Consumer complaint received 2015-08-11
Product: Mortgage — Home equity loan or line of credit
Issue: Settlement process and costs — 
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY (AL)

We are initiating a claim against Wells Fargo Bank for the return of {$460.00} which they charged to our home equity line of credit for a double appraisal of our current house during the loan approval process. We have been given numerous reasons for the double appraisal of our home over the course of several weeks, but each reason has proven to be false. Here are the reasons given by Wells Fargo:1. Federal law requires us to do XXXX appraisals. ( Not the case in Alabama, and both appraisals were performed by the same man ) 2.The first appraisal was more than 120 days old. ( XXXX appraisal XXXX/XXXX/15. XXXX XXXX/XXXX/15 ) 3.The XXXX appraisal was necessary for the approval of the loan. ( We only applied for {$70000.00}. The first appraisal valued our house at {$120000.00}, more than sufficient.There were no loans or liens against the house. We alone held the title. ) 4. " You made a verbal agreement over the phone with loan officer, XXXX XXXX. " ( We were given no options to choose from. XXXX INFORMED us that the Same appraiser would need to come inside the house to complete the loan process. She did not explain WHY she was sending the appraiser back. She did not tell us that the XXXX ( drive by ) appraisal was all that was needed. No mention was made of the fact that we would now be charged for XXXX appraisals.We were not given the option to refuse.We understood this to be followup on the original appraisal, the second part of a whole, not the beginning of a brand new, and unnecessary, appraisal. To this day, we have not received a single honest explanation as to why a second appraisal was ordered. 

When we signed for the loan, there were XXXX options. XXXX was for the bank to pay all closing cost. The other was for us to pay closing cost, and receive a lower interest rate. Under the option for the bank to pay closing there was an itemized list of each charge, and only the drive-by appraisal was on their list ( only XXXX appraisal, the first XXXX ). Under the option for us to pay, there was NO itemized list. It was blank. Instead, they had us sign an Addendum, which they added at the end, for the sole purpose of inserting the XXXX appraisal into the list. They did not explain that this was not standard procedure. They made it appear as if this was standard cost in order to be approved for a loan. There was no explanation given as to why there were XXXX appraisals on our list of charges, and only XXXX on theirs.This was the first time we were made aware of the fact that the bank was now passing on XXXX appraisal charges to us, and it was AFTER the fact. We signed the addendum, but we were unaware that something out of the norm had just been done. We understood that if we did n't sign the addendum, we would not be given the loan. We believe that the bank had us sign for an expense that was n't even listed on their list of expenses, because someone made a mistake in requesting the second appraisal, and instead of paying for the mistake, they decided to pass it on to the consumer. 

The XXXX appraisal was much higher ( {$150000.00} ), because the appraiser was able to see that we had increased the square footage of the house by finishing a bonus area, and turning it into an additional living space/bedroom. He was also able to see the guest cottage behind the house, the pool, and all the updates we 've done to bathrooms, kitchen, and floors, but as we said earlier, this was n't necessary for the approval of a {$70000.00} loan. The earlier appraisal of {$120000.00} should have been ample for that. 

We have made many, many calls to the bank, and XXXX personal visits to try to resolve this. The bank had an employee, XXXX XXXX, do most of the mediating between us and the higher authorities. She was very helpful, but unable to get an honest answer from them for us.We still have no resolution. The bank that handled the loan for us is : Wells Fargo, XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX