Wells Fargo & Company Consumer Reviews - Page 3

***Scroll all the way to the bottom for an update*** I decided to close a CD that I've had with this company for a couple of years. It's just a small $5K CD that's getting less than half of a percentage point in interest. During the grace period last week (Wednesday, May 5th), I contacted them to have the CD closed. After longer than average wait times and numerous transfers to various departments that were going to "assist me with my investment decisions", I finally reached a dept that would simply close my account.

I spoke to a young lady (Jamila?), that insisted that my account would be closed within 2 days. I called back 2 days later, went through the same long wait times and drama, and finally reached someone that could check on my CD closure. The young man (forgot his name) insisted that since it had not been a full 48 hours, that I should check back on Monday. He also made me feel at ease after he explained that all calls were recorded and if something went wrong with my CD closure request, that they could always reference the recordings.

I then let a few more days go by. I logged in and checked my account tonight (Thursday, May 13th), and I see that my CD account has not yet been closed. I then called Customer Service, and finally reached someone, after a long wait. She put my on hold for a while just to come back and say that I needed to go to into a branch since the grace period for closing CD's was over.

There are no branches in Georgia, even if there were, why should I have to go into a branch after repeatedly calling them to check on the status of my CD? I immediately moved to have my accounts closed. I have over $30K in various accounts there. I don't even have a new bank selected yet, but I just put in a request to consolidate my accounts so that I can just take the money out in one swoop. They used to be a good bank. What happened? I haven't had any luck with them within the last couple of months.

***UPDATE*** OK folks, it's almost been a week and guess what? Now over $26K has disappeared! So I spoke with a lady named Pat Thursday night who said that she'd consolidate my checking and savings accounts into 1 account. She said it was easier to consolidate everything into 1 account, then close that 1 account in 1 swoop. Over $26K was supposed to move from 3 accounts into 1 account. She said that I would be able to view the change the following morning at 8 AM.

I checked online the following morning and those 2 accounts have completely disappeared! So I called back the following morning and spoke to someone named George. He stated that my accounts disappeared because interest was being added that night, so they couldn't close the accounts. He then put me on hold forever and transferred me to Natalie. Natalie told me a completely different story.

She told me that the turn around time for moving money between accounts is 1-2 business days and to check back next week. If you're still reading you notice that each of these 3 people I spoke with had completely different stories. Plus if there's a wait time, how did the money disappear so quickly? The money was removed from the old accounts ASAP, but it takes days to put the money back in??? It gets better folks...

So I log in Tuesday morning and the $26K+ is STILL not visible online. The money's STILL gone! I immediately called and asked a lady named Kay to transfer me to a mgr. Kay eventually transferred me to her supervisor, Dawn. The supervisor informed me that the accounts were not closed properly, so she was going to manually close them. If this is the trick that closes the accounts, why weren't the accounts manually closed in the first place?

She then assured me that I would be able to view the missing $26K+ the following morning. Since I heard that song and dance numerous times recently, I asked her if I could reach out to her if I didn't see the funds visible the following morning. She told me that she'd rather call me if the funds weren't out there. She said that she'd check first thing in the morning, and if the funds are not visible, she will give me a call.

If the money is not visible in the morning I am opening up a BBB complaint. This is ridiculous. Why do I have to work so hard to have access to MY money? This all began when they wouldn't simply close a CD account at my request. They NEVER closed the account during the grace period. Now they won't close my other accounts. This is like the worst break up ever.

GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- I guess I was asking Wells Fargo for too much to be a great customer and prompt payer, they would rather jerk people around and get that high interest no matter what. Here are the things we are going through with Wells Fargo Bank N/A Financial, very unhappy with and abusive predatory tactics/promises/lies.

On 02/18/08 we financed our home with Wells Fargo Financial to pay off debt that we inquired during the rebuilding process of our home, the home was previously free & clear, we dealt with Wells Fargo, she contacted us cold call, and we were promised a fixed rate loan, no problem. Get to closing and it turned out to be an ARM @12% interest with 3 year adjustment, my wife had a few things on her credit that was paid off so according to Wells that we can refinance at a good rate in 1 year. Great! Now we have good credit, no late payments on anything and I mean everything.

Also extra used funds to put in a new septic system & other improvements so we can get ready to refinance at 95% of value next year as Wells Fargo will do that, but for them to get around that, they have their own appraiser and he will low ball the appraisal. We had house appraised for $90,000 a few months earlier by another appraiser, (but that deal did not go through), and Wells Fargo says it is only worth $70,000 and that was before/after many expensive updates.

