Consumer complaint received 2018-05-13
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY
State: NY
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Struggling to pay mortgage

Complaint:
XXXX XX/XX/XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX NY 10952 RE : Illegal and deceptive mortgage loan measures Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, loan number XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, loan number XXXX XXXX XXXX I mailed to XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX my first month 's mortgage payment using a check from my wife 's personal bank account, with the loan number on it ( XXXX XXXX XXXX ). The check was mailed to XXXX, XXXX. XXXX XXXX, XXXX, GA XXXX ; I mailed it in XX/XX/XXXX because I wanted to make sure it would be there by the XX/XX/XXXX, mortgage payment date. On XXXX XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX withdrew {$2000.00} from XXXX XXXX XXXX account of wife, XXXX XXXX. Shes not even on the mortgage. XXXX withdrew without her authorization or any court authorization. 

After my wife saw what happened, I called XXXX immediately, on either Monday XX/XX/XXXX, or Tuesday XX/XX/XXXX. The customer service rep said, Thats not right. ( She was speaking for herself and was probably fed up with her company 's abusive practices toward their customers. ) She also said they just received papers from Wells Fargo and will be sending the XXXX " welcome package '' to me that week. To date ( XX/XX/XXXX ), I have not heard from them regarding my complaint, nor has the charge been reversed, nor have I received any mail from them. 

How did I end up with XXXX? It was another unethical if not illegal act of Wells Fargo. Until XX/XX/XXXX, my mortgage for our home ( XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX NY XXXX ) was with Wells Fargo ( loan number : XXXX ). 

Per an agreement with the lawyers representing Wells Fargo and the bankruptcy lawyer that I had to hire, I gave Wells Fargo {$13000.00} to secure a loan modification. The checks were cashed. A few weeks later the Wells Fargo lawyers sent a document that I did not provide them with all of the information they requested, and hence I did not act in good faith! Therefore, my mortgage modification was rejected and was given to this dishonest and incompetent company called XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ( XXXX ). 

( I would have provided them with whatever information they wanted, but I didnt know about it until I saw their lengthy response. Thinking about it now, the modification offer was already offered, so why did I need to keeping providing them with more paperwork and documents. ) The money that I gave Wells Fargo was not easy to come by. My wife gave {$6000.00}, half of her savings. I borrowed {$4000.00}, which I have to pay {$1000.00} a month. In addition, I had to borrow {$4000.00} to file for bankruptcy. And I have to pay {$370.00} a month for 36 months to the bankruptcy court trustee. I dont even know why I am in bankruptcy court : I have no credit card debt. All I wanted to do was to get my house out of foreclosure. The lawyer who worked on getting the modification charged me {$7000.00}, and he is hounding me for the {$5500.00} balance. I have not paid the bankruptcy lawyer a penny, but that bill is adding up. 
This is really part of the unscrupulous practices of Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, which caused my wife and myself, and indeed all of our XXXX children, much distress. It has a long history, but I am sure you know what they have done to people like me who applied for loan modifications. Besides the emotional stress, it cost me 2 jobs and damaged my reputation. Even today, I spent hours today ( Sunday ) and last Sunday on this project to save our home from foreclosure. 


1. My hardship became a much worse hardship because I filed Making Home Affordable modifications with Wells Fargo. Their apparent strategy of dragging out the modification processes for more than 2 years, running me around week after week, adversely affected 2 of my jobs as a medical writer, which resulted in lengthy periods of unemployment. The affordable modification I finally received after 3 years increased the money I owe on our house substantially but did not reduce the monthly payment at all. 
2. In XX/XX/XXXX, I re-applied for a modification. After two years of acting in exemplary good faith, and giving and updating ad infinitum everything they requested, they dropped me because I could not give them one letter from Social Security stating that my XXXX children were receiving {$1600.00} a month ( instead of the 2 separate benefit letters stating that they were receiving {$800.00} each ). 
3. A year later I hired a lawyer to try again for an affordable modification ( I could not afford a lawyer but I could not let this interfere with my new job ). They offered me a deal and my wife with great sacrifice and financial hardship gave them {$12000.00} to cover for 3 trial payments and the current and upcoming mortgage payments, and they dropped me for not acting in good faith (! ), and then they give my loan to XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ( XXXX ). 
4. XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX withdrew money from my wifes bank account without her authorization. Shes not even on the mortgage.

