Current Events > Wells Fargo computer glitch blamed as hundreds lose their homes

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/wells-fargo-loan-modification-error-homeowners-who-went-into-foreclosure-seek-answers/

Wells Fargo says a computer glitch is partly to blame for an error affecting an estimated 545 customers who lost their homes. The giant bank filed papers with the Securities and Exchange Commission last month, revealing it incorrectly denied 870 loan modification requests. About 60 percent of those homeowners went into foreclosure.

Legislators, housing advocates, regulators and most importantly, the people who lost their homes people like Jose Aguilar are asking how this happened.

"It's been very hard for me. It's something I wouldn't wish upon anybody," Aguilar told CBS News correspondent Anna Werner.

These days, Aguilar can only drive by the home he and his family lost to foreclosure three years ago, the small ranch house in upstate New York where they wanted to raise their children.

"I used to look there and see how many times my kids and I used to run up and down, ride our bikes," Aguilar said.

He said the problems began when he and his ex-wife found mold in the house. He tried to remediate it himself but fell a few months behind on the mortgage payments. So the couple asked their lender Wells Fargo to modify their loan to lower their monthly payment.

"At first they told me, 'OK, you know, you might be able to qualify for a loan modification,'" Aguilar said.

But he said then came the delays weeks, then months waiting for a decision.

"Then the whole process just started all over again. And then it got to the point we were a year behind," Aguilar said.

Finally, Wells Fargo turned them down.

"What was your reaction, I mean, after all that time?" Werner asked.

"At that point I just gave up," Aguilar said.

He and his wife split up. The house went into foreclosure. With the hit to his credit, Aguilar said he found no one would rent to him.

"At that point my son and I had to move to the basement of a friend's house and we stayed there for three months, and we had nothing. We had a couch and my son had a bed," Aguilar said, choking up with emotion. "I felt worthless. I felt like I had let my family down."

Then in September this year, nearly three years later, he got a letter from Wells Fargo. "Dear Jose Aguilar," it read, "We made a mistake we're sorry." It said the decision on his loan modification was based "on a faulty calculation" and his loan "should have been" approved.

"It's just like, 'Are you serious? Are you kidding me?' Like they destroyed my kids' life and my life, and now you want me to 'We're sorry?'" Aguilar said.

Wells Fargo now said that "calculation error" on loan modifications affected 870 customers over an eight year period, customers who either were denied loan modifications or "were not offered a modification in cases where they would have otherwise qualified." About 545 of those customers ultimately lost their homes to foreclosure.

At least some of those people got a check from Wells Fargo along with the letter. In Aguilar's case, it was for $25,000. But his attorney Marc Dann said that doesn't begin to cover his total losses.

"So how do you think they came up with the amounts of money that they handed out to people?" Werner asked.

"That's what we want to find out. We want to find out what went wrong, how it went wrong," Dann said.

Alys Cohen is with the National Consumer Law Center.

---

"The question is, how did this happen? Aren't they supposed to check their computer programs regularly to make sure they're accurate?" Cohen said. "This is clearly more than just a simple computer mistake."

Wells Fargo declined to do an on-camera interview. The company could not say how much money it expects to pay out in remediation to customers. But Aguilar said it's not just about money.

"I want Wells Fargo to know that there's people out there with feelings and families that try hard to pay their bills and survive. We're real people, we're not just money," Aguilar said.

Wells Fargo said it plans to work with each of those customers to reach a resolution. The bank is also offering no-cost mediation. Meanwhile, non-profit groups and some legislators are pushing for more answers.

---

jeez
---

Wow that is fucked.
---

Reading the story, they were doomed anyway.

After everything else they do this?
Wells needs to die
---

BonBonTheCutest posted...

Reading the story, they were doomed anyway.

This story is obviously not going to mean anything to bronies like you, who live with your parents and get everything in life provides for them. To those of us in the real world, however, this is important.
---

he lost his house because he was 12 months behind on payments, not because he couldn't refinance his loan. its unfortunate that it happened but he was the one that didn't make his payments.
---

KILBOTz posted...

he lost his house because he was 12 months behind on payments, not because he couldn't refinance his loan. its unfortunate that it happened but he was the one that didn't make his payments.

Tmaster148 posted...

a few months behind on the mortgage payments. So the couple asked their lender Wells Fargo to modify their loan to lower their monthly payment.

"At first they told me, 'OK, you know, you might be able to qualify for a loan modification,'" Aguilar said.

But he said then came the delays weeks, then months waiting for a decision.

"Then the whole process just started all over again. And then it got to the point we were a year behind,"

what is reading
---

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nbc1Fs3Om-0" data-time="

Wells Fargo makes Comcast look like a paragon of justice.
---

HighOnSolar posted...

KILBOTz posted...

he lost his house because he was 12 months behind on payments, not because he couldn't refinance his loan. its unfortunate that it happened but he was the one that didn't make his payments.

Tmaster148 posted...

a few months behind on the mortgage payments. So the couple asked their lender Wells Fargo to modify their loan to lower their monthly payment.

"At first they told me, 'OK, you know, you might be able to qualify for a loan modification,'" Aguilar said.