Now comes April of 2009 and we were contacted by Wells Fargo Bank N/ One of the managers at the Grand Rapids, mi. branch and said we are ready to roll this loan into a 4.5% 30 year mortgage, $7500, in closing costs. Very high but he said was negotiable. Great! So we sent all the paperwork in, in April which was all there, and Wells Fargo also said the sooner we get our paperwork in the sooner we close this loan, so I did just that, then 05/28/09 comes along and we finally got the Truth in lending Disclosure. Great! Everything looks good, the terms and everything were good for us.

OK, now that the home still needed a little work to be perfect, I finished some small projects and still needed to complete the garage, siding, electrical, wood floors, landscaping, etc. so I contacted Wells Fargo and he said the loan is all approved and just waiting on the appraiser. So I waited for a few weeks and asked Wells Fargo again what was going on? Again he said the loan has been approved and still waiting on the appraiser, busy guy, so I asked if I could get my own appraiser and he said no. And ** advised me to borrow money to finish your home before the appraiser gets there to get the best appraisal.

OK, borrowed about $5000 to finish home and everything was good to go now, just waiting on the appraiser. Now I also asked Wells Fargo if we should get another finance company to refinance since they were having trouble getting a appraiser here and Wells Fargo said "Just be patient, the loan is all approved and the appraiser will be there/well this went on all summer." If I would have known Wells Fargo was lying to me, I would have found another finance company, but I would have 2% prepayment penalty on the loan, so we would just stick to the plan.

OK now here comes 08/31/09 a refusal letter stating that we insufficient income, which we did not a year before and excessive obligations. Yes that is true but since we borrowed money to fix up home, thanks to Wells Fargo advise, I would think that would be expected, since I was going to pay off all debt with loan proceeds and we are on a good path to great credit. I have been borrowing money to pay some bills until this loan went through. Well since the loan did not go through, I cannot pay my unsecured debt. Now I am in big trouble, it is my fault for listening to these lies from ** and Wells Fargo. Should have seen it coming.

OK, now comes the Home Affordable Modification Loan since our income has dropped $900. per month due to my tenants not paying and the overwhelming unsecured debt (my wife is a Vet and we are both on Social Security fixed income due to disabilities), that was 09/11/09. We sent all required info for the Home Affordable Modification to Wells Fargo and on 11/04/09 Wells Fargo needed more info. We sent that out promptly and about a week later Wells Fargo called me and said we do not qualify for the Home Affordable Program, we received too much money and the payment would go UP instead of down.

I then asked her if there is another way of getting this home in a good loan, and she said it was in a good loan and 12% ARM is a very good rate? WHAT? and she kept insisting me that she trying her best to help me? WHAT? Well that conversation did not end well.

OK now check out these 3 situations- 02/18/08 had good credit except wife, not too bad, promised a fixed rate-we get 12% ARM 40 year $675 a month, OK no problem say Wells Fargo, at time promised us refinance next year when these marks are off of credit. Now we apply for a good loan all credit issues cleared up, April 2009 4.5% 30 year fixed-$399.51 a month, down from $675.00 month. Perfect! Come 08/31/09, got refused for this loan, findings - could not afford this loan/payment? WHAT?

Now we apply for the Home Affordable Modification 11-09, since our monthly income went down $900 a month, got refused because we receive too much money and the payments would go UP from $675. month, instead of down. Well That is our nightmare with this bank. How can anyone lie to get business. Dirty play!

In July of 2009 my husband and I started the process of loan modification with WF. We had no idea what we were in for. Thirty days into the first request we called to check on the status only to be told that our application was "out of date". When my husband asked at what point did it become "out of date" he was told "today". Apparently, you are supposed to resubmit your paperwork every 30 days in order to adhere to one of their many secretive and unexplained rules. When we asked if WF had any intention of letting us know since we were the ones that called them we were told that they "had called us to let us know - so said the computer". BALONEY!!!

We never received any call from this company! Furthermore, to date (6 months after the first attempt at loan modification) we have NEVER received anything in writing from this bank letting us know that we were in need of updating any paperwork every thirty days. Let's face it, if WF were more capable of processing these requests in a more timely manner we would not have had to resubmit it SEVEN times!! It has been my experience that professional banks and lending institutions formally and legally communicate in writing what is expected from the customer. What kind of bank doesn't want the customer to know the rules???

Of course one has to wonder if they did explain the rules for the approval process that perhaps that would not allow them to decline as many people as they seem to do. Nevertheless, we resubmitted the COMPLETE application all over again and continued to do so every 27 days just in order to jump through their hoops! Finally in Dec. after countless calls to their customer service reps and then their supervisors and yes the supervisor's supervisors to check on the never ending loan mod status we received our first and only call... a robocall from WF stating we were need of providing additional information.

