Consumer complaint received 2025-06-23 00:00:00
Product: Mortgage — Home equity loan or line of credit (HELOC)
Issue: Trouble during payment process — Trying to communicate with the company to fix an issue while managing or servicing your loan
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY
State: GA

Complaint narrative:
I have a HELOC with Wells Fargo that is expiring soon, so applied for a new HELOC from another bank. The XXXX bank requested payoff information from Wells Fargo, at which time Wells Fargo put restrictions on the existing HELOC preventing me from utilizing it. Wells Fargo sent me a letter on XX/XX/year> to inform me of the restriction, and including instructions for how to either pay off the HELOC, or request a review of the restriction in order to have it removed. The XXXX bank withdrew the payoff requirement. I then followed the instructions in the Wells Fargo letter to request a reinstatement review of the HELOC in order to remove the restriction. The letter included a form that had to be signed, and required information from the XXXX bank that the transaction had been cancelled. Neither the letter nor the form said anything about the signatures having to be notarized. We submitted the form with a transaction cancellation letter from the XXXX bank via XXXX mail, which was the only avenue listed in the Wells Fargo letter. 

I received a letter from Wells Fargo dated XX/XX/year> that stated the attached form needed to be signed by both borrowers and returned in order to remove the restriction. No mention in the letter or form that the signatures needed to be notarized. 

I called Wells Fargo to ask what happened to the original request I had submitted that included a form that was equivalent to the new letter and form. The representative found the original request and the Wells Fargo case number that came out of that original request. The XX/XX/XXXX letter referenced that case number. The representative indicated that I just needed to sign the form and sent it in. But I pointed out that if the original form and equivalent letter hadn't resulted in the restriction being lifted, why would I expect the same signatures in an equivalent XXXX request to result in any action. The rep put me on hold and checked with someone, and then came back and said the issue was that the first request hadn't been notarized, and that I need to make sure I notarized the new request. I pointed out that neither of the letters or forms said anything about signatures needed to be notarized. 

The rep put me on with a supervisor who reiterated that it was a company policy that the request needed to be notarized and there was no way around the requirement. She said they had been getting multiple phone calls per day from customers who had also received communication that didn't indicate that signatures had to be notarized, and that she hoped it wouldn't be terribly long before Wells Fargo updated their forms and letters to indicate that signatures had to be notarized. 

So now my wife and I either have to drive together XXXXminutes each way to the nearest Wells Fargo branch to have our signatures notarized, or have to drive XXXX each way to another institution and pay to have our signatures notarized. And this is all to have Wells Fargo lift restrictions on a HELOC that Wells Fargo initiated - NOT the customer.

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