Consumer complaint received 2016-11-21
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY
State: DE
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: VA mortgage
Issue: Credit decision / Underwriting

Complaint:
Dear Sir or Madam : I am writing as a formal complaint against Wells Fargo in conjunction with a first mortgage transaction that I took when I purchased our current primary residence. Allow me to give you a brief overview of the events that has led up to the reasons for this complaint. In XXXX our family suffered a tragedy when the life of our XXXX daughter was taken at the hands of a XXXX. In the recent months that followed, we decided the best way for our family to heal was to gather our XXXX remaining children under XXXX roof. Before shopping for a house, our realtor thought it would be good for us to obtain a pre-approval from a mortgage company so that when we did find a house, our offer would be taken seriously. We advised her that we already were working with Wells Fargo. We reached back out to XXXX XXXX to get an updated commitment. During our conversation she advised us of what updated documents we would need to supply her in order to obtain the pre-approval letter. We complied rather quickly and on XX/XX/2014, she provided us with a written Pre-Approval in the amount of {$340000.00} ( see attached ) that expired on XXXX/XXXX/2014. At no time where we made aware that there were any income issues or that we had to pay off our car in order to qualify. 
At the end of the summer we began our quest and after walking through many homes on the market, finally found the perfect home for us on XXXX XXXX. On XX/XX/2014, we provided a good faith deposit in the amount of XXXX ( {$1000.00} ) and put in an offer for {$350000.00}. The sellers ' counter-offered with an asking price of {$370000.00}. We provided documentation requested on the first pre-approval and received an updated commitment letter dated XX/XX/2014 ( also see attached ) granting us the higher loan amount at the same interest rate of 3.5. There is no indication of either commitment letters about the requirement to pay off our existing car note.We began to vigorously provide the last remaining documentation requirements as we only had 30 days to close. As we got closer to closing, XXXX reached out to us and told us that she missed the income calculation when they approved us for the higher loan amount and that the income was not correctly calculated. As a result, we now needed to pay off the car in order to qualify. We were very reluctant to pay off the car as we knew it would exhaust our savings, however, XXXX said that if we paid off the car, they would pay all of the closing cost including the funding fee and give us a reduction in the interest rate. By this time, our entire family had fallen in love with the house. We can not help but feel like our back were placed against the wall. The sellers had already paid to ship their furniture across the country ; we had given notice to our landlord who had already begun showing the house and had a tenant to waiting for move in. We were forced to pay off our car note in order to qualify when it never was a consideration previously. As a result, it exhausted the reserves that we needed to get us through a very difficult time. We have been living from paycheck-to-paycheck in order to make ends meet when going from {$950.00} payment to twice that amount on a monthly basis without reserves. As a veteran of the U.S., I honestly believe that this was a bait-and-switch situation. I am in a situation that I should not have been put in had Wells Fargo been honest with me upfront. If I did not qualify for the house - why set me up to fail? The quality of my life had deteriorated as the purpose of moving into this house was to bring the family together. Because I have to work overtime just to make all of the ends meet has defeated the purpose of buying the house.

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