We immediately returned the call only to be told by the WF representative that they showed no additional information was needed and that the robocall was made in error. My husband spoke to three supervisors who confirmed this! Within five days we received our first letter from WF since this whole process began five months before. The letter clearly stated that we were "denied" our request "for loan modification due to refusal to submit necessary and timely paperwork". At that point we decided to get off this rollercoaster and make it a priority to work to pay the loan off earlier than the nine years left on it.

One month after we received our denial letter. A woman from WF called our home one evening to ask if we would like to try to restart the loan mod process again???!!! My husband told her to tell her superiors that we would never do business with WF again and that loan sharks were more professional additionally that we will be writing all of our lawmakers as well as our state's A. G. to request that they look into the matter.

Since we started this process we have spoken to others who have experienced the same exact stall tactics. These jokers got bailout money... our tax money and for what??? To make matters worse we called WF to ask why we are being charged an extra fee in addition to late charges for a payment that was 28 days late. We were told that this is a charge to have someone drive by our home a "make sure it hasn't been abandoned". This explains the creepy man that was caught driving by our house last month hanging out the window of his car taking pictures of our home! Are you kidding me, we were 28 days late!!!

5/2/10. Please note: the mortgage refinances discussed here are not for consumers in financial distress and are not involved in the recent housing collapse.

Camouflaged by Bernard Madoff and Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo perpetrates an extensive, institutionalized, interstate mortgage refinance bait and switch that targets minorities. Madoff and Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein, who earned nine million, are much better known than Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf, who earned twenty-one million, because Madoff cheated celebrities and Goldman Sachs games countries while Wells Fargo targets average solvent Americans, most of whom lack the resources to protect themselves and garner media scrutiny.

Wells Fargo'™s behavior has been chronicled in detail by the Des Moines Better Business Bureau as well as in a complaint from the Illinois Attorney General. (The Illinois Attorney General caught Wells Fargo targeting Latino names for bait and switch mortgages, and my name ** means ** in Spanish.) My particular complaint ** contains five Wells Fargo responses which unwittingly substantiate my charges as well as revealing the dimensions of Wells Fargo'™s swindling apparatus and the undue influence Wells Fargo has over the Better Business Bureau™'s dispute resolution process.

Wells Fargo bought my mortgage five years ago. Late last year Wells Fargo solicited me to refinance. A Wells Fargo representative declared that I and my home fulfilled all the requirements for the refinance, and I accepted Wells Fargo's offer to refinance. The Wells Fargo representative gave me a œlock, and a few days later arriving in the mail was a contract packet that confirmed everything that the Wells Fargo representative and I had agreed upon. A week later another Wells Fargo representative began the process of attempting to breach the contract as well as Wells Fargo'™s fiduciary responsibility.

More than a month after the contract packet arrived, still another Wells Fargo representative told me that Wells Fargo would send me a letter breaching the contract. The unsigned, reneging letter arrived two months after the initial solicitation. Wells Fargo never intended to refinance my mortgage at the terms of the contract; rather, when Wells Fargo discovered I was not a candidate for a switch, Wells Fargo reneged.

I complained (#57160905) to the Golden Gate BBB in Oakland, California about Wells Fargo breaching our contract. My home is in the Golden Gate BBB jurisdiction, the internet solicitation came from the Golden Gate BBB jurisdiction, and the Golden Gate BBB handles complaints against Wells Fargo Bank Minnesota, the state from which the Wells Fargo perpetrators seemed to operate.

A month later after complaint #57160905 was well underway with several written exchanges between Wells Fargo and myself, I was informed that my complaint had been transferred to the Des Moines BBB. The BBB explanation was that the Des Moines Better Business Bureau has jurisdiction over a Wells Fargo entity known as Wells Fargo Home Mortgage.

I didn't protest the transfer since the facts in my complaint (now #32054361) speak for themselves so it seemed that any BBB could resolve my complaint. Although the BBB dispute resolution specialist characterized my complaint as a 'œstinking situation', the BBB made no effort to curtail Wells Fargo'™s transparent obfuscations and easily disproven lies. For example, every Wells Fargo response denigrates my credit rating in spite of the three major credit reporting agencies rating my credit as better than 99.9% of consumers, my only debts are the mortgage and another year of a zero percent car loan, and a perfect five year payment history with Wells Fargo.

Once about to enter a reply to a Wells Fargo response on the Des Moines BBB website, I discovered that my complaint had been œ'closed, assumed satisfied.' (Although the BBB did reopen my complaint, how many of the other complaints that have been 'œclosed, assumed satisfied' were as 'œsatisfied' as I was?) Recently, the BBB changed my complaint status to 'œconsumer rejects business' final offer.' Since Wells Fargo has made no offer whatsoever, 'œconsumer rejects business'™ final offer' is a lie which as of this writing the BBB refuses to remove.

