Consumer complaint received 2017-08-30
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY
State: IL
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Struggling to pay mortgage

Complaint:
My mortgage lender Wells Fargo is refusing to work with me to allow me a chance to get into good standing on my mortgage payment. I am concerned because instead of engaging in a fair and transparent negotiation they have initiated foreclosure proceedings. I was literally only a couple of months behind and actually was sending in partial payments while going through my financial hardship. However Wells Fargo sent these payments back to me. I know there are options available to resolve this small delinquency but they are telling me the only thing I can do is to repay the missed payments as well as hundreds of dollars in late fees and legal fees that they have added on. I am not in a position to do so. What makes this worse is that Wells Fargo and their agents repeatedly took advantage of me when my health was in jeopardy and convinced me to repeatedly refinance my home and strip equity, convincing me this was in my best interests. I refinanced 4 times with them in a period of 2 years, entering into high rate, predatory adjustable loans with prepayment penalties while paying exorbitant fees and points so that Wells Fargo and their agents could pocket the money. 

I proudly served my country in the XXXX XXXX, then worked for the XXXX XXXX XXXX for 36 years. Around the time of the first refinance loan with Wells Fargo I was having major health problems due to fire and smoke inhalation. I was eventually forced to retire and go on XXXX in XXXX, the same year that Wells Fargo told me to refinance again into an adjustable rate loan with an interest rate that STARTED at 8.62 % and could go as high as 13.62 %. I was told by their agents that I could not get a fixed rate loan, this was the only option available. Even with all of that I have been able to keep up with the payments on the last refinance for 10 years. Due to health issues and overwhelming medical bills and also some critical home improvement costs I have pretty much liquidated my safety net, and when unexpected costs came up a few months ago I could not afford my monthly mortgage payment. I sent in a partial payment, but Wells Fargo sent it back. I have since tried to make my regular monthly payment but now they will not accept this. I am told that I have to make a payment to cover several months, and I also have to pay all late fees and Attorney fees all at once. I am not in a position to do so. I was told that I could be considered for a work out plan, but after I sent in the paperwork I was told that I was declined, because I have sufficient income to afford my payment. That may be true, but it does not address the fact that I need help getting caught up. I know there are options such as a repayment plan, or putting the late payments back into the balance or even restructuring the loan and deferring the delinquent amount into a silent 2nd TD.  However, none of these options have been presented, instead Wells Fargo has initiated foreclosure proceedings against me. This is unbelievable. 

I have owned my house nearly 20 years, and bought it with a government insured VA loan. I was doing fine and I was happy, until someone from Wells Fargo contacted me about refinancing my house and putting my equity to work for me. Four refinance loans and two years later all equity had been stripped, Wells Fargo agents had collected tens of thousands of dollars in fees and I was stuck in a toxic and predatory adjustable rate loan. A culture of greed and dishonesty and misrepresentation is not something new for XXXX XXXX has existed for years. This needs to be fixed, I am not going to lose this house over a problem that could be simply fixed by a responsive and caring company.

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