded to do so because I never saw the alert again. Of course this was very upsetting to me but the situation seemed to be quickly resolved during my final conversation with the Businessline Loan Department. I was reassured by the phone representative to disregard which calmed me down and made me at ease. On XX/XX/XXXX, after now not owning this business for over 4 years I received via certified mail, a letter from the bank. When I opened it I saw a demand letter for {$49000.00}. In shock and disbelief, I called the contact on the letter in which I left a message stating again all of the events described above. I told her this no longer has any thing to do with me and I was no longer the guarantor for over 4 years. I also told her that the original loan that I had transferred was at that paoin {$28000.00} not {$49000.00}. The following Monday XX/XX/XXXX, I received a call back from the contact on the letter ( XXXX XXXX ). I was told that I am responsible for this loan and it is to be paid immediately or the legal team would get involved and I would be responsible for all of the legal fees. I was told by XXXX that another {$22000.00} + had been drawn against the line over the past 4 years after I was removed from the corporation. I was told that the bank had several conversations with the new owner and she alleged I had used this line after I sold the business to her. I was advised that the new owner is denying the use of this account flat out and that she had no access to this account so she decided to stop making the payments last fall. I requested a full investigation of all of the charges on this account and questioned why this account had not been closed or transferred like I was told it was going to be. I was also told it was Wells Fargo 's policy during an ownership transfer to either close or transfer a line and not to leave it open. I was informed by XXXX that she has to investigate why this account remained open and available for use after my notification of sale and presentation of legal documents. I requested information on why statements, credit cards, checks, etc related to this account were sent to XXXX and I was never informed or notified whatsoever this line remained open.

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