Since the transfer, I have learned that Wells Fargo is a dominant, if not the dominant, Des Moines™ corporate presence: Des Moines main venue is the Wells Fargo Arena. Four weeks ago I learned that a Wells Fargo executive is currently on the Des Moines BBB board of directors and a former chairman. Perhaps these factors explain not only the BBB's failure to withdraw Wells Fargo'™s accreditation as BBB standards require, but also the steering of potential victims to Wells Fargo by giving Wells Fargo an 'A' rating.

January 18, 2010. On December 10th, 2009 I received an email from Wells Fargo soliciting me to refinance the $300,000+ mortgage which they held. The next day I spoke to Wells Fargo personnel #1. I told #1 everything about my house and finances:

The mortgage is $310,000 while the Zillow website values my residence at around $650,000. The listing has not been updated to account for the addition of a second story (Golden Gate Bridge views), all new wiring/plumbing, the most extensive structural reinforcement in the area, this year's complete exterior and interior painting, and the new custom sidewalk. Everything was done with permits.

For years I have supported myself mostly through risk averse investing. I don't earn a lot but spend even less. My brokerage account is liquid and could cover the entire mortgage. Other than my mortgage and car '”financed at zero percent' ”I have no debt, nor have I ever been late for any obligation as evidenced by my highest percentile credit scores.

#1 declared me eligible for a refinance that would reduce my payment of $1974 to $1620 with no fees. I asked if what she was saying amounted to a 'lock'? She said it was a 'œlock'. I offered to produce the paperwork that had been required for my previous refinances. #1 didn'™t think that would be necessary.

I was dubious since 'œconfused would be a generous characterization of past interactions with Wells Fargo. (The current mortgage was not initiated with Wells Fargo; rather Wells Fargo purchased it third hand.) But a few days later, a Wells Fargo envelope arrived, and its contents confirmed everything ** had promised. Perhaps recent embarrassing failures such as buying Wachovia had smartened up Wells Fargo.

That hope was dashed a week later when Wells Fargo personnel #2 called: it seemed that the Wells Fargo underwriters were having problems with the veracity of my name. While my name is eccentric, it is the exact name on all the checks which Wells Fargo has cashed for years and on every piece of mortgage related paperwork stored somewhere within the vastness of Wells Fargo. At no other time during Wells Fargo'™s ownership of my mortgage has Wells Fargo ever been concerned with the eccentricity of my name. To verify the veracity of my name I complied with the Wells Fargo edict that I fax a copy of my social security benefit statement.

A few days later Wells Fargo personnel #3 contacted me. The Wells Fargo underwriters now wondered how my investing could cover the mortgage. I pointed out that anyone who was good for $1974 was also good for $1620; moreover, I had been able to generate sufficient capital with neither a taxpayer bailout nor steady access to zero percent interest. In spite of these realities Wells Fargo now demanded I send copies of my brokerage account, which has always been marked to market, as well as my complete 2007 and 2008 federal tax returns, documents I had offered #1 in the beginning.

On Thursday January 14th, 2010 a phone message from #3 informed me that Wells Fargo would rule on my application either this Thursday or for sure by Friday tomorrow. (The Wells Fargo paperwork committed Wells Fargo to accept my first refinanced payment by March 1st, 2010.) The next day having not heard from Wells Fargo by noon PST (#3 is in Minneapolis.), I called #3, who alleged that her message did not commit Wells Fargo to a decision by today.

#3 also revealed that funding had closed for January and that my application would be held over to February. When I pointed out that these dates were arbitrary and that I had immediately complied with every Wells Fargo documentation demand, #3 conceded that my application had been active for over a month. When I asked to speak to a supervisor, #3 said that Wells Fargo personnel #4 would call within 48 hours.

It's Monday January 18th, 2010. I had just finished the above when #3 called. Wells Fargo now demanded to see a utility bill to prove that I reside at my residence. I laughed but agreed to fax a bill without bothering to explain why a utility bill does not prove habitation. Nor did I ask after #4.

I am sending or posting a copy of this letter to various news agencies and sites in the hope that I can bring to light the sort of ‘business ethics (and frankly I don't believe ‘ethics' with its own separate caveat qualify as ethics, sorry)' practiced by Wells Fargo bank.

My family and I are not model customers of this institution to be sure. We live paycheck to paycheck and unfortunately often a little beyond our means just to survive. We live in an apartment, have one vehicle we depend fully upon, and cannot afford daycare for our five year old daughter (and would not care to give our child over to the care of strangers if we could).

As my wife makes more money than I do as a newly licensed marriage and family therapist, I am regulated to part time work, part time childcare. In a world of mounting expenses and incessant debt due to schooling, we do our best, but despite my wife having attained her masters and myself having a bachelor's degree, it is not often enough to avoid overdrafts and late fees.