5. My wife and I are not youngI am XXXX and she is XXXXand we have XXXX children living at home who relying on our home while they finish school ( high school, XXXX college, and vocational schools ). We want and need to be settled for our physical and emotional health. We need to stay in our home for at least the next 5 years. We want to fix it up. The kitchen floor is torn up, the front steps are falling apart. But I need to focus on my job. We are asking for your help. Below is my letter with more details. 


When did my hardship begin? As I will explain below, there were 2 causes : ( 1 )  housing market crash in XX/XX/XXXX and ( 2 ) Wells Fargo Home Mortgages intentional unethical management of the Making Homes Affordable program. 

( 1 ) We bought our home ( XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX Ny XXXX ) in XX/XX/XXXX for {$360000.00} ( 10 % down ). I was working at XXXX XXXX, about 10 miles away, in XXXX XXXX NY. The housing market had crashed at the beginning of XX/XX/XXXX, and the market fell, and I could not sell my previous residence ( XXXX ), which would have knocked off about {$100000.00} off the cost of our new home in XXXX. I was earning a good wage. However, being the primary supporter of my family ( my wife and XXXX children ), the hefty mortgage was about {$500.00} to {$700.00} more than we could afford each month. When the Making Homes Affordable Act of XX/XX/XXXX was announced, I applied to Wells Fargo. 
( 2 ) ( 3 ) Wells Fargo might claim that they were offering the program as a favor to help homeowners. It should have been a fairly straightforward process, like applying for a mortgage. Instead, there were endless requests for additional information. There was an urgency to fax it in as soon as possible. Then they requested to call back in 7 to 10 days to see if more information was needed. When all of the information was received, they needed updates of paystubs or hardship letters. Then the representatives would review the monthly expenses and ask if I could reduce our grocery bill. I had to make phone calls, print out forms, and fax information. This runaround was going on for 18 months with no end. The constant run-around had a negative impact on my work at XXXX XXXX. That job ended with unfavorable reviews. Thankfully I found another contract about a month later. ( Nevertheless, being out of work for even one week is a strain on our tight budget. ) But Wells Fargo continued to drag along the modification and run me around with all of the urgent calls, forms to complete, bank statements and pay stubs to gather, and faxes. All of that runaround adversely affected my new job at XXXX, and that job too ended earlier than planned with unfavorable reviews in XX/XX/XXXX. 

( 4 ) After that job, I had a hard time finding a new job. I was unemployed and surviving on unemployment and ended up in XXXX County Foreclosure court in XXXX XXXX, NY. The judge needed me to show more income than an unemployment check. He gave me a deadline until the next court appearance on XX/XX/XXXX. XXXX XXXX in XXXX CT hired me for a full-time position on XX/XX/XXXX ; in the evening of XX/XX/XXXX, HR gave me my first paycheck. The modification finally came about 9 months later, nearly three ( 3! ) years after applying to Wells Fargo. The so-called modification was for the about same monthly mortgage payment ( about {$2900.00} per month ), yet the mortgage became a 40-year mortgage with a lower interest rate but a much higher principal ( all of the fees, penalties, interest rates were rolled into the Making Home Affordable package ). Receiving a mortgage took less than 2 months, doing a modification took nearly 3 years! 

