Consumer complaint received 2016-02-23
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY
State: GA
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Home equity loan or line of credit
Issue: Loan servicing, payments, escrow account

Complaint:
This is a summarized version of the events that took place. On XXXX XXXX, XXXX, I paid off my Home Equity Line of Credit with Wells Fargo Bank. The amount paid to them was {$32000.00} plus a {$12.00} filing fee. I made the payment at the branch at XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX, GA XXXX. On XXXX XXXX, I received a letter from Wells Fargo ( see attached ) stating that I would be entitled to {$500.00} in liquidated damages if the lien holder failed to release the lien within 60 days of full payment. I never heard anything further until I contacted the XXXX Court Clerk 's office on XXXX XXXX, XXXX to see if the lien was released. It had not been. Bear in mind the 60 days were up on XXXX XXXX, XXXX. I did some research and found out that I would have to demand the {$500.00} liquidated damages from the bank for failure to release the lien within the time limit set by Georgia Law. I wrote a letter to the bank which I mailed, faxed and also hand delivered to my local branch ( where I had paid the account off ). The branch employee refused to accept my letter and so I left it on his desk for him to hand to the branch manager when he got out of his meeting. I videotaped myself leaving the letter on the employees desk. When I returned to work I got a call from that employee stating he had handed my letter to the Branch Manager and that it would be forwarded to the appropriate department. I also contacted Wells Fargo Home Equity Department by telephone numerous times and on numerous occasions and no one seemed able to find the request sent by Wells Fargo to the Clerks office, although they insisted it was sent on XXXX XXXX, XXXX. I finally got to speak to a XXXX XXXX who is an Executive Resolution Specialist in the Customer Care and Recovery Group in XXXX XXXX, IA. We spoke on a number of occasions and finally the XXXX Court Clerks office received the request to release the lien on XXXX XXXX. I then received the attached letter from Wells Fargo admitting that there was a delay in the lien release and they had requested a check in the sum of {$500.00} for me and it would be sent out within 7-14 days. I then received a phone call from XXXX XXXX on XXXX XXXX stating that I needed to complete a XXXX form for the IRS BEFORE they could send me a check. I completed the form and immediately faxed it back to them. As of this writing, I have still not received the check I was promised. I feel like I am getting the run around. Wells Fargo are one of the biggest banks in the country and I would have thought that they would be REQUIRED to do their job PROPERLY, just as I have had to do. I got the payment to them and all the documentation that was required to be filled out to complete the process and they have completely FAILED to do what is REQUIRED BY GEORGIA LAW in the specified time. I am sure that there are others out there who have had the same experience and they should also be aware of the compensation rules that are NOT told to you by the banks. They tell you that you are entitled to these liquidated damages but they do NOT tell you that you have to DEMAND those damages if they fail to do their job. They might be paying out more of those {$500.00} checks if they did they because they can not seems to get it right.

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 monetary relief