Consumer complaint received 2022-12-02
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY
State: MN
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Applying for a mortgage or refinancing an existing mortgage

Complaint:
Summary This complaint is being filed for Wells Fargos severe mismanagement and execution of our mortgage refinance loan application from a business ethics, fairness, communication and due diligence perspective. 
We challenged their processing of our loan application after receiving a very unexpected letter from Wells Fargo indicating that they did not approve our loan request. As we worked with them in challenging the factors that led to them not approving our loan it was very clear to us and to Wells Fargo that they used incorrect and incomplete data to assess our loan from a debt ratio perspective which led to the disapproval. 
We requested that the issue be elevated to Wells Fargo Management for an escalated loan review using the correct data. Wells Fargo agreed to escalate the issues with the escalation team to perform a loan review using the correct data. Upon their review, using the correct data for the loan assessment, the Wells Fargo Consultant said the we would easily qualify for a loan approval as requested. The consultant said that he was working with the Wells Fargo Branch Manager to determine if they would honor our loan approval with our locked in fixed rate of 4.125 %, do right by us. The Branch Manager indicated that he was working with the underwriters and his manager to review and pursue corrective action regarding our loan approval and the rate. 

The consultant initially said that the escalated approval is looking very good for us and that he will call me with a joint call with the branch manager to discuss on XX/XX/XXXX. He did not call me on this date. I called him to follow up and he said that the branch manager was busy and that he would coordinate the call with me in a couple days. After not getting a call back, I reached out to the consultant again. Finally, on XX/XX/XXXX the consultant said that he and the branch manager will call me on XX/XX/XXXX. The consultant apologized for putting me on a roller coaster by providing me with untimely very mixed messages. It truly was a roller coaster with extremely poor communications from him. He never called on XX/XX/XXXX and still has not called or communicated in any way as of today, XX/XX/2022. 

We are requesting that Wells Fargo exercise good business ethics by honoring our loan application with a loan approval with our locked in fixed rate of 4.125 %. 


References 1. Subject application : Mortgage application dated XX/XX/2022 XXXX. Property Address for application : To be provided upon request per the CFPB process XXXX. Applicants names : To be provided upon request per the CFPB process 4. Creditors Name : Wells Fargo Bank , N.A . 

Background Details We contacted a Wells Fargo Home Mortgage Consultant in XX/XX/2022 and discussed our request for refinancing our current mortgage with Wells Fargo from an ARM to a fixed rate in Q3 XXXX prior to the anticipated fed rate increase in Q4. The consultant said that this would be adequate time for locking in a fixed rate and processing the loan application in Q3. We proceeded to lock in a fixed rate of 4.125 % for the loan. We provided all documents requested from Wells Fargo for the application in a timely manner. 

On XX/XX/2022 the consultant said that everything was going well with the loan application, although the underwriters were requesting a couple more final documents from us. We provided those documents electronically immediately. The consultant said that everything looks great for a loan approval and that if there were any issues with the approval, he would let us know by the end of the day, XX/XX/XXXX or the next day at the latest. He said he would schedule a closing date in XXXX. 
We did not hear back from the consultant regarding any issues so we assumed the approval was being finalized and that he would be contacting us to schedule a closing date before Q3 end. We were never told that there were any potential issues with our loan approval over a 3+ month period of processing. Rather we were lead to believe that everything looked great for the approval. 

Then, to our shock, we received a surprise letter, dated XX/XX/2022, in the mail from the consultant on XX/XX/XXXX indicating that our request for home financing was not approved. 
I called the consultant immediately as this did not make sense as to what we had been led to believe. 
I asked him, more specifically, why the loan was not approved. He said it was disapproved because of the debt ratio. As we reviewed the debt ratio calculations by the underwriters, we discovered that there were errors in the factors used in the debt ratio. They did not use our combined incomes of ~ $ XXXX for assets. Instead they used XXXX companys net profit of only $ XXXX which has nothing to do with our incomes/assets regarding the loan. The consultant agreed that this was a big error and that underwriting must have dropped the ball on confirming correct and complete data was being used in the debt ratio calculation. From our perspective, this process was not handled with transparency and fairness with us. We were consistently told that they would be using our W2 income from the past two years to qualify for the loan refinance. It also lacked due diligence in light of properly assessing the data to ensure complete and accurate data was being used, based on the documents requested and provided, such as our W2s, tax returns, etc. If someone at Wells Fargo had reviewed the debt ratio for reasonableness, they certainly shouldve been able to assess that the debt ratio as calculated was not reasonable based on the financial documents that they requested and that we provided. 

We started the loan disapproval loan challenge and escalation XX/XX/2022 and are still awaiting for results for over a XXXX month period while receiving only mixed messages from the Wells Fargo consultant. As noted above, Wells Fargo has still not contacted us to discuss the subject yet, as of XX/XX/2022, despite my reaching out to them. 

We are requesting that Wells Fargo use good business ethics by honoring our loan approval with the fixed rate of 4.125 %. 

Additional notes : In addition, regarding our qualifications for the loan approval, we have very good to excellent XXXX credit ratings and track record of making on time automated payments on our current mortgage with Wells Fargo for over twenty years. 

Please contact me if you have any questions on the subject or if you need additional information. 

Thank you

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