( 5 ) ( 6 ) XXXX had and has problems with their main product, XXXX, and after working there for 2 years, more than half of the XXXX XXXX XXXX staff were laid off in XX/XX/XXXX. In XXXX, I applied again to the Making Home Affordable program, hoping that the mortgage would actually become more affordable. As before, I acted in good faith and kept submitting more forms, budget forms, tax forms, hardship letters, bank statements, etc, then updating and calling at regular intervals to see if anything else is needed. I was aged XXXX years and took early retirement, which was doubled because I had XXXX, and then XXXX, children under aged XXXX. They asked for the Social Security benefit award letters for my children. I provided the letters showing that each one was receiving {$800.00} per month. Then they said they need one letter for both of them. They could have easily added {$800.00} and {$800.00}, but the Wells Fargo representative insisting on one letter. After trying to convince her, I asked to speak to her manager. He said the same thing, and said I need to go to Social Security and get one letter for both of them. I went there and Social Security representative and said no such form existed, and just tell them to add the two amounts together. I pleaded for a typed letter stating the total amount, but they said they could not do that. Because I could not supply all of the necessary documentation ( that is, the one letter from Social Security ), they dropped my application. This time I filed an official complaint, and XXXX XXXX of Wells Fargo ( XXXX, extension XXXX ) handled the case. A few weeks later I received a letter saying that she is still investigating the case and asked for more time. A month later I received another letter stating the same thing, and maybe another one after that. I never received the report. I requested a copy, but I never received it. My bankruptcy lawyer, XXXX XXXX, requested a copy but they did not send it to him either. 
( 7 ) In XX/XX/XXXX, after being underemployed or employed for brief projects, I started full-time 6-month XXXX XXXX XXXX at XXXX XXXX XXXX, earning {$55.00} an hour. I was open to any XXXX XXXX XXXX and started very low ( at prior jobs I earned between {$75.00} and {$100.00} an hour, or {$120000.00} a year at XXXX ). But I knew that I could not let these mortgage and foreclosure stresses get in my way, that I had to give 100 % of my attention to my job, and I hired a lawyer. I paid him {$1500.00} but he wanted a total of $ XXXX could not afford him and told him I was going to use a lawyer friend, who suggested bankruptcy as a method to push Wells Fargo to work with me. I borrowed {$4000.00} from a XXXX XXXX XXXX in XXXX and they are cashing my checks of {$400.00} every month. My lawyer friend has not sent me a bill. The Wells Fargo lawyer whom he contacted gave XXXX XXXX a copy of a Wells Fargo letter offering me a mortgage modification. It was dated XX/XX/XXXX, and if I accepted it, I could make 3 trial payments, starting with XXXX. I would have been happy with this payment but I never saw the letter. XXXX XXXX lawyers, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, were on the letter, with instructions to forward to me or my lawyer. I am not accusing anyone, but I never saw the letter. I was working very hard at my new job and might not have seen it. 
( 8 ) In 15 minutes, I have a conference call with our colleagues in XXXX. Its Sunday evening here but Monday morning in XXXX. I had to work about 60 hours last week. I got a very good review. But it will last only if I keep working hard ( its a  6-month contract that was just renewed ) and concentrating on my work. Being a XXXX XXXX ( and I am not an MD or PhD ) is hard work and Ive been out of school for about 40 years. Now, you can understand how doing Wells Fargo run-around mortgage applications affected my jobs and then getting unemployed and going into real foreclosure. I have to keep this job and make it last, especially at my age and with such a hefty mortgage and still children that I am responsible, ages XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, and XXXX, plus my XXXX-year-old who just finished an XXXX XXXX XXXX and is studying for her license exam, so she also returned home to complete her schooling and get herself on her feet. We need our home. We can not rent an apartment. It is very disturbing for my wife. And it is a big stress on our marriage, too. And one of our daughters has been in hospitals for XXXX XXXX XXXX issues. This is not good for her. I dont want to say any more than that but you can imagine. The ramifications of Wells Fargos actions go far beyond losing a house. 
( 9 ) My meeting is starting in a few minutes. Please help my family. 

Sincerely, XXXX XXXX XXXX Cell : XXXX Attorney : XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX : XXXX

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