Consumer complaint received 2016-08-19
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY
State: FL
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Home equity loan or line of credit
Issue: Loan modification,collection,foreclosure

Complaint:
After the housing crisis my work dried up. XXXX and the domino effect of the XXXX foreclosures dried up school funding from property tax revenues. That coupled with needing XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX rendered me unable to work. As a result my income went from XXXX to almost XXXX and I lived off of savings from XXXX to XXXX. I had a home mortgage and a retirement home mortgage with Wachovia which was bought by Wells Fargo in the Tarp Bailout. I took early XXXX ( XXXX ) and was going to sell my home in XXXX and move to my retirement farm in XXXX. I received XXXX in XXXX and have lived off of that with a few small jobs that came from my client base in XXXX and XXXX. I tried to do a loan modification on my XXXX home in XX/XX/XXXX-XX/XX/XXXX with Wells Fargo. The XXXX of the XXXX branch in XXXX XXXX told me they didnt do loan modifications. I said according to HUD they did and i had completed an online modification qualification that indicated I qualified. The XXXX manager insisted he had no information on loan mods. I missed my next payment on the XXXX house and within a week someone from Wells called and asked if I wanted to make a credit card payment to catch up as I had a good on time payment history. I told them my financial predicament and they cheerfully said they would forward loan mod docs to me again asking if I wanted to make the late payment by credit card in the interim to remain current. I received the documents via mail the next week and started the process. After months of forms, tax returns, bank statements, support documents and countless phone calls requesting a credit card payment to become current, Wells denied my loan remodicication and began foreclosure. With my youngest near graduation from college and older kids on their own I had to decide to keep the big XXXX house or the XXXX farm. Since the XXXX property was my retirement home and the housing bubble crash had reduced equity in the XXXX home from {$120000.00} to XXXX I decided the XXXX property would never come back to a positive asset value in my lifetime so I let them have it in foreclosure and moved to the farm. I got a couple projects in XXXX and XXXX in the next year and rented a home close to one in XXXX XXXX and worked out of the farm for the other XXXX XXXX. The farmhouse living space is on XXXX floor and my XXXX got to where I couldnt do stairs anymore. After exhausting savings and living on SSI of XXXX mo in XXXX up to XXXX currently i decided in XXXX to get my XXXX done so I could go back to work once the XXXX market improved. I asked Wells to apply for Loan Modification on the Farm until I could rehab from XXXX XXXX XXXX and get back to work. We started the process again but this time they said no need to do the HAMP program that their in house loan mod program would meet my needs. The second attempt was same as the first. They said my application was denied and began foreclosure on my last remaining asset. It seems they have done this to thousands of homeowners. Get them filing forms and docs, calling every two weeks to see if you can put the balance on a credit card to get current and doing everything but lowering your mortgage to something you can afford. Then telling me their Making Home Affordable program is not subject to the HAMP regulations. This left me XXXX options : 1. File bankruptcy protection to save my farm and its equity from foreclosure or, 2. Sue the for bad faith in not providing a loan mod i could afford. Researching the internet I find that Wells has a long and checkered history of running people through the grist mill with no intention of ever doing a loan mod. They have paid XXXX in fines and lawsuits with many suits outstanding for these and other practices. They will bleed you dry and still foreclose. 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