Consumer complaint received 2016-08-27
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY
State: TX
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:
Ever since my XXXX student loans came due in XXXX 2015, Wells Fargo has consistently misapplied my full amount payments to only XXXX or XXXX of the loans, and then charged me late fees for the remaining balance. This has happened whether payments were made in a branch, through the app, or over the phone. By the time I discovered these mistakes made by Wells Fargo, late fees had already accrued. These late fees have not only caused a lot of hassle, they have also caused significant drops in the credit scores of both me and my parents, because when these " accidents '' are made, and account are mistakenly shown as past due, this information is then forwarded to the credit reporting bureaus. 

Additionally, because over XXXX loans, my interest averages out to a little over 10 %, I applied for a modification in an attempt to lower my monthly payments of {$890.00}. I was informed that, along with my parents as cosigners, we made too much to qualify for a modification. We then went through the process of applying for a student loan consolidation. After Wells Fargo lost my parents ' submitted information multiple times, we were finally denied the consolidation by receiving an email informing me that I still required a cosigner to qualify. When I called to ask if this was a mistake, as I had submitted my parents ' information multiple times, they informed me that, between my parents and I, we did not qualify for a consolidation, not only because our credit scores had dropped ( in no small part due to misreporting accounts as past due, when they had, in fact, been paid ), but because we did not make enough. 

As of this morning, I received an email from Wells Fargo informing me that I was past due on XXXX of my XXXX accounts. This last month, in an attempt to avoid any issues with Wells Fargo for the first time in over a year, I made my payments two weeks early, through the app, and paid on each account separately. After a fifteen minute phone call, I was informed that, once again, a mistake had been made by the app, and the payments were only applied to XXXX of the accounts. The person I spoke with assured me, as I have been assured every month for the last fourteen months, that a flag would be placed on my account so that a person would manually make sure that my payments would be applied correctly. 

Wells Fargo has just settled with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau for misapplying student loans payments so that they could charge more late fees, even when payments have been made properly. At this time, I currently have an outstanding balance of {$88000.00}, with {$220.00} in late charges. I do not look forward to having to call Wells Fargo again in XXXX when they most likely " accidentally '' misapply my payments for the fifteenth time.

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 monetary relief