Consumer complaint received 2016-10-08
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY
State: MN
Product: Student loan
Sub-product: Non-federal student loan
Issue: Dealing with my lender or servicer
Sub-issue: Trouble with how payments are handled

Complaint:
In XXXX I went in to my local Wells Fargo Bank to make a large payment of {$34000.00} towards my XXXX student loans which were all held by Wells Fargo. I was under the impression that my remaining balance would be approximately {$4500.00} and so was very surprised when the bank teller informed me that my remaining balance was {$8500.00}. I asked her how that was possible and she explained that the interest that would have accrued had I not paid in a large lump sum had been added to my total remaining balance. I asked her to please undo the payment and give my check back ( which I could still see in front of her on the counter ) so that I could put the money in my account and make smaller monthly payments instead, allowing my {$34000.00} to accrue interest in a savings account - interest which would cover some of the loan interest. She said this was not possible as it was " too late. The payment has been processed ''. I asked to speak to her manager, who said the same thing. I was very upset by this situation which felt extremely unfair as I had not been given this information from the teller regarding my loan repayment BEFORE I made the payment - information which would have completely altered the way I handled my loan payments. Also, I was not given an option as to how I wanted my payment to be allocated across my XXXX loans. As a result, none of my loans had been completely paid off, all of them having at least {$1000.00} remaining balance. I would have preferred to have paid at least XXXX of my loans completely instead of having XXXX loans, all with remaining balance. Again, this was not explained to me before my re-payment, nor was it offered to me as an option at any time during my transaction. 

A while later I received notice that my next payment was not due until late XXXX XXXX. 

Since then, I have moved XXXX and gotten married. Now, in XXXX, I am in the long and complicated XXXX process of bringing my husband back to the XXXX with me. This is a costly venture as we are both living XXXX and moving XXXX is not cheap. I decided to call Wells Fargo to request a loan deferral until we 've returned to the XXXX so that I can have time to get a job and start making regular payments. I called in XXXX and was told that a deferral of 6 to 12 months would be possible but that the Wells Fargo representative could n't apply the deferral until my repayment due date was closer. The Wells Fargo representative told me to call back in late XXXX early XXXX to organize my deferral. 

I called Wells Fargo again in the first week of XXXX and was told that I could NOT defer my payments as I had made one lump sum payment in XXXX, and had not made 24 consecutive payments prior to the next due date in XXXX. The irony of this is that I had tried to get the teller in XXXX to allow me to keep my money in a savings account so that I could make smaller consecutive payments, but was denied. As a direct result of that situation I am now unable to defer my loans. 

I recently read about the lawsuits against Wells Fargo - specifically regarding student loans - and noticed that a core issue brought up within the lawsuit is that Wells Fargo is obligated to educate and make clear to its customers what their repayment options are BEFORE accepting payments, and also that Wells Fargo is obligated to allow customers to allocate which specific loans their payments should go towards. 

As a result of Wells Fargo failing to uphold their obligations as a financial institution I am now faced with multiple loans, thousands of dollars of misplaced interest, and the inability to defer my payments.

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