Consumer complaint received 2023-12-07
Product: Mortgage — Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process — Paying off the loan
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY (MD)

To Whom it May Concern, XX/XX/XXXX of XXXX, our Business was forced to pause operations due to the XXXX XXXX plandemic. We had Zero income because of the shut down. Which at that point noone knew how long it would be.

I contacted our Mortage Company " Wells Fargo '' to see if there were any options to pause or suspend payments until the world reopened.

They were delightful and understanding and provided information about the " Cares Act '' which provided solutions for families such as ours during this immediate financial crisis.

They explained to me that I could skip 3 paymets and enter into a " forbearance period '' and these payments could simply be added to the end of the loan. For example if we had 50 payments remaining it would then be 53. Once we restablished we could simply keep paying until the mortage is satisfied. Additionally they relayed that they were allowing a 3 month forbearance but would revisit our financial situation in 90 days and if we were still shuttered we could request additional forbearance consideration. Again I inquired about the missed paymnets and the relayed again that they would be added to the end of the loan and we could just keep paying. Original Letter enclosed. 
XX/XX/XXXX Forbearance was extended again for an additional 3 months. XXXX enclosed. Again I asked about the missed payments and was told that the payments would be added to the end of the loan. 
XX/XX/XXXX Forbearance was extended another 3 months- Letter enclosed. I inquired about the missed payments as the letter explained a different option with the end of the mortage than what was originally agreed upon. Again I was told that the amounts would simply be added to the end of teh loan and we would continue making payments until the loan was satisfied. 
XX/XX/XXXX We requested additional forbearance as we were still ordered to shut down. Wells granted this again with any challenges. 
XX/XX/XXXX I requested additional forbearance and Wells Granted another 3 months. 
XX/XX/XXXX We were granted an additional 3 month forbearance. 
XX/XX/XXXX XXXX from Wells Fargo Explaining that they can no longer extend the forbearance and that XXXX is the final month that I was elidgible and that we needed to start making our regular payments again. The program was ending and we exhausted all of our 18 month forbearance period. 
XX/XX/XXXX We resumed making our regular Mortage Payments bi-weekly, on time and with a {$1000.00} Additional Monthly payment towards our balance. To my knowledge all of our payments were done elctronically, so there should be a record of each and every one. The Wells Fargo online portal does not provide a solution for paying of the " forbearance period payments '' There are 2 options on the website- one for the payment and one for additional principal payment. Nothing in the payment portal on Wells Fargo seperates, identifies or allows a specific payment to these amounts due. However, it does show the 2 amounts seperatly under the same account. Since I was instructed on each occurance from the inital agreement that everything would be on the back end and there was no option to pay the other sums I went on and resumed making payments and an additional {$1000.00} per month towards my balance as we recovered from financial devastation. 
XX/XX/XXXX I recieved a letter in the mail for a payoff quote. 
I did not request the payoff quote so I did not read it carefully as I assumed it was just another end of year statement of some sorts about the loan. 
XX/XX/XXXX Recieved the actual letter on XX/XX/XXXX. The letter indicated that my automatic payments have stopped since my mortage amount was less than the automatic payment amount. I called as soon as I recieved the letter that evening because I knew that our auto pay was $ XXXX every 2 weeks and that my balance was nearly XXXX. So there had to be a mistake. The loan servicing Department informed me that I had 2 loans under this account and that since the primary loan was nearing maturation ( {$790.00} ) the 2nd loan of {$53000.00} was due to be paid by XX/XX/XXXX. I repeated that that was not the agreement and that I was told since day 1 that the amounts could be added to the back end of the loan and we simply keep paying the payments until both are satisfied. The Rep indicated that was not the case and if I was unable to make my payment they could offer some alternative solutions to possibly to save my home! I relayed that at no point was the original agreement to be a " Lump Sum '', " One Time '' or " Ballon Payment '' and when I inquired about this I always recieved the same answer. We will add it to the end. I did make additional payments towards the " overall balance/s '' since we returned to regular payments in XX/XX/XXXX. 
These additional payments were applied to the original mortage account and based on what I was told since day 1, I had no reason to question why the reduction of the 1st opposed to the second account. Seems intresting that Wells has no mechanism to process payments towards the forbearance period in the online portal. Screenshot enclosed.

Wells has not offered a solution other than a re-finance possibility, foreclosure or other solutions normally earmarked for folks that cant pay thier normal monthly mortage payment. None of these solutions are beneficial to my family and would certainly cost additional money, time and or negativley effect my credit standing.

I have spent the better part of the last 2 days on the phone with various reps who have not been able to solve this with any satisfaction. 
We have made all of our payments on time since XXXX other than the shut down. We have consistently paid additional amounts towards our principal/s. 
To expect a homeowner to be able to absord a XXXX one time payment is unreasonable. Especially when that was not the original agreement. 
To take the additional monthy payments that were paid and apply them in a manner that accelerates this doomsday clock for the unsuspecting homeowner is egregious. 
Every letter mentioned that we would be contacted with solutions once the forbearance period was over. We were never contacted and based on our understanding there was no reason to contact us. This has certainly blindsided me and my family. 
We are now faced with a significant crisis as Wells is expecting to have us resolve the {$53000.00} balance the day after XXXX! 
All we are asking for it to continue to make our reguarly scheduled payments until the conclusion of the mortage. No more and no less. 
While I appriciate Wells working with us during the COVID XXXX financial crisis, I can see that this forbearance has placed them in a position to inflict a serious hardship to me and my family. They I am certain wish to divest themselves of a loan that is at a low intrest rate and that they have already made all that they are going to make off of. I do not believe that they are operating in good faith with how this agreement was communicated and executed. I have made additional XXXX towards the balances/s since we re-established our payments as agreed. 
I have enclosed all documentation to support my opinion. 

Thank you for hearing my complaint and I am available to discuss anything anytime. 
I look forward to your response. 
Sincerely, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX