Wells Fargo

Wells Fargo Bought Flood Insurance on a Home Equity Account that was zero balance and Closed Des Moines, Iowa

6th of Jun, 2011 by User679104

Roughly ten years ago, my fathers Alzheimers disease, progressed to the point where we had to place him under continuous nursing care. At that time my mother and I went to the local Essington branch of First Union Bank to consolidate our banking issues and remove his name from the accounts. Knowing our circumstances, the manager of the bank suggested that I open a line of credit account in the event of any emergencies where additional funds were needed. So I did as he suggested. At the time I opened this account, I was never asked anything about the home owners insurance on the property nor was I questioned if my name was on the deed to the property.
First Union Bank became part of Wachovia Bank and still, I was never questioned about anything concerning the home owners insurance nor the deeding. After my fathers death, I did use this account but it was paid off quickly with never having a late payment. Actually, I wound up over-paying on the account by somewhere between $2500 and $3500. The balance on this account has remained at zero for approximately two (2) years or maybe longer. The Wachovia Bank Branch in my town closed and we had to start using the branch located in a town close by. Both, I and my mother remained satisfied with Wachovia Bank and the services they rendered in the area of banking. Within the past year, Wachovia Bank was taken over by Wells Fargo Bank and that is when the trouble started. Sometime in late May of 2010, I received a notice written in a threatening manner from Wells Fargo concerning the line of credit account that they apparently inherited from Wachovia. They were insisting that I have their name placed on my home owners insurance declaration as if they were holding some form of mortgage on my property. If I did not do as they demanded, they would take it on themselves to have a home owner insurance policy issued and charge the amount or $1149.50 to the line of credit account. I and my mother got very upset over this and I went to the local Wachovia branch and confronted the manager as to what was the meaning of this threatening notice. Previously, I had casually spoke with a lawyer friend who told me that Wells Fargo had no right to do what they were indicating in the notice and he suggested that I simply close the account because nothing was owed on it. The manager at the Wachovia office told me that the notice was not meant as a threat and simply to have my insurance company add Wells Fargo to the policy. I did not like the idea of this and wanted the manager to simply close the account completely as I had no need to maintain this line of credit account. I think his name is Rick, but in any event he told me I did not want to do that and he refused to close the account. Instead he made a hasty phone call to the Wells Fargo office that sent out the notice, after which he told me to contact my insurance representative and have him add Wells Fargo to the declaration page and forward it to the Wells Fargo insurance office indicated in the notice. I still did not like this and wanted the account closed but felt like I was between a rock and a hard place and being pressured to conform to their demands. I left the Wachovia Branch office without the account being closed as I wanted. My home owners insurance was due for renewal and instead of just sending in a check, I asked my State Farm Insurance agent to come to the house as I wanted to talk to him concerning the notice. This was done by a letter that I mailed and faxed on May 6, 2010. He came to the house on Tuesday May 11 and I showed him the notice to which he informed me that he would contact Wells Fargo and resolve the problem. A few days passed and my State Farm agent called me and said he had spoken to Wells Fargo and faxed them the information that was needed and told me that all was resolved. I also received a copy of the declaration page for the home owners insurance noting Wells Fargo in the body. However, I was not comfortable with this arrangement and intended to have the line of credit account closed permanently. I owed nothing on the account and my home was free of any encumbrance. Then I received another threatening notice on a Thursday, in early June 2010 that stated that I had to provide Wells Fargo with a statement that my policy included flood insurance or else THEY would take out a FLOOD INSURANCE POLICY at a cost of, you guessed it, $1149.50. Odd, the same price as the other policy I was threatened with. Is Wells Fargo a BANK or an INSURANCE company, I thought. I know that having flood insurance is required when buying a home in some areas, but my property was bought long before these regulations changed or took effect and my home is more or less grandfathered unless I sell it. The new owners would more than likely be required to have flood insurance IF they were financing the purchase. However, there hasnt been any flooding around my home in about 5000 years at the end of