Wells Fargo can’t seem to stay out of trouble for the way it handles its mortgage loans. The mega-bank that recently agreed to pay $1.2 billion to the Federal Housing Administration for mishandling federally-insured loans is being sued by a West Virginia woman who says her mortgage loan was botched.
Yet another lawsuit
Alyssa Russell, a resident of Point Pleasant, West Virginia, filed a complaint in the Mason Circuit Court. The case was sent to the federal court. Russell is suing the bank for misrepresentation in debt collection, illegal late fees, illegal return of payments, refusal to apply payments, and breach of contract.
Mortgage foreclosed without notice
According to Russell, she received a home mortgage loan from Wells Fargo in March of 2006. The principle amount was $73,800 with an adjustable interest rate payable over 30 years. In early 2015, Russell contacted Wells Fargo to modify the terms of her loan. The representative she spoke with instructed her to fill out a packet of paperwork and provide documentation, and told her to stop making payments while the bank processed her modification.
Russell says that in June, she was asked to turn in paperwork and documentation, even though she had already turned it in. In July, she resent the paperwork. Around that time, she started getting calls attempting to collect on her debt, even though she had been instructed to stop making payments. When she called to ask about the status of her loan modification, she was told that her mortgage had been removed from the modification program and had been foreclosed.
Payments sent back, never credited
Russell attempted to make her mortgage payment in July, but that payment was returned by Wells Fargo. Russell says she payments between July and October, but those payments were never credited towards her mortgage. What’s more, Russell was illegally charged late fees four times.
She is seeking actual and compensatory damages.
#WellsFargoShadyMortgage
Ellen Vessels, a Staff Writer at The American Genius, is respected for their wide range of work, with a focus on generational marketing and business trends. Ellen is also a performance artist when not writing, and has a passion for sustainability, social justice, and the arts.
