Consumer complaint received 2020-02-27
Product: Mortgage — Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process — 
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY (FL)

Wells Fargo bank has added fees to my mortgage that were generated by their own companys errors. 
Around XX/XX/XXXX, I contacted Wells Fargo about a possible loan modification. I was advised that an escrow account is required with loan modifications. I have never had nor need an escrow account but felt that I could work around it IF the modification terms were acceptable. They sent me the package, but I never filled out the forms or mailed anything back. Again, I NEVER completed the application for loan modification so saw no reason for any of my loan terms to change. Shortly thereafter, I went online with my county to pay my property taxes only to discover that Wells Fargo had already paid them 3 months prior to the due date. This is were my nightmare began. I started the process of calling Wells Fargo over and over again to have the escrow removed. They were reimbursed for the taxes but then decided to pay my homeowners insurance. This reopened an escrow that I was told would be closed. Over and over, one department would tell me its fine and then they would bill escrow on my monthly payment again and again. At first, I paid the additional to allow them time to correct it and I was told it would be credited back. But soon enough the payment began escalating beyond my budget and this was causing late payments as I could not afford a double mortgage payment because of all the additional escrow being added, removed, added, etc.. I kept hearing the same thing, escrow is required with a modification. I NEVER got or even applied for a modification. I only made a phone call and was mailed a packet. NOTHING MORE. I went back and forth for almost a year, over and over, multiple calls. The payments were being applied as they saw fit and started to appear continuously late and short. When I finally thought things would be corrected and I could get my mortgage back on track, I saw that they had paid my property taxes again as well as the balance on my homeowners insurance ( which I pay quarterly ). I was able to get the Homeowners insurance company to return the funds to Wells Fargo ( and have them reverse the flood insurance payment ) but the taxes could not be returned. My county tax bill is sent in XXXX but not due till the end of the following XXXX. The dates are clearly printed on the bill which they obviously saw. When I called, I was told that the taxes were due now and had to be paid from escrow due to the loan modification. I lost my mind with this. Again, they werent due yet and I had NO escrow and NO modification. This mortgagee had ZERO communication between departments and the information was never truly conveyed properly. I thought I would finally get help when this was referred to their Recovery Department. They promised the situation would be resolved by their target due date which they kept backing up till XX/XX/XXXX. By this time, my payment was so messed up that the regular monthly payment was considered too low for their system to accept and my payments were rejected ( 2 checks were even held at a local branch and never cashed ).  Before their target resolution date of XX/XX/XXXX, they initiated foreclosure proceedings. Why begin a foreclosure proceeding on someone while in the process of correcting their account and working with them? The stress and fear to me and my family at the thought of losing our home was overwhelming. Finally, I worked with the gentleman in the recovery department and he had the escrow accounts removed and cancelled. However, along with making sure that I paid all principal & interest to date, I still had to reimburse the property taxes ( {$5900.00} ) which I was not prepared to pay 4 months ahead of their due date. I was forced to hire an attorney to answer the foreclosure complaint ( {$1000.00} ), remove money from my 401k ( and pay a penalty ) to pay this additional amount along with their fees ( he did have the late fees waived ).  Everything was brought current and for this past year, it has been fine. However, it was brought to my attention that there is a fee of {$4100.00} lingering on my loan due to the foreclosure action. I was told it was attorney fees, etc.. by a representative but their letter of explanation called it a recoverable corporate advance ( which included attorney fees, process server fees, title fees, etc. ). The foreclosure case was dismissed, and I am still stuck paying fees on something that never would have happened if they had just corrected their system in the beginning of XX/XX/XXXX when I made the first phone call. 
I have called to try to have these fees removed and only received that letter explaining what the fees were for. All the letter stated was that they confirmed the dates of foreclosure, payment and reinstatement as well as stating that their fees were valid due to the foreclosure action. Not once did it address the errors their company made. Now I understand that my loan is being transferred to another bank. This should be resolved before transfer. Wells Fargo caused this problem and they should fix it before they transfer it and wash their hands of me. When I called 2 years ago, it was to see if I could get assistance with the payments. Instead, things were only made worse. Again, if they had just made the corrections back in the beginning of XX/XX/XXXX, as they said they would, none of this would have ever happened.