the last Ice Age or maybe when Noah built the ark. The next day, I made a special trip to my local Wachovia Bank Branch to confront the manager again and definitely have the account CLOSED. To my surprise, they had transferred the previous manager and had a new one. This guy offered NO help at all and kept telling me I had to do what they requested, or better yet, DICTATED. I told him in no uncertain terms to IMMEDIATELY CLOSE THE ACCOUNT. First he said that he could not close the account from the branch office and I told him he was lying. He then flatly refused to close the account at all. At that point, I was furious and I informed him that I had every intention of closing any and all my banking with Wachovia and go to another bank. I am pretty sure I also asked him how a jerk like him could ever get to be the manager of a bank. Note that any of my banking transactions have to happen on a Friday because I work during the day and cannot get to the bank except on Friday when they are open until 6PM. I opened new accounts at another bank not far from the Wachovia office on June 2010. Within a week after opening new banking accounts, I went to the Wachovia office, closed any accounts that I had and went directly to my new bank and deposited the funds there. The night before, I accessed my Wachovia accounts on the computer to verify how much money I would be entitled to remove and assure there were no outstanding checks. I was surprised to discover that Wells Fargo had charged the line of credit account with $1149.50 for that flood insurance exactly one week prior to my receiving the threatening notice about it. Yep, they did it without my knowledge and sent me the notice of their intention AFTER the dirty deed was already done. I eventually managed to get the line of credit account closed. I telephoned an 800 number for Wachovias office in South Carolina on Tuesday, June 1, 2010 and explained that I wanted the account closed but the two managers at the local office would not do it. The guy I spoke with told me they could have closed the account by simply having me sign a form asking it to be closed. He told me to write a letter, noting the account number, and asking the account to be closed. I was instructed to sign it and fax it to them at Line of Credit Services -FAX# 540-561-5172. I did this that same day of Tuesday, June 1, 2010. I was guaranteed the account would be closed immediately. I know it has been closed because Wells Fargo people calls have confirmed that this account was, indeed, CLOSED during their harassing telephone, which were to follow. Now we get to the real problem. Wells Fargo has consistently telephoned me at home as much as six times per day, Monday through Saturday and have even called me at my office. Their people will not listen to any explanation but seem to be transfixed on getting a statement that I have flood insurance. Why, the account was closed with a zero balance. But now they are saying that I owe THEM the amount of $1149.50 for something that THEY did without my knowledge nor my permission. What I find very strange is they seem to be more concerned with getting the statement indicating that I have flood insurance. They will not answer me as to WHY?. I have printed my telephone records to prove my claim that shows them calling from an 800 number starting at 8AM lasting till about 6PM. The only person at the house during those hours is my mother who is 89 years old and my dog. Even after I told them they were upsetting her tremendously, they continued to call and one woman blatantly said to me something that went like this one morning after catching me at the house at exactly 8AM, Oh we will continue to call. Its kind of fun to get you so upset this early in the day. Can you believe the nerve of her. If this is not harassment, then I dont know what is. I had also told them to speak with my lawyer. They told me they did not want to talk to my lawyer at all and refused to take his name and phone number. That is until the evening of July 28, 2010. I received a call from Wells Fargo at about 8:45PM. I was in the basement of the house working on a project. This woman indicated she WOULD call my lawyer but I was in the wrong area of the house to go dig up his phone number. She then refused to wait long enough for me to go up two flights of stairs to my den to get the number. Here we are now in June 2011 and I am STILL getting threatening letters from Wells Fargo and calls from collection agencies, which seem to keep changing. Despite repeated statements from my legal council to these people, the issue continues to go on and on with more blatant lies from both Wells Fargo and their agents. Maybe the only thing to end all this is to drag their butts (I prefer a stronger term) and sue them for a bundle. I have at least 15 documented events where they violated my rights under Federal laws. I know one thing, I have no intention of giving these thieves any money for a flood insurance policy that I never even received a copy of nor do I know who issued it.

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