Consumer complaint received 2017-08-03
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY
State: MI
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Home equity loan or line of credit (HELOC)
Issue: Applying for a mortgage or refinancing an existing mortgage

Complaint:
Wells Fargo Rejection letter arrived on XXXX-16 one day after I threatened to file a complaint with your agency and way past the 30 day deadline. Also I feel I was discriminated against based on age. And I feel that they may have been trying to commit fraud in backdating their rejection letter to make it look like it was sent on time. These were the notes I took during some issues with Wells Fargo when I applied for a new equity line of credit to pay off credit card debt. I am certain my credit or FICO score was over XXXX at that time because I get these scores on monthly XXXX Card statements. It never was below XXXX until I was denied this loan. Also I had someone else do a soft credit check on me and they told me my score was about XXXX. Also you should note that the their denial of credit letter is dated XXXX16 but it was not sent then and was received by me on the X/XX/16.. I believe it was sent by XXXX so there would be a delivery date noted in XXXX records. And the bank would also have a notice of delivery as well that can be requested. It was also received by me within a few days of my notifying Wells Fargo I would be filing a complaint with them with the CFPB. I do n't think this was any coincidence. Wells Fargo may have committed fraud in back-dating this letter to make it appear it was sent in a timely manner. Most of the info below was also sent to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau you would also have been made aware that I never received their written notice in a timely manner and in accordance with applicable statutes. Federal Fair Lending Regulations and Statutes Equal Credit Opportunity ( Regulation B ) NotificationsSection 202.9 Denial of credit letter must be submitted within 30- days NotificationsSection 202.9 A bank must notify an applicant of action taken on the applicants request for credit, whether favorable or adverse, within thirty days after receiving a completed application. Notice of approval may be expressly stated or implied ( for example, the bank may give the applicant the credit card, money, property, or services for which the applicant applied ). Notification of adverse action taken on an existing account must also be made within thirty days. Adverse Action Notice ( 202.9 ( a ) ( 2 ) Adverse Action Notice ( 202.9 ( a ) ( 2 ) ) A notification of adverse action must be in writing and must contain certain information, including the name and address of the bank and the nature of the action that was taken. In addition, the bank must provide an ECOA notice that includes the identity of the federal agency responsible for enforcing compliance with the act for that bank. This notice is generally included on the notification of adverse action. The bank must also either provide the applicant with the specific principal reason for the action taken or disclose that the applicant has the right to request the reason ( s ) for denial within sixty days of receipt of the banks notification, along with the name, address, and telephone number of the person who can provide the specific reason ( s ) for the adverse action. The reason may be given orally if the bank also advises the applicant of the right to obtain the reason in writing upon request. Enforcement, Penalties, and LiabilitiesSection 202.17 In addition to actual damages, Regulation B provides for punitive damages of up to {$10000.00} in individual lawsuits and up to the lesser of {$500000.00} or 1 percent of the banks net worth in class action suits. Successful complainants are also entitled to an award of court costs and attorneys fees. A bank is not liable for failure to comply with the notification requirements of section 202.9 if the failure was caused by an inadvertent error and the bank, after discovering the error, ( 1 ) corrects the error as soon as possible and ( 2 ) begins compliance with the requirements of the regulation. Inadvertent errors include mechanical, elec-tronic, and clerical errors that the bank can show ( 1 ) were not intentional and ( 2 ) occurred despite the fact that the bank maintains procedures reasonably adapted to avoid such errors. Similarly, failure to comply with sections 202.6 ( b ) ( 6 ), 202.10, 202.12, and 202.13 is not  considered a violation if it results from an inadvertent error and the bank takes the corrective action noted above. Errors involving sections 202.12 and 202.13 may be corrected prospectively by the bank. Well Fargo Loan application info below : I called Wells Fargo on or about XXXX XXXX, 2016 and created a Mortgage equity line application over the phone speaking with XXXX XXXX, Inbound Sales Specialist. She convinced me to pay off my equity line with XXXX and put that under one loan with a 30 year payoff at a rate of 3.490 % fixed for one year and 4.875 % after that and I could also reduce that rate by .25 % by opening up a Well Fargo checking account and having the payment auto deducted. I had indicated I would do that even as an inconvenience to myself because Well Fargo does n't have any bank branches in my state. I also agreed to pay some mortgage loan processing fees in cash that would otherwise have been included in the mortgage amount. XXXX went through all of my personal credit card debt with me over the phone noting all the personal debt that I had assumed and I was told they [ Wells Fargo ] would pay off with the new loan. It was perfectly clear to me at that time that they were making this loan knowing full well that they would be paying off this credit card debt with one minor exception [ XXXX XXXX account where I had some no interest purchases included that were n't due for almost a year to be paid in full ]. I also had about {$300.00} or more in lumber not being used that would be returned for credit. So only about 1/4 of XXXX  credit card debt would be paid off in full with this loan leaving less than a $ 35/month payment/month on the rest. I was given a monthly mortgage payment amount that included a principle and interest payment of {$890.00} that I could easily pay every month and more and would still have saved at least {$700.00} every month after my mortgage payment to them had been made. XXXX contacted me within a week but not before XXXX or later on a Friday afternoon-evening twice during several weeks not leaving any message other than to call her back. When I called back I had to leave a message each time for her which was not returned until the following Friday late afternoon again. After those two voice mail attempts I never heard anything back from her or anyone else at Well Fargo about the status of my home equity line application. The only time I ever talked to XXXX on the phone was when she took my loan application. On or about the XXXX of XXXX 2016, I contacted Wells Fargo by phone to find out what was going on with my application. XXXX was n't there but someone else took my call and transferred me to the mortgage loan dept where I was told my application had been declined on XXXX XXXX for this reason : I had too much credit card debt. Apparently the loan they were writing that would have included paying off my XXXX equity line in good standing and paying off all my personal debt also in good standing was n't factored into their decision-making as I had been falsely led to believe or else I would n't have bothered even applying. Not until XXXX XXXX, 2016 did I receive a rejection letter by mail or XXXX. It arrived the day after I told them I was filling a complaint with your agency so I do n't think their failure to notify me in writing was unintentional.

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