Consumer complaint received 2025-11-26 00:00:00
Product: Credit card — General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Other features, terms, or problems — Problem with balance transfer
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY
State: CA

Complaint narrative:
An HVAC/plumbing company called XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX initiated a loan with me in XX/XX/XXXX for installation of 1- large MiniSplit Air Conditioning Unit totaling about {$7800.00}. At the time of loan origination, this plumbing company did not disclose the fees associated with signing on for this loan or that the loan was offered through Wells Fargo Bank. Unbeknownst to me, at the time, I was signing up for a " same as cash loan ''. What this means essentially is that the entire loan was due to be paid in full before the end of 12 months. If the entire loan was not paid in full, interest would be due on the FULL amount of the loan ( even though close to half of the loan had already been paid ). I only became aware that this was the design of the loan by reading my monthly Wells Fargo statement. Of note, timely monthly payments were paid throughout the 12 months to Wells Fargo. 

I knew the due date was approaching for FULL payment of this loan on XX/XX/XXXX. I initiated a balance transfer with XXXX for the remaining balance owed on the loan on XX/XX/XXXX ( {$4500.00} ). I spoke with XXXX XXXX  during the week to find out what was going on with the transfer and verify the correct address for Wells Fargo. I was informed by XXXX XXXX  that Wells Fargo does not accept XXXX payments and " Wells Fargo has not yet cashed the balance transfer check. '' Later, this balance transfer was cancelled by XXXX XXXX  due to not being accepted by Wells Fargo. 

I also spoke with Wells Fargo on several occasions to clarity the proper address to send payment and what was happening with the balance transfer. During one of these calls, I inquired why Wells Fargo does not accept ACH transfers. I was then informed by one of Wells Fargo representative that they do accept ACH transfers. Why was the balance transfer with XXXX XXXX  delayed and then ultimately not accepted by Wells Fargo Bank? 

It seems to me this was done intentionally so that fees ( close to {$2200.00} ) could be added to my account balance owed. These fees were added overnight to my account. One day these fees were not on my Wells Fargo account balance and the next day they were there. 

I called and explained the situation regarding Wells Fargo 's lack of completing the XXXX XXXX  Balance transfer. The Wells Fargo representative stated that if the amount owed on the loan was paid within the next few days, the new fees and interest would be waived. I immediately initiated another balance transfer and cash out of my own bank account to settle the amount owed on the original loan. The entire remaining balance of this loan was paid by XX/XX/XXXX. 

Unfortunately, Wells Fargo refused to waive the fees added onto the loan. I escalated the call to their managerial team and a " case '' was opened. Throughout the month of XXXX, I have spoken several times with XXXX ( escalated cases team ) at Wells Fargo regarding my case. " We don't see your calls to our Wells Fargo representative. You were speaking with our OTHER team. '' I was told the case was being reviewed and that they would review the calls. I would receive a call back from her or Wells Fargo by XX/XX/XXXX. 

I called and spoke with XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX as I had not heard any updates. She stated " the case is still being reviewed and I will call you when I know more. '' I did not hear anything from her and called again on XX/XX/XXXX. She stated she had called me on XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX. No calls were ever received by me. While the case was being reviewed additional interest was added to the balance in the amount of about {$96.00}. 

I called again and spoke with XXXX with the XXXX XXXX with Wells Fargo on XX/XX/XXXX. She stated " The case has been reviewed and {$1700.00} was waived from your account. You still owe a balance of about {$540.00}. '' I asked how Wells Fargo arrived at that number, since this money is additional fees added and why such a large amount of money would still be owed despite the remaining loan being paid in full on XX/XX/XXXX. I also stated that this was Wells Fargo 's error in failing to notify me in any way that the XXXX XXXX  Balance Transfer would not be completed. The transfer was in fact delayed so long that it was cancelled by XXXX XXXX. XXXX stated, " You'll have to speak with XXXX, Wells Fargo was aware of the attempted balance transfer. '' Additionally, one of Wells Fargo 's representatives stated that if the balance was paid in full in the next few days, all fees would be waived. The remaining balance was paid by me over the course of a few days. Severals calls were made by me to Wells Fargo to notify them of my plans for new balance transfers and cash payments to settle the original account balance owed. {$540.00} still owed? 

I'm writing to notify the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau about Wells Fargo Bank 's tactics and delays to not complete a balance transfer in order to allow thousands of dollars on fees and interest to be added onto an original ( HVAC air conditioner ) loan. They should have done the right thing here, but unfortunately did not. I've spent a lot of my time, hours, on the phone with Wells Fargo trying to settle this error. 

Additionally, I want to also draw your attention to the predatory loan implementation of XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX in XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX. It was not communicated to me in any way at the time of loan origination about the nature of this loan being a " same as cash '' loan. Their sales person was in a hurry to get me to sign the XXXX loan. He was on his cell phone 'with his boss ' most of the time and only provided me with the loan amount that I was authorized to receive, about {$7800.00}. 

I called and spoke with XXXX at XXXX XXXX & XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX about the Wells Fargo mess. He responded " That was a XXXX XXXX. I'm the one who deals with financial issues. I've been doing this work for 10 years and we have never had a problem with this loan before. Oh, yes, we received a call from Wells Fargo recently regarding this loan, but we did not know why they were calling. We answered all of their questions about this loan. '' This was the first time I had a name for the loan given to me. A 'Same-As-Cash ' XXXX. A predatory loan. Plain and simple. XXXX stated he would notify the owner of the business about my concerns about how this loan was offered, but I have not yet received a call back from him.

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 monetary relief