My last pay period I was given a substantial pay raise and more hours at my job, and consequently earned a more substantial paycheck. We planned to drive to Arizona for Thanksgiving (we live in California) to spend the holiday with family and my wife deposited the payroll check on Tuesday, fully two days before the holiday to give it time to clear.

We were then told that Wells Fargo had decided that because the amount was over a thousand dollars and never had been before in nine months of working, that they were going to put a hold on the available funds until December 4th, a full seven business days after the deposit. This was not a partial hold. They were not holding the difference past a thousand dollars, they were holding the entire amount.

Has anyone ever had their entire payroll check held for more than three days? If you have, you know it puts a pinch on your living expenses. Now consider an extra week, the day before a holiday. As it was past business hours, I sent Wells Fargo an email about what I considered to be a somewhat unreasonable situation – well, I had to send three emails, as the comment fields in which complaints or questions are supposed to be drafted were not large enough to fully explain my predicament. I guess I'm pretty verbose, but the character limit seemed to me almost to be designed specifically to discourage complaints and questions.

The next morning I called Wells Fargo and complained to a telephone banker and was told by her that she did not have the power to rescind the hold. She did suggest I enroll in direct deposit, but my employer as a start up company doesn't offer it. I stated that I understood that as a teller she did not have the authority to unfreeze my money, and asked for somebody who did. I was at first disconnected.

After calling back and giving the same spiel I was finally put in contact with ‘Dean' who though polite, explained to me in a somewhat condescending manner that although I had deposited all of my payroll checks (from the same institution) with them for many months, they were having problems securing the funds from the other bank and were not going to remove the hold. He told me to go to my employer and ask for them to cancel the check they'd issued me and ask for cash.

So, the policy had switched from the reason they had originally given for the hold. I was initially told that the hold was placed due to my history of overdraft fees. Now it was because the other bank was having a problem. I personally believe Wells Fargo is intent on collecting all the fees that will be incurred for the next seven days as my unavoidable bills come through. I suppose they were willing to let it go if I were able to successfully cajole my employer into incurring a cancelled check fee, but is that a reasonable request for a contract employee to make of their employer in such a shaky climate of rampant unemployment as we live in today?

I work for a start up company, and I'm sorry, I wasn't about to ask my employer to go through the rigamarole of cancelling my paycheck (which was issued four days previously, I just picked it up on Tuesday to avoid the delay of the mail) and issuing me cash! In the end, I am looking for a new bank. I can't abide a financial institution who would deny a family its honest, due compensation the day before a national holiday and then have the gall to hold the entire amount for seven days.

I urge anyone who reads this who is considering banking with Wells Fargo to weigh my experience in their decision. They do not have the good of their customers or the American people in mind, which is a shame as they have such a distinguished history – the sort I had thought I could trust. I am sure that Dean and all the folks at Wells Fargo will have a happy and abundant Thanksgiving. I know it in fact, because it's on me.

I'm a small business man who has banked with WF for a significant amount of time. I run a Construction business and have several accounts with the Manhattan Beach Branch in California. I recently received a check from a customer in the amount of 100,100.00 and deposited it asking that they release a portion of the money 15,000.00 until the check clears. They agreed to do so and made a transfer of 15,000.00 to the checking from savings where the check was deposited. The check which was presented the next day bounced and was returned.

I got no call that anything was wrong, like maybe a call, "Hey Mr. ** there is a problem with the check you deposited." In fact the only way that I found out was that the company that issued the check sent me an email that it was going to be returned and should be resubmitted for payment. So I went into my local branch to sort things out. I found out that instead of notifying me they just made my account negative without so much as a call or any notification. I presented the email and a copy of the ck from the company and asked if we could represent the ck for payment.

The person who help me, "Business banker" said that they would look into it and get back to me. I also investigated the bank from which the check was drawn in New York. Keep in mind that while this was going on the fees from the bank were racking up for being negative in my account. The next morning I called the Manhattan Beach branch because I was trying to run my business in another location. It was 9:03 in the morning. I asked for the person that I spoke and left info with the previous day and she was busy and they took down my number. I called again 1 hr later and she was with a customer. Still 3 hrs later no call back.

Meanwhile at a job site I got a hold of an account person for the bank in New York and notified me that the funds 100,100.00 were available and to represent the ck today and it would get paid. 4 hrs no call back from the Manhattan Beach office so I decided to go to the nearest branch knowing that if the ck was redeposited today it would get paid. I don't know about anyone else but a check of this size was extremely important to me and the cash flow of my small business. However, I was told that they would not represent the check and even if a new check was sent out to me from New York that they would put a hold on the new ck for, GET THIS, 30 Days!

