Consumer complaint received 2025-03-13 00:00:00
Product: Payday loan, title loan, personal loan, or advance loan — Installment loan
Issue: Charged fees or interest you didn't expect — 
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY
State: PA

Complaint narrative:
Predatory lending is any lending practice that uses deceptive or unethical means to convince a consumer to accept a loan under unfair terms or to accept a loan that you do not actually need. 

Wells Fargo is actively engaging in predatory lending by convincing consumers into 0 % financing transactions that do not amortize to retire the debt over the term provided and then charges interest accrued at usuary levels ( 28 % + ) when the term ends, and remaining balance is not paid off. 

Wells Fargo further pushes consumers to set up ACH Auto Debit payments for these financings as a deceptive means to dissuade the consumer from active management of payments and account balances, thus ensuring an unexpected and therefore unpaid remaining balance at the end of what is now bait and switched as a promotional period versus a financing term. 

Wells Fargo uses these 0 % financing schemes to convince consumers into accepting a loan the consumer does not actually need by selling them the misconception that they are somehow getting something ( time ) for nothing ( no interest ). 

Further Wells Fargo uses non-bank partners ( XXXX XXXX among others ) to sell their financings deceptively with scripts that state the financings being entered into are a means to stretch payoff of an item over a longer period of time and as long as monthly payments arent late will charge no interest for that period. These scripts fail to identify that the consumer is signing up for a credit card, do not disclose that the monthly payment will not fully amortize the purchase over the time period and the paperwork presented does not adequately define terms of significance such as Minimum Payment or even mention terms that would provide knowledge of the true nature of the transaction such as Balloon Payment. 

I am a well-educated, upper-middleclass consumer who was set up by Wells Fargo to incur XXXX not insignificant expense ( approximately {$840.00} ) that was completely unnecessary by accepting a 0 % financing plan offered through XXXX XXXX. I had the means to make an outright purchase but was enticed by deception to finance instead. And Wells Fargos scheme being deceptive enough to entrap a well-educated consumer, such as myself, really highlights just how predatory this scheme is to more vulnerable consumers such as the less educated, minorities, the elderly and poor. 

Further, despite my business savvy, education, and financial means, I was purchasing at a time of significant vulnerability, which the salesperson garnered in conversation and in retrospect could be argued to have taken advantage and targeted me for this scheme. 

To provide the landscape, in XX/XX/XXXX, my teenage son had just undergone a significant XXXX, which involved a lengthy inXXXX stay, and upon release a long recovery period with significant pain that required XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. The purchase I made in XX/XX/XXXX from XXXX XXXX was a fully reclining chair to provide comfort and improved quality of life to my son during his lengthy recovery period at home. I was physically and mentally tired at the time of this purchase and even though I have great healthcare coverage I had concern on whether all our accumulated medical expenses would be covered by insurance. This whole situation was disclosed when the salesperson ( Wells Fargos partner ) engaged me in a seemingly innocent conversation to provide the background and purpose of my purchase. In retrospect, an argument for targeting of a vulnerable consumer does exists. 

At the end of the transaction, I was encouraged to take advantage of 0 % financing ( not a credit card ) to pay for my purchase over an extended period. I was encouraged to set up Auto ACH Debit to ensure I would not default on the on-time payment requirement of the financing. At no time was the transaction verbally disclosed as a credit card purchase. At no time was it verbally disclosed that the payments would not be set to amortize the balance during the term. At no times was a balloon payment requirement disclosed. The paperwork was flipped through by the salesperson ( Wells Fargos partner ), with the salesperson verbalizing his summary of the terms on each page, giving the impression of a reasonable review of the paperwork. I acted as any typical consumer and relied upon my understanding of what was verbalized and presented which was a straightforward interest-free financing. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I contacted Wells Fargo after I noted statement continuation and wondered why my purchase was not paid off yet. Please note, I acknowledge loan statements were sent but, my payments were on Auto ACH debit and my understanding was those payments were fully amortizing the balance, so I was not in the habit of reviewing those statements. I will not make that mistake of trust again. 

Anyway, I reviewed the XXXX statement and noted an interest charge and a higher-than-expected balance. I then pulled the prior XXXX statements and became aware of a XX/XX/XXXX balloon payment that the XX/XX/XXXX XXXX XXXX debit amount ( set by Wells Fargo ) did not cover. I immediately paid the balloon amount and contacted Wells Fargo to dispute the charge for past accrued interest ( approximately {$840.00} ). The Wells Fargo representative transferred me to a customer service supervisor who failed to acknowledge how the situation set up by Wells Fargo was deceptive and represented predatory lending. The supervisor also failed to address Wells Fargos unfair profit by crediting me back the charge for past accrued interest. Instead, the supervisor stated he would escalate my complaint and I continue to await response from Wells Fargo. 

In the meantime, I am reporting Wells Fargo to consumer advocates as well as regulatory authorities and request investigation pf their predatory lending practice and corrective action.

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