Wells Fargo is the loan servicer.

Yes the same Wells Fargo that had the class action lawsuit against them for opening fake accounts so they could collect extra fees, and which resulted in class action lawsuit with settlement for hundreds of millions of dollars.

Yes the same Wells Fargo that was ordered to pay billions (that's with a "B"} by the federal agency Consumer Financial Protection Bureau as fines and restitution for excessive and illegal loan fees, etc.

So I am a little concerned about what they might try to pull since they don't seem to learn from past mistakes.

This is for apartment building so I don't have the same protection in law as owner occupied house doing a payoff.

Nevertheless, the payoff statement does ask for the usual "junk fees" lenders always like to squeeze out of their customers. The loan docs from original lender specify reasonable (not specific} fees for payoff and reconveyance of lien.

Other than remaining principal and interest which totals one monthly payment as expected, they require $400 for a payoff processing fee.

Is the $400 a reasonable amount? I don't have experience on this issue.

Maybe. If it was a 4 million dollar loan.

Maybe not. If it was a 40K loan.

What percentage of your payment is it?

The payoff processing fee is twenty percent of the monthly loan payment.

I'm also inclined to just pay it unless I have some specific support in law to challenge it.

Of course, I suppose I could celebrate the payoff by leaving them with a complaint to the feds at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Maybe it starts another investigation and the feds order them to pay another big fine.

What options do you have Dino?

You could tell the branch that you believe this is a junk fee and you plan on filing a complaint with the FTC and CFPB. They might waive that fee, but then again they may ask if you agreed to paying fees hidden in the loan docs when you got the loan.

Loan docs are tricky - especially if this was a commercial loan.