Consumer complaint received 2016-08-16
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:
First, this is my son 's student loan. The balance is under $ XXXX. I 'm XXXX. I have never missed a payment on anything in my life. My credit score was above XXXX before I started dealing with Wells Fargo. 
1. I had no idea these loans were behind. They do not send notices to co-borrowers until it is too late. They do not allow co-borrowers online access to monitor the loans. It 's 2016. 
2. After seeing my credit score charge, I called them on XXXX XXXX to find out why. I said I wanted to make a payment immediately for all balances and 45 days ahead. They took the information and sent me a written confirmation in the mail that it would be processed the next day. The payment did not go through ( their fault ). But the kicker is : THEY MADE NO EFFORT TO TELL ME. I coincidentally called them today ( XXXX XXXX ) to get a copy of the loan and they said it was still in arrears! What?! The payment did not work and they were NEVER going to inform me of that. ( For the record, I record all my phone calls and I went back and listened. The information I gave them was 100 % correct. They just did not transmit it correctly. ) They were not going to tell me they it di not work and were just going to let the penalties and fees keep piling up. 
3. When I complained about this, they sent me to another office. That person advised me they record phone calls. That 's good. I informed him ( which I am not legally obligated to do in Minnesota ) that I also record phone calls. When I told him that, he said he could not continue the phone call. They can record the phone call, but they don'tt want you recording it. What is that?! Is that even legal? 
4. Wells Fargo ( WF ) will not give me online access so I can monitor these loans although I have asked for it repeatedly. They say they are working on it. It 's 2016. They say I have to go through my son 's account. I do n't want access to his accounts. If I am equally responsible for these loans, then I should have my own direct access. They do not mail notices until well after there is a problem. 
Here is what I believe : Wells Fargo has a scam going where what they really want is to collect late fees and penalties. They do n't want co-borrowers to monitor the accounts. BTW, their late fees and penalties are exorbitant - nearly as much as the payments. This amounts are well beyond their actual damages! This is completely unjustified. Is there no federal limit on these? 
The federal government needs to require them to give ALL borrowers equal and direct access to the status of loans. They should not be permitted to collect late fees or penalties or file adverse credit actions until that is in place. It 's 2016. They say they are working on it, but in the mean time, they are happy to collect millions of dollars in fees and penalties. I doubt they are working very hard on it.

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