Unbelievable! By the way, I never once received a call back for the Manhattan Beach office. I guess that my small business is not big enough for WF to care about. This was the worst customer service I have ever seen. The lack of response to any part of my business needs was ignored and they were of little help to say the least. Of course they are making fees for account negativity so they were in no rush to solve the problem. I get it! The company is FedExing a new ck today and lets just say that I won't be depositing it in a WF account so they can hold it for 30 days. And I will be looking for a new bank who serves the needs of a small business man trying to make it in these crazy times.

So, does this make sense to anyone??? I qualified for a $221,000 mortgage for the house my ex-husband and I bought last year. We just accepted an offer; the buyer is pre-approved, everything's signed and agreed upon, his financing is backed up, BUT we're selling the house at a loss to be done with it. That being said, I went to Wells Fargo and Wells Fargo Financial, to obtain a personal loan for my half of the loss on the house. The amount comes to $8k. Not a small loan, but a lot less than half of $221k.

Anyhow, they denied me for the loan because I have the mortgage on file. I explained that I needed the personal loan because I was selling the house. That I needed the money to get the closing completed at the end of this month. I have perfect credit. I have little to no other debt. I provided proof of our buyer's financing... Still they said no. So essentially, it does me no good to have good credit etc., because I can't get a loan. Additionally, this makes no sense to me because all I'm trying to do is establish a new borrowing agreement with them. I'm not foreclosing that would cause them to never see their money again.

I'm not even doing a short sale where they'd loose some of their money. I'm being very responsible and saying "Look, I'll make sure you don't loose a dime because of my divorce, just help me get to the closing." If I did foreclose, or do a short sale, I'd have nothing to worry about. I'd owe nothing. My credit would be lowered, but again, what good is good credit when you can't even get a loan when you need one?

So my question is... what is Wells Fargo thinking to offer no other option for anyone selling their house at a loss right now? Plenty of people are, and it even makes bad business sense for them to offer no alternative other than not seeing their money. It looses their profits, it's bad for their customers, it's bad for everyone. Financially it'd be a ton easier for me just to foreclose because again, then I wouldn't have to do anything but sign my name a few times and within a couple years I could have my credit back up at least enough to get another house.

I just can't fathom their logic. Without the help of family I would have been forced to do a short sale etc. just over that stupid $8k. And the result? They'd loose money, I wouldn't, but it'd all be due to their own loaning policies because they won't help me give them their money back. They shoot themselves in the foot and leave customer's out in the cold. I will never again bank with them. I have been a customer of theirs for a long time, keep a good average in the bank, never been overdrawn, held several accounts with them, always paid my mortgage on time and this is what they do for the first time I've ever asked for their help.

So, I'm writing here, on myspace, the BBB and even writing local news stations. I'm sure nothing will change but what an awful policy to do to good customers - especially when so many others are foreclosing. What do they do? Stab the people paying on time in the back. Be warned about Wells Fargo.

P.O. BOX 30086, CALIFORNIA -- So where to start? The wife's purse got stolen on Friday afternoon while we were out at whitewater (Six Flags Theme Park). Anyhow 1st thing 1st. We called the Cops and the next stop was the cancel all the credit cards. I managed to close 4 CC and 2 gas cards in less than 10 minutes with my other bank and gas card companies. They were great. Then came the call to Wells Fargo. The 1st service representative ask for verification information Acct # (of course we didn't have that, we're 2 hours away from home and her purse is gone). So then the representative ask for SSN.

SSN provided the service representative then ask for the phone # and the address associated with the account. All that info and then proceeds to ask again "€œWhat can I do for you." At this point the wifey tells the representative that we have been robbed and are out of town and need to cancel the debit cards/credit card. For some strange reason the representative once again ask her for her SSN and the amounts of the last 3 deposits. Once again the info is given to the representative with the exception of the deposits. The last thing that anyone at this point is going to remember is their last deposits.

At this point I was pissed, why does it take verifying someone twice and deposit information to place a hold on an account after someone calls you to tell you their stuff was just stolen. Well needless to say after yelling at the representative he put us on hold and hung up the phone. Called back the 2nd time and immediately asked for a manager, and of course nobody ever knows what happened prior to them talking to you. Once again we go through the whole verification once again (actually being asked for deposit information again). The manager then tells us "there a hold on the account. Have a good day." and hangs up.

Now after the police reports filed and we tell the cops everything we could remember at the time (turns out more stuff is missing). Anyhow back to Wells Fargo, we get home and check the account and sure enough, the CC gets used. So we call Wells Fargo back go through the whole verification process (This time we have the deposit information) and the representative says he can't helps us because we are not "verified". So now I'€™m really pissed. How can we not be verified if we just gave you everything from SSN, address, telephone # ! He replies you need a confirmation number. So I ask how to get one and of course he can't help me.

