Complaint Review: Wells Fargo Auto Financial - Philadelphia Pennsylvania

To everyone that has Posted followups to my original complaint and to those who took the time to email me directly (yes I am keeping all correspondence), THANK YOU for your comments.

I have not updated this posting in a long while as I have only been waiting for litigation (Class Action) to commence against WF. I have relayed my experience to an attorney in the Cleveland, OH area (((Redacted))) who is investigating WFAF and their fraud. I was recently contacted by one of their attorneys (((Redacted))) in their effort of a Class Action case. I am not certain how far along they are at this point. I hope you all visit this site and fill in the form from the first link I provided. Please relay your experiences to them as unemotionally and fact-filled as you can. It seems as if they are proceeding on something and I hope that it is fruitful for all who are caught in this WF crap-hole!

Meanwhile, I recieved an email from a person who claims to be an WFAF insider, and his account of the business philosophy sheds light on WF practices from a different perspective, but also, to some extent, proves the shady dealings that WF engages in. Please read the below email I recieved... enjoy!

============================================================= EMAIL FROM REN: E-Mail from "Ren" to "Gary Scott" ((((Redacted))) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Mon, 16 Mar 2009 14:40:03 -0500 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Hey Gary, I know this complaint article you wrote is about two years old, but I just came across it and was compelled to respond. I completely understand the troubles with force placed collateral insurance. I actually worked for Wells Fargo Auto Finance, and I can tell you the biggest issue (in my opinion) is with force placed insurance. They have troubles from the start because the whole process (ammortization and payment schedule, recording of insurance info, etc.) is actually a very complicated system which is not properly explained (or bothered to be understood) to the representatives. I remember spending a chunk of a day, that I probably should have spent taking calls, asking a lead who was well versed in it to help me understand all there was to know about our force placed insurance. Sadly not many people cared about knowing the answers to customer questions as thoroughly as I did, but I digress to the further issues. One of which you noticed, and that is a severe lacking in fluid communication between the insurance tracking company (Balboa, at that time) and Wells Fargo... which makes it difficult to ensure to anyone that "we" had received the insurance information, but again a rep who knows and is willing can always clear up what insurance data is or isn't received by simply calling Balboa while you were on hold and getting the "effective dates" they are missing. Most of the troubles you faced were merely due to ineffective reps, but not necessarily the delay. The trouble was, especially at that time, was many things were changing internally with WFAF they had just combined with the sub prime indirect auto loans Wells Fargo Financial. Sadly for the customers this meant the company had to immediately begin servicing about double the clients nearly over night AND just about every back shop became flooded with requests to fix, print, or change things on loans. Sub prime loans also have the higher tendency for people to... well... not get insurance, or attempt to skate by, which means nothing to me in terms of stereotyping the customer... but it does mean that everyone involved with insurance tracking becomes swamped with work. It was aweful for customers, and I suppose reps who had to try and appease the customers. I just thought you like a little more explanation as to why to experienced so many problems. Sorry for all the frustration you faced.

============================================================= MY FOLLOWUP RESPONSE TO REN: ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mon, 16 Mar 2009 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ren,

Thank you for your very well laid out explanation, and to your credit as an insider, it is very helpful to the layperson to understand the complexities going on inside WFAF that could cause this sort of thing. I totally understand the reasoning behind the messed up system as you explained it (converging WFF accounts), and it is truly plausible.

What I don't get is the behavior and attitudes that are given to the customer(s) when they are attempting to put easily verifiable facts on the table to have the accounts rectified and, either from ineptitude or lazyness or complications in the system, things NEVER get resolved. All too often the customer is told their issue is resolved only to find the charge is still added on their bill including additional charges as if no contact were ever made with WFAF.

I would tend to wholeheartedly agree with your timeline of circa 2005 if that were my only experience with Wells. I was a previous account holder for another vehicle I own with WFF and experienced the same issues and outcome... and this was Circa 1997! No mergers or anything then...!? There is no excuse for a company to run as absent mindedly as WFAF is being run. The only thing I can say to my experience that coincides with your description is, WFAF may indeed have an assumption of those being granted Sub-Prime loans are themselves of a "Sub-Prime" class or culture of people. Without stating the racial makeups of the stereotypical persons who would fit in this category, it seems that those customers are treated as if they were stealing the company's money (and the reps personal money!) and that they were less than human - not fit for ethical human treatment.

In addition, the support for this argument seems to be parallel to the recent charges brought against WF (banking unit) by the NAACP wherein WF (and HSBC, to be fair here) were charging minority customers higher rates on loans (Mortgage, Bank, etc.) than those of non-minority status, or white. It seems there is a brooding culture of discrimination and separatism in the business philosophy of WF as a corporate entity.

To contrast, I have a current loan with Citi Financial Auto. We encountered erroneous Collateral protection placement 2x so far and the first time we sent them our insurance declaration pages for both years we've been continuously covered (although they only wanted the current year) and, after a short hold, we were immediately issued an apology and reassured that it will be reflected on our next statement (which we verified). The second time, we called in and immediately they had already corrected it in the system prior to our calling, and assured us that our account was fine (again veried on the statement). Nothing but courteous and polite reps. I only have to make 1 call to resolve an issue and it is reflected in my next statement. I even keep detailed records of calls to them due to my paranoia of dealing with WF. There is no issue with communication between companies or departments to resolve any insurance issues. To date, I am going on almost 2 years without any incident with Citi. That says a lot about their principle operation and Customer-centric attitude they have as core values.

Thank You for your Comments and exposing the culture of this beast! Best Regards to you Sir, Gary Scott (((Redacted))) ==================================================

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