I fell behind 3 months in my mortgage payments to Wells Fargo (which was completely my fault). I contacted them and worked out a repayment plan. Luckily for me I copied down the name and telephone number of the person who authorized the repayment plan because my real problems started here.
When I received no confirmation of the repayment plan in the mail I hired a lawyer. His message: if they accept your payment, you're covered.
4 months later I get a phone call on a Saturday morning telling me that my house has been sold. What? Every payment had arrived early and I had records to prove it because I paid them electronically through my Wells Fargo checking account. Yes, my "August" payment had cleared my account on July 25 but WF didn't post it until August 3rd.
The person who called me on that dark Saturday morning said I had 2 hours to accept a re-finance over the phone. They would then send me something to sign. I agreed over the phone because no lawyer could help me that Saturday morning. Eventually I got them to agree that they had sold my house in "error" and they would "un-sell" it. Sounds fine, doesn't it?
Well, the fun was only beginning. When I received my next mortgage statement the interest rate had been increased 3%, the principal balance nearly $9,000. My payments went up beyond my ability to pay.
It took me a year, a full year, to get this straightened out and I had to file bankruptcy when it was straightened out. My lawyers told me I couldn't sue WF because I couldn't afford it — that they would bury me in paperwork until I gave up.
I called them, I sent them certified letters, I sent them a certified RESPA letter because they didn't fulfill the federal requirements for a new loan. What did they do? They just didn't respond. There's a certain beauty in being so big and so powerful that you don't have to respond to certified letters.
My lawyer was disbelieving until he tried to contact them, too, and they just didn't respond. I finally contacted the State agency that licenses banks and that's the thing that worked.
Still — 2 of the credit reporting agencies still show that I'd discharged my mortgage in a bankruptcy (must mean I don't have to pay it — right?) and the 3rd shows my mortgage as revolving credit.
If anyone else is having similar problems, I'd be happy to send you the names, addresses, direct-dial phone numbers and direct fax numbers that I "happened to discover" for the employees at WF who have the power (but not the interest) to fix these problems.
If any attorney is interested in a class action suit, I'm there with you.
Kathryn
St. Paul, Minnesota
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