Consumer complaint received 2016-10-10
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY
State: MD
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:
When I first graduated from school, I was not eligible for a grace period, therefore, I was required to pay the loans immediately. I was told that if I wanted to apply for forbearance, I had to pay {$100.00} ( {$50.00} for each loan ) and I might be eligible. I know it sounds funny but I did not have the money to pay to apply for forbearance. Therefore, the late fees accrue. Later on, I was offered to apply for a forbearance program in which my debt would be cleared, if I made XXXX consecutive payments of a certain amount. Even though the offer was great, at that time, I was underemployed and I could not afford to make the consecutive payments they proposed. 
I recently obtained a new job that enable me to make the consecutive payments which I began to do immediately after getting settled financially. I requested a gag order ( prior to the new job ) to be placed on my account because during the time when I was underemployed, I and my family was receiving harassing phone calls from collections about paying off a debt that neither of us was equipped to pay. In addition, there were certain members who were being called, who should not have received personal information about my finances. When I made the XXXX consecutive payments and proceeded to go through the application process for the forbearance, I was told that no one from the office could call me to inform me about the status of my application because I had a gag order placed. 
Even though I gave the representative online at the time, to place a note, stating that they had my permission to call me. They said that they are not allowed to speak to me despite my permission. Therefore, I took the proactive approach to calling in periodically to inquire on the status of my application. All I received was no decision has been made, you need to check back in on the XXXX of XXXX. 
I called around the first week of XXXX, anxiously awaiting to hear the news that my forbearance was approved and I was going to be given a clear slate to start afresh financially. Instead, the representative I spoke to told me that my application was not approved because I paid a few dollars less than agreed upon for the XXXX consecutive payments ( XXXX vs XXXX ). Even though I explained to him that the representative I spoke to that day instructed me that I needed to make the payment of XXXX ; he told me that if I did not have a gag order placed to refuse calls from their office, they would have notified me of the discrepancy, so I would have had the opportunity to correct it. 
In conclusion, I was told by the payment assistance team at Wells Fargo that my choice to placed a gag order against a collections team who were not assisting me in resolving my financial bind but were calling me to harass and remind me of my financially instability caused me to miss out on an opportunity to rectify my finances. It was my fault to take a stand against bullying. 
I explained to the representative that the aggressive tactics of collection was not resolving my issue. As I explained time and time again, my inability to not pay my dues was not by choice but it was due to circumstances out of my control. When you are calling me, heckling me for cash and sending threats of default ; you are not helping me but you are questioning my integrity as a creditor and adding more unnecessary stress to circumstances that are, again out of my control. 
Once I got my new job, I reached out to Wells Fargo. It was when I became financially stable that I was ready to respond to my responsibility as a creditor. However, they are not responding to me as an agency nor promoting good customer service. 

I would like my forbearance application to be approved because I have met my end of the bargain and I should not be chastised because I chose to placed a gag order and I followed the recommendations of a rep from the payment assistance team.

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