Consumer complaint received 2020-01-09
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY
State: TX
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint:
Wells Fargo purchased my mortgage in XX/XX/2019. After receiving the notification mail, I went to Wells Fargo website and created an account right away with my new loan number. I was able to login and look at the loan information. In XX/XX/2019, I  received a letter from Wells Fargo claiming that my escrow account has a shortage. I tried to long into the website, but it failed on the first attempt, and the message directed me to call XXXX to speak to customer service. I called the number, after waiting on hold for almost an hour, spoke to a representative. She told me that somehow my phone number listed on account is invalid, and she would need to submit a new cell phone number so I can get a notification before she could unlock my account. First, she asked me a series of questions to confirm my identify, which I was able to answer correctly. I provided my current cell phone number, and she put it into the system. She kept putting me on hold, because her system would not update with the new phone number. After another 40 minutes, she transferred me to technical support. This time the representative told me that he could not do anything, and I would have to wait up to 5 days for the phone number to update. I told him that was unacceptable. He then transferred to another department. This time the lady who answer the phone told me that there was an " account merge '', and my account information was somehow overwritten. I told that that I had a Wells Fargo Mortgage more than 10 years ago, but it was already refinanced and closed. She said that my old account information may have merged with my new account information. She then told me that she could not help me any more, but " the system would not let her '' on the same call. She said that I would need to call back start a new request. This is after spending almost 3 hours on phone. 
She gave another number to call. I called XXXX. The first 2 calls someone picked up but hung up on me right away. On the 3rd call, I spoke to XXXX XXXX in Executive Response department. After explaining to XXXX what happened, he called support in a 3 way conference. The support person told us that she had no records of my calls, and there did not appeared to be any record of phone number change. After she searched for 15 minutes with no results, I asked her to just put in a new request to change my phone number. She said that she would need to ask me security questions to confirm my identify. I told her that I was ready, and she can start any time. After another 5 minutes, there was no response. XXXX then told me that it looked like her call was hung up. I told XXXX that I have a meeting in 30 minutes, and I do not have 3 more of time to waste on this. XXXX said that someone from Executive Response Team would call me back while he is on holiday break. 
Next week, I received a call from XXXX XXXX with Executive Response Team. I explained everything again to XXXX. He said he would look into it. I informed him that if I did not hear from him by end of the week, I would have to file a compliant with XXXX. It has been 3 more weeks and the issue is still not resolved. 
I was told that because I had a loan with Wells Fargo from XX/XX/XXXX to XX/XX/XXXX, they still had my old account information. They then merged my old account information with my new account. I am very concerned with the way Wells Fargo is keeping customer records. First, my previous account was paid off and should be closed. There is absolutely no reason for for Wells Fargo to keep my old account information for more than 10 years, even after my account was inactive. Second, Wells Fargo should not have merged my previous inactive account with a new account account I just created. Third, if Wells Fargo wanted me to reuse the previous inactive account, they should have asked me to reactivate the old account first, instead letting me creating a new one. Lastly, why would Wells Fargo overwrite new information with data from an inactive account from 10 years ago? Wells Fargo is not managing customer data properly. The data storage and management system should be audited to avoid the same issue or worst from happening to other customers.

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