But he said then came the delays weeks, then months waiting for a decision.

"Then the whole process just started all over again. And then it got to the point we were a year behind,"

what is reading

---

HighOnSolar posted...

KILBOTz posted...

he lost his house because he was 12 months behind on payments, not because he couldn't refinance his loan. its unfortunate that it happened but he was the one that didn't make his payments.

Tmaster148 posted...

a few months behind on the mortgage payments. So the couple asked their lender Wells Fargo to modify their loan to lower their monthly payment.

"At first they told me, 'OK, you know, you might be able to qualify for a loan modification,'" Aguilar said.

But he said then came the delays weeks, then months waiting for a decision.

"Then the whole process just started all over again. And then it got to the point we were a year behind,"

what is reading

"We might be able to modify your loan" does not mean "you can stop paying your existing loan."

If he continued to pay he wouldn't have lost his house.
---

Isnt Wells Fargo new ad campaign about how they arent huge pieces of shit?
---

KILBOTz posted...

HighOnSolar posted...

KILBOTz posted...

he lost his house because he was 12 months behind on payments, not because he couldn't refinance his loan. its unfortunate that it happened but he was the one that didn't make his payments.

Tmaster148 posted...

a few months behind on the mortgage payments. So the couple asked their lender Wells Fargo to modify their loan to lower their monthly payment.

"At first they told me, 'OK, you know, you might be able to qualify for a loan modification,'" Aguilar said.

But he said then came the delays weeks, then months waiting for a decision.

"Then the whole process just started all over again. And then it got to the point we were a year behind,"

what is reading

"We might be able to modify your loan" does not mean "you can stop paying your existing loan."

If he continued to pay he wouldn't have lost his house.

Yes but you dont say you are open to working with a customer on their loan and leave em hanging for months,

Its rude, unprofessional and downright immoral.
---

These are the types of people that would have been thrown off buildings during revolutions.
---

pikachupwnage posted...

KILBOTz posted...

HighOnSolar posted...

KILBOTz posted...

he lost his house because he was 12 months behind on payments, not because he couldn't refinance his loan. its unfortunate that it happened but he was the one that didn't make his payments.

Tmaster148 posted...

a few months behind on the mortgage payments. So the couple asked their lender Wells Fargo to modify their loan to lower their monthly payment.

"At first they told me, 'OK, you know, you might be able to qualify for a loan modification,'" Aguilar said.

But he said then came the delays weeks, then months waiting for a decision.

"Then the whole process just started all over again. And then it got to the point we were a year behind,"

what is reading

"We might be able to modify your loan" does not mean "you can stop paying your existing loan."

If he continued to pay he wouldn't have lost his house.

Yes but you dont say you are open to working with a customer on their loan and leave em hanging for months,

Its rude, unprofessional and downright immoral.

I wouldn't say immoral, that would require some sort of intent/premeditation. Honest mistakes are possible without it becoming an issue of morality.

He could have gone to other banks if he didn't like Wells Fargo and see if they would work with him. Or maybe only the existing lender would talk to him since he had a mold house (at least it never said he successfully remediated the mold, only that he attempted to do it himself).

It's unfortunate but I don't think this is the example to point to to say "See! Banks are evil!"
---

This is what happens when you punt responsibility and accountability to algorithms.
A computer isn't going to know that a decimal is in the wrong place or someone entered a tab where a 7 should be.

Questionmarktarius posted...

This is what happens when you punt responsibility and accountability to algorithms.
A computer isn't going to know that a decimal is in the wrong place or someone entered a tab where a 7 should be.

So instead have more error prone humans responsible, who are also more costly? Because at least then you can blame an individual?
---

KILBOTz posted...

Questionmarktarius posted...

This is what happens when you punt responsibility and accountability to algorithms.
A computer isn't going to know that a decimal is in the wrong place or someone entered a tab where a 7 should be.

So instead have more error prone humans responsible, who are also more costly? Because at least then you can blame an individual?

do you shill for wells fargo? jfc...
---

death penalty
---

Nope. Do you care to address my points?
---

I love how CE always has someone ardently defending the indefensible.
---

what, the indefensible position that algorithms are more accurate and cost efficient that humans making the decision?
---

Questionmarktarius posted...

This is what happens when you punt responsibility and accountability to algorithms.

This is a great sentence.
---

"We're sooorrrrry." *touches nipples* "We made a mistake but we're sooorrrry."
---

MacDaMurderer posted...

Isnt Wells Fargo new ad campaign about how they arent huge pieces of shit?

Yeah lol
---

Yeah and as punishment the acting CEO (after the last one with the fake accounts) will step down, say they're sorry, get a nine figure payout, and we'll repeat the whole cycle in a few months.
---

Imagine genuinely defending Wells fucking Fargo.
---

This is not good look for Wells... but does it seem like people are looking harder at Wells than at other banks? I swear the same type of bullshit happens at the other giant banks. I think Wells is just being the whipping boy.
---

This probably hurts their ad campaign of we were fuck ups but we learned our lesson and will no longer do that ever again.
---

Can't say I've ever seen these ads.

There needs to be a class action lawsuit.
---

Does Wells Fargo ever do anything that isn't evil?

---