Wells Fargo faces new legal action amid mortgage holder complaints

NEW YORK -- Mirza Baig, 70, has lived in his home in the New York City borough of Staten Island since 2007.

The Pakistani immigrant had been working at the front desk of a hotel near New York’s JFK airport, but he lost his job during the Great Recession.

In 2009, he fell behind on his mortgage payments. He asked Wells Fargo for help modifying his mortgage, but said the process has been frustrating and confusing ever since.

Wells Fargo, he said, sent “harassing material” in the mail, threatening him with loss of his home. The bank filed for foreclosure in 2010, according to Staten Island Legal Services, which is representing him in the case.

“They just keep on confusing me,” Baig said. “Their policy is never clear to me.”

Baig spoke to reporters after a news conference held by New York Atty. Gen. Eric Schneiderman, who announced legal action against Wells Fargo over allegations it wasn’t living up to the terms of last year’s landmark $25-billion national mortgage settlement.

Schneiderman faulted the bank’s mortgage-servicing communications, calling its process “Byzantine.” The attorney general also announced a parallel settlement with Bank of America to fix its practices.

Baig, who has lived in the city for a quarter-century, has since found lower-paying employment in the food service industry, working in a kitchen and delivering food. He remains worried about his protracted wrangling with Wells Fargo.

“I’m still in my home, but I’m living in uncertainty and [in a] stress situation because they are not doing anything,” Baig said. “I don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow.”

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