So we ask for a manager. We get transferred to a manager, and he seems more interested in trying to make stuff confusing and hanging up. Every time I started to explain something he say we need a confirmation number, when you ask how to get one he say you got to go to a local branch, here's the kicker I asked where the local branches are "€œSir I can't help you, you need a confirmation number" I sat there and asked once again mind you I asked him how to get that # once already. He then says the representative that blocked the account should have given it to us.

So once again we explain the whole ordeal and his answer is "€œSir I can't help you, you need a confirmation number". Now I'€™m sitting here going WTF! I just asked how to get it. Then he starts cutting me off when I tell him he's going in a circle. €œClick Now I'm really pissed what kind of manager hangs up on you because he fails to understand the situation and is just babbling in circles. Any how we call back and get a different service representative. This one a lil more helpful but can'™t do anything about the account still. So I ask for a manager. We get another manager who says the same thing. Got to go to a local branch to be visually confirmed.

Here's the kicker there are not any Wells Fargo branches within 14 hours drive of where we live, and I'll be dammed if I fly to a branch to get access to my account. Well this manager indicated that we would be able to call the branch the account was originally opened up at (Colorado Springs) and they'd help us. Two days pass, it's now Monday (took a whole weekend to do with this bank what I've done in 5 minutes with 2 banks with 4 CC and two gas companies). The branch we opened the account up originally with says "€œyou have to call the call center for help" Are you serious? I called them Friday 3 times and they couldn't help me!

No the branch, informs us also that if the account remains invalidated or if a letter not sent in stating to close the account and mail it to an address that the money will be forfeited. So since we called and locked the account, the unlock can'€™t be done over the phone. We have to show up to a branch in Colorado, Nebraska, or Texas to be validated and if we don't we lose access to the money in that account. CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT CRAP!

** After this letter gets sent in (Invalidate of course because you know this letter is going to really prove its me after I went through all that crap on the phone and you couldn'€™t validate me) that accounts getting closed. It should be that hard to cancel your own CC to prevent unauthorized usage, which now we have to prove it was unauthorized.

SEATTLE, WASHINGTON -- I wanted to give you my perspective as the customer of how this whole affair should have occurred and where it went wrong. I would assume that as a "service" industry you'd be interested in how your clients perceive you. Initially I had called and left a voice mail for Jennifer at your branch letting her know of the problem of the ACH withdrawals inadvertently being authorized and I needed to know what steps could be taken to prevent disaster. That was on 1/22 at around 10:30 am. I was never called back which in itself is poor customer service.

I called early in the morning on 1/23 to try again to track Jennifer down. At that point I got Bill who informed me that she was in Ballard and he asked if he could help as he was the Business Account Manager. I outlined the problem that the ACH payments were inadvertently sent, the Department of Revenue couldn't stop them and they suggested our bank could put a stop on the one that was scheduled to go through on the 27th. Bill said he could indeed stop the ACH payment and he would try to reverse the ACH payment that had already gone through.

We left it that Bill would call me back to confirm whether or not this could be done. (Bill's memory is that he said he'd callback only if he could reverse this payment.) Bill never called back so I was again left waiting to determine what course of action to take.

On Saturday I saw that a Department of Revenue payment that was made by check had been reversed and I thought that perhaps Bill reversed the wrong one, but it would have the same desired outcome so I thought we were on good course.

Monday, January 26th, I called again to confirm with Bill that all was taken care of as far the stop on the ACH and to make sure that the reversal was his solution. Again, I had to leave a message and again there was no returned call.

Tuesday the 27th I checked online when I got up and saw that the ACH withdrawal did go through. In addition, the reversed check went through again. At this point we were completely screwed and after several more unreturned calls and visits to your branch to contact Jennifer, we realized she would never call us back, so we came in and met with you, on Thursday the 27th.

Your first comment to us was that you "were familiar with what was going on and that we'd need to go over your head to get anything done". (This was before we'd even explained what was going on, so I assume you'd read the outline of what had transpired. I would think that as manager after you'd seen the number of unreturned calls that you might pick the phone up yourself and tell your customer of 23 years that you regrettably could not help, if you believed that was the case.)

During our meeting it became apparent to me that everyone was making sure that they had covered their rears rather than seeing if they could have helped in any way. I would point out that the exception was Matt who was very helpful in what he could do.

