Consumer complaint received 2017-02-02
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY
State: NJ
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional fixed mortgage
Issue: Loan servicing, payments, escrow account

Complaint:
We have a home financed by Wells Fargo that was damaged during XXXX in XX/XX/XXXX. They now have a check for insurance proceeds in excess of {$60000.00}. I was told to set up an online account. To date we have only been able to access the account once. We were told by them " it 's a problem '' - fax your mail your docs. It will take XXXX to process after we get them. This has caused me to call XXXX times to follow up. Each time I 'm told something different about how I will actually get a check. First I was told we will automatically get a minimum payment of {$40000.00}. Today I was told that I would n't. They will not release ANY money until the house is complete because we failed to apply for " self contracting '' status before the process started. I explained that was completely " unreasonable ''. I explained that we had no choice to start the work because we had no roof on the house. No contractor would wait for months to get paid so we were forced to pay all bills. We have supplied Wells Fargo with all of the cancelled checks and paid invoices to no avail. They told me that a XXXX that we submitted was rejected by the IRS. Really? I 'm a XXXX and happen to know that XXXX 's do n't go to the IRS. I explained that they do n't need the XXXX because I am the XXXX that needs the form because I paid the bills. They responded with 'but you do n't have self contracting status ''. I asked how do I get that? They said send us a signed letter requesting it. I did that already. Clearly, Wells Fargo makes a game of this entire situation and there is no way to win. The way in which they treat their customers in this way is unconscionable. They are holding our money and we have no recourse or end in sight. To date our house is mostly complete, I went over with them in detail what is complete and that we need XXXX ceiling fans that still need to be installed. I was told that we would get no money until the ceiling fans are in. To sum it up, they are holding {$60000.00}. because of XXXX ceiling fans. The {$60000.00}. also includes over {$8000.00}. of lost rent paid from the insurance company which obviously has nothing to do with the restoration of the home. I asked for that amount and they told me that was our fault because we should have asked the insurance company for XXXX checks. Today, I was told no money until the ceiling fans are in ( they consider them structural ). I 'll have to schedule another inspection that will take XXXX days for someone to call us to schedule then an additional week to wait for the inspection and the another XXXX days to process the report AND then maybe they will put a check in the XXXX mail to us. With all of the banking regulation this must to be a problem. It certainly is a moral issue. What about all of the people who ca n't finish work on their homes because Wells Fargo wo n't release funds to them? This should n't be a game of shuffling customers around in order to hold their money longer.

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 non-monetary relief