Consumer complaint received 2023-02-07
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY
State: AZ
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: VA mortgage
Issue: Struggling to pay mortgage

Complaint:
To All Concerned : I need to tell you how processs put in place actually fail for the person they are meant to protect. 
This is how Hurricane Mathew ( 2016 ) affected me. 
The failures I will to bring to light are that of Wells Fargo Mortgage ( WFM ), Wells Fargo Flood Zone Department ( WFF ) and Federal Emergency Management Agency ( FEMA ).

I will start with the failures of Wells Fargo as my mortgage company. I will quickly explain how they cheated me out my asset, a rental home, through unprofessional and unethical behavior and trickery.

The flood zone department of Wells Fargo refused to believe my house was in a flood zone. XXXX, I have no flood insurance. In 2016 Hurricane Matthew came through XXXX XXXX and destroys my house. Uninhabitable as eleven feet of water went through that property. 
My property is at XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX, North Carolina. I purchased the property in XXXX as a XXXX in the XXXX stationed at XXXX XXXX, NC. It was uniquely situated on the property and had a staircase of 30 steps leading from the top of the street down to the house. Because of that feature a flood zone examination request was done and it was shown at that time not to be in the flood zone. 
In XXXX, my insurance company ( XXXX ) notified me that flood zones had shifted and FEMA had new maps out. XXXX believed my home on XXXX XXXX was now in a flood zone. Although I had the house rented out, I should still carry the flood insurance. They informed me that I should be hearing from my mortgage company since it is a federal law to require me to have flood insurance while still paying on a mortgage. Although XXXX does not carry flood insurance, I could purchase it from FEMA. I contacted WFM and relayed what XXXX XXXX told me about needing flood insurance. WFM states they do not have information XXXXXXXX XXXX is in a flood zone and referred me to the WFF. WFF states that my home is NOT in a flood zone and I DO NOT need flood insurance. He added that XXXX was trying to sell me more insurance. 
Nine years later in XX/XX/XXXX, Hurricane Matthew comes thru XXXX XXXX and brings eleven feet of water through my little piece of property. The house that I had been renting out is now uninhabitable. I am very grateful the tenets had the sense to get out of there when the house, built five feet off the ground started taking in water. Inside the house took on six feet of water, everything ruined. 
XX/XX/XXXX, I called the Wells Fargo Mortgage Company, spoke with the flood department again about XXXX being in a flood zone. They maintained my property at XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX NC was not in a flood zone. I told them my house was hit hard and flooded, the WFF point of contact still maintained that house was not in a flood zone.

I placed a formal compliant through Wells Fargo and asked for an investigation on the subject. They found that the WFF did maintain my house was not in a flood zone although it had been completely flooded. I had to speak with the flood zone guy to start any type of resolution and it took months. I called weekly for several months only to be met with stone- wall tactics of we dont know, we will get back with you, he is not here. Sometime in the spring of XXXX I was contacted by an attorney representing WFF. He said he would be my POC on the issue.

This attorney was only interested in protecting the WFF guy who said I did not need flood insurance. It took a couple of months for him to provide any type of offer. it takes months to arrive at any solution... it took months. Months of me calling weekly, all sorts of stall tactics used by Wells Fargo flood department. Did they think I would give up and go away? 

My insurance company valued that home at XXXX at that time. The first FEMA inspector that came thru valued it at fair market value of XXXX. Wells Fargo would not hear of it... they dont believe that those two assessments are credible and came up with a value of XXXX. They agreed to pay me XXXX if I turned around and paid off the XXXX I still owed. If I had an attorney, you can believe Wells Fargo would have to make this right FEMA- Wow, I can not think of a worst way to dole out taxpayer dollars to help folks out ... .untrained people that lack knowledge of any of the programs... i wont bore you with the nearly five years of being lead by the nose of better days are coming for you.. However, I will say this ; Please embed attorneys in FEMA that can help someone like me. If I could have made Wells Fargo step up and be accountable, I dont need tax payer dollars. FEMA did not ever ask if my mortgage company made me have flood insurance! Come to find out, the flood maps did change in XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX was the only house on the street in the flood zone, but it was in the flood zone!

Why is the FEMA system not set up to help folks like me? How hard would that be to offer legal service. They had volunteer attorneys but they couldnt do anything for me. Why not?

That house was three years from being paid off. Then, the rent would supplement my retirement income. It was to allow for annual trips with the grandkids... it was worth keeping up and keeping rented, because of that income stream. Its gone... no hope of getting it back. Wells Fargo gets away with treating me like nothing and having my VERY hard earned money go down the drain. 
Not only do a only get a fraction of the value, and I was only asking for fair market value at XXXX, but I lost a very valuable to me, income stream for my retirement! 
Processes are broken. I hope the XXXX XXXX bans Wells Fargo to military personal. 


Regards XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX

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