So what should have happened that could have happened, but didn't? On Thursday the 22nd Jennifer could have returned a phone call. She could have put a Stop Pay on the one ACH scheduled for the 27th. Perhaps at that early stage she could have reversed the first ACH that went through. That would have taken care of everything. Let's assume that she couldn't reverse that payment. At that point we could have put A Stop Pay on the DOR payment that was paid by check that hadn't gone through yet. Since she didn't bother to call we lost a day of valuable time. That's grossly bad service #1.

Disaster still could have been averted if Bill had followed through and called back letting us know he couldn't reverse the initial ACH payment. We could have again put the Stop Pay on the DOR check payment which would have made everything OK. His explanation that he meant he'd only call if something actually changed is really weak. And that explanation doesn't hold up since he never returned the Monday morning call either. We had options we could have made if the payment wasn't reversible that we lost by getting no communication. That's grossly poor service #2.

By the time we met with you we'd lost any options because both the original ACH withdrawal and the DOR check had gone through irretrievably, at least that's your explanation. In your office from the first salvo of "you'll have to go over my head" to never hearing a "Sorry" for unreturned calls and voicemails, the atmosphere was not one of attempting to problem solve, show empathy for a client, but to make sure you were covered by the letter of the law.

I always believe that a manager is ultimately responsible for his employees' actions and how they respond to clients, and after meeting with you yesterday I am more convinced of this than ever. I assure you that after this firestorm settles I will be moving my account to a different financial institution. I realize that this makes little if any difference to you, but I certainly can't continue doing business with you. I'll pass along my experience to Wells Fargo management as well.

My problems with Wells-Fargo date back a few years and are numerous. It started in February 2005, when I got reported to ChexSystems for a check that had bounced at Union Federal (I had moved up here to MN when that happened, and had no idea about the overdraft.)

On the day that my car broke down, and I went to the auto parts store to purchase the part to fix it, my bank card from Wells-Fargo got rejected. Puzzled, since I knew the money was in the account, I called Customer Service and asked what happened. I was then informed that I had been reported to ChexSystems and that my account at Wells-Fargo was to be closed in 10 business days. "Okay," I said, "I will go to the bank and get my money out." "Oh no," they said, "your account has been frozen for 10 business days and we will send you a cashier's check for the balance at that time."

Well, of course, I went ballistic. I don't know how they expected me to pay for the bounced check that got me into this mess if THEY WOULDN'T GIVE ME MY MONEY!! There wasn't much I could do about it, so when I got my money two weeks later, I opened up a new account. Keep in mind here, I NEVER BOUNCED A CHECK TO THEM.

My next set of problems started when my boyfriend (who has a Wells-Fargo checking account) and I tried to purchase a house through their Financial department, only to find out TWO days before closing on the new home that they weren't going to do our loan, after all. Luckily, our realtor knew an excellent loan manager who got our loan done in two days.

Then, when we were moving from Indiana, back to Minnesota, my boyfriend's check card got cancelled no less than three times. He had the money in the account all right, but when he called to inquire about the cancellation, he was informed that there was a flag on his account because we were traveling through several different states. I guess they thought the check card was stolen, which is understandable the first time, but the second and third?? After he told them "do not, under any circumstances, flag my account because I am moving and will be traveling through these states"?? They didn't get it.

Finally, after we met with the bank manager, things supposedly got straightened out. We will see when we go to Indiana to visit family, this summer... And the last problem happened just today. Last Monday, I went to Wells-Fargo to open a checking account (I know, stupid me!!) because I got a new job and wanted direct deposit. Well, because of where I work, I qualified for a preferred checking account. The only problem, I was reported to ChexSystems yet again because I had overdrawn my old account at TCF by $0.02 and had incurred multiple overdraft fees that I did not know about, since to my knowledge, the account was closed.

They said they could go ahead and open the account at Wells-Fargo, because the bank manager knows me and my boyfriend, and she knows we will not rip them off. I was told, by her, that as long as within the next 24 hours (from Monday) I went to TCF and took care of the debt and brought her a letter that it was taken care of, she would put it in my file and make a note on my account that it is taken care of and to put NO HOLDS on the account. Well, needless to say, I held up to my end of the bargain, paying off the old account and giving her her letter, but she did not hold up to her end.

I found out today, when I went to Target (my new place of employment) that the account had some sort of hold on it. I, of course, find this out after all my purchases had been rung up. The check gets rejected, and I feel like a fool in front of all my new co-workers, and I call the bank, irate. That was when I was informed of the mistake, and told that yet again, they were going to hold all the money in my account for 10 business days and I would not be able to access it. Of course, I tried to explain the situation to Customer Service, but they said no note had been made on my account regarding anything.

Needless to say, I am infuriated. It doesn't seem like it should be legal to hold someone's money from them... especially when they haven't done anything!!! I have bounced no checks to Wells-Fargo, ever!! How can they do this??! How can this be legal??!