Consumer complaint received 2018-04-16
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY
State: CA
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Other type of mortgage
Issue: Struggling to pay mortgage

Complaint:
I called into Wells this morning after receiving an email from XXXX XXXX my Home Preservation specialist stating that the Wells Fargo decision was made in regards to my loan modification application. My loan modification was denied yet again but this time for Wells Fargo 's use of incorrect income information that they manipulated by and leaving out my contributor income even if we are still evicting a tenant so that we can move in and I provided proof of this fact. Also they are denying me without ever requesting the documents that they would have needed from him to complete a successful review and by arbitrarily lowering my monthly income to the amount of {$1700.00} per month from a gross monthly average of $ XXXX/month - ( just commission ) over the prior 2 year tax period.

My loan was originally a XXXX XXXX XXXX adjustable mortgage and I have been trying to get my loan modified with Wells Fargo to no avail since XX/XX/XXXX. They have manipulated the numbers several times, in XX/XX/XXXX when I applied for modification previously, they told me that they were still reviewing my file which was complete and the income was all there and denied me just 3 minutes before the foreclosure sale, telling me that the reason was because my contributor needed to contribute another few hundred dollars a month, which was well within what he could afford and so and was willing to do. I even submitted a new contribution letter immediately reflecting that amount which the contributor had signed and which Wells Fargo just ignored when it was faxed into them. This forced to file bankruptcy so that I could continue to pursue workout options through making payments on the past due balance. Therefore I paid a bankruptcy attorney, reversed the sale on my home and this allowed me to finally begin making payments through a trustee but at a very high monthly rate almost $ 6000/month for a home with a loan of just around {$500000.00} ( {$360000.00} principal ) total on it. Therefore today, I decided to reapply for modification and focus on that as the best outcome for me to keep my home. What I did learn inXX/XX/XXXX when I applied for a modification was that for a commission earner like myself, Wells needed to average my income over the past 2 years because I my income fluctuates but that would be the truest assessment of my earnings. That is what I understood the proper way to review my file was and this was echoed by several underwriters as well. In XX/XX/XXXX I was told to choose a time period - prior to being informed that for me a 2 year period was necessary after the fact of being denied. This resulted in my Wells Fargo calculated income being about $ 3,200/mo down ( from about {$3600.00} which I had done my best to calculate over a 6 month period. ) It appears that with todays underwriter, XXXX XXXX she was told to just deny my modification EVEN IF I QUALIFY and that is why wells is giving reasons that do not make sense as to why they are denying me this time around. I feel that they are not manipulating HOW they are calculating my income just to push through a denial and not using the method of averaging the past two years gross income from real estate.

So In my current application which was denied without any request for documents from the current underwriter, when I have appox. $ 3,200/month just real estate income plus an amount my contributor is willing to pay approximately $ 3300 month as needed, and that comes out to about $ 6500/month in income. My underwriter was XXXX XXXX  ( underwriter ) working with XXXX XXXX  Home Preservation Specialists ( the document gatherer/processor ). XXXX   was happy with how quickly I got documents to him on the first day he contacted me about my file I provided to him everything he asked for and within the same day. He even sent my file to the underwriter without my XXXX but I remembered that he had requested for it and forwarded it to him that afternoon also which he thanked me for remembering.

The second reason Wells gave me for denying my loan modification was that they needed additional proof of occupancy in the form of a car insurance bill from the contributor XXXX  and two more proof of occupancy showing that XXXX and I lived at the property. This is further proof that the underwriter XXXX XXXX  never looked at my file seriously. I explained to XXXX XXXX XXXX  processor at Wells Fargo Home Preservation the day he requested supporting documents from me and the day that I submitted them for a complete file that that there are non-paying tenants at the property that had been there for over a year and that I have been trying to evict for over 8 months since they had been telling me that they would pay so I could pay Wells and my trustee for the prior 4+ months and who finally signed an agreement to leave so that they will be moving out in two months. XXXX XXXX XXXX at Home Preservation had acknowledged that the tenants were in the property and requested that I send in documentation showing that they will be moving out signed by their attorney which I DID and uploaded it to the loan tracker but now they are insisting that I show proof that I am living at the property which makes no sense. I provided XXXX  's auto insurance bill this morning anyway. XXXX has mail going to several places because he has family in the area. This should not be a surprise that some sensitive material would not want to be sent to a tenant that has held our mail in the past ... This Proof of Occupancy should not be requested if tenants are holding up the property and had even previously held my only short-sale offer from Wells Fargo which I requested that Wells Fargo not send to the property and now refuses to review me for any other short sale options. The tenants have taken my mail and I don't even want any mail at all going to the property. Either way, why wasn't Wells XXXX XXXX requesting this while I was still under review for the past 3 weeks if this modification is truly being reviewed in good faith?

Then about 3 weeks ago when I finally got through to Wells and was finally assigned a Home Preservation Specialist XXXX XXXX, at the start of my file being reviewed, I received a letter from their Wells Fargo bankruptcy attorney addressed to my bankruptcy attorney, ( in my prior complaint last month with CFPB XX/XX/XXXX ) stating that my name was not on the authorization to speak with wells myself, and that my modification file was not complete so that is why they denied me for modification that I had never even yet been reviewed for - when in fact my file was just nearing the first day of review with the underwriter XXXX XXXX. Had Wells Fargo already intended to deny me before even beginning to review my documents, is that why no supporting documents were requested from me by the underwriter and my file was not read carefully, because the underwriter never even looked at and did a real analysis of my file?

Regarding the Wells Fargo Authorization Form, I completed it fully and properly with the loan number and attached a DocuSign certification with all of my information including name on it, ( attached here ) wells fargo forms have no field for the senders name.

It took me 3 attempts and three other consumer financial protection bureau complaints to have Wells Fargo finally acknowledge the several authorizations I sent into the re-entry team when I reapplied for modification this time around. As you can see wells fargo pays games with its consumers to force the desired outcome even if the customer is trying to modify in good faith. I was finally assigned to Home Preservation after being told several times by the re-entry team that they could not acknowledge receipt of any of my modification documents, nor would they tell me what was missing or if anything was missing, they simply said they wouldn't tell me anything and that was it for my own loan.

There are so many reports of unethical activity by Wells Fargo in the news and which has allowed me to see my struggles and rude insulting comments that have been made by their employees towards me as unfair and I realize of how my attempt to modify is actually being handled. It has allowed me to see what is happening as not right, ethical or in good faith. This is not good consumer lending practices.

I don't know why Wells is using unethical practices to constantly deny me for modification but something seems odd. I don't know who will benefit from my home going to sale but I would imagine someone will and I will find out whom and make the connections.

I have made payments this year and I would like to continue to do so at the new modified amount.

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