Wells Fargo & Company Checking Account Consumer Reviews

When I was 19 years old, I was a teller for Wells Fargo. I opened my very first checking account with them. I had to close it when I moved out of state. Mind you, this was way back when before they bought up every bank that BOA or Chase didn't. When I moved back, I got another account with them. Then I moved out of state again and had to close that account. They bought Norwest bank about 14 years ago, so lo and behold, I'm a Wells Fargo customer for the third time.

They've made plenty of money off my money along with fees and the like. Even when they made a mistake that caused problems for weeks on my account, and even though it cost me more time than I can quantify to get their mistake corrected, I stuck with them. I've had auto loans and credit cards with them. And they decided yesterday that they no longer wanted my business.

I called in to get my account balance and it transferred me to a representative right away. She saw a hold on the account and gave me a number to call. I called that number and talked to apparently the most abused customer service representative of all time. She went off on me like I just shot her dog when I made the grave error of asking why I had two deposits off my credit line that were returned. There was a mixup in posting payments on the credit line, so the deposited checks were returned, but when they were redeposited, they went through. But no, Ms. ** said the decision to close my account was FINAL.

I told her I had a direct deposit coming in. She said she would remove the block to allow that in and then put the block back on so I could have no access to that money or the other money in my account, or she could leave it on and my employer could give me a paper check. I told her to keep the block on since I really didn't understand how she thought having them hold my paycheck hostage after they summarily dismissed me was a convenience for me.

So today I check the account, and guess what. They allowed the direct deposit to post. So now I have to wait 10 business days for them to send me a check. I also have yet to receive this letter they allegedly sent advising me of the closure of my account with any kind of explanation that I can comprehend.

Yes, they can close my account at any time for any reason. If they really thought there was something goofy going on, they could have called me. They've done it before. But I guess since I haven't bounced a bunch of checks in the last few months and I paid off my car loan, I'm of no value to them anymore - never mind the last 20 years I've been with them. Luckily I have a credit union account that, for some reason, I just never used but they kept open for me. I always knew it was there in the back of my mind but never thought I'd need it. So long, Wells. I just wish I'd dumped you first.

RENO, NEVADA -- So, I was teetering on a balance of $0. When a transaction would pop through as pending I would run down and deposit cash as it is deposited right away according to their policy. This went on for a few transactions. and I was always in the black. I get an email saying I have insufficient funds. Lo and behold they pulled out $35 overdraft fee, which put me in the red, not any of my transactions.

I called and explained what was going on and this is very odd that I never received an insufficient fund notice until the penalty was pulled. She offered half of the penalty back and I refused as I was going to go into a branch to try to get it all back.

Well that didn't not go so well. He went to the manager and came back and said they would do nothing because it is not a banking error. He showed me a back log of when I was in the red. Something that we never see on our internet interface, and explained that a transaction way back when was red and then I was in the red again when they finally pulled out the $35 penalty.

I once again explained that I don't see the back log ever so how can I make banking decisions based on what Wells Fargo does not show me? They stated that it is my responsibility to balance my check book (rudely), and I stated that I can't balance it because you provide me with misinformation. The odd thing is I was never charged an overdraft fee for any of the other red transactions he showed me, just this one. I repeated this endlessly because he couldn't explain it and stated, "he wouldn't own up to it."

It got heated and he became too stubborn to provide any customer service. I asked why the phone representative offered half back and the branch nothing, he said that the bank again, "wouldn't own up to this mistake." And they would provide more customer service than a branch would. Really?

Long story short, be careful. They are playing games with what they make available to you online. They use their own transaction sequence to justify overdraft fees. I can see class action all over this. I am glad I printed out a screen shot. It clearly doesn't show negative until they pull the fee. And please don't yap about overdraft protection. My balance was left this low intentionally. Also their protection involves either getting a Wells Fargo credit card or getting a Wells Fargo savings account. You can only protect it with a Wells Fargo product. Go figure.

Earlier this year (2010) I started noticing withdrawals or charges being made to my checking account by someone in Chicago, IL (my account was open in Orange County, California and I now live in Detroit, MI). Since I review my checking account daily I didn't hesitate and called into Wells Fargo and they recommended I close that account and open up a new one to avoid any further fraudulent activity and that they would be closely monitoring my account for any further suspicious activity.

That being said, a few days later I recheck my on-line account and see that more charges had been made to that original account from Chicago and that the account hadn't been closed and, sadly enough, Wells Fargo wasn't monitoring my account as they indicated they would be.

Placing another set of calls and after being on hold for over an hour and a half to get to the right individual, the on-line fraud prevention department again recommended I close that account (which I had already done, but was told it had been reactivated by me at a branch... which is impossible because there are no branches in Detroit Michigan for me to even think of going to one). That being said, they reclosed that account and sent me a letter of apology indicating to me that they had made a mistake during their merger with Wachovia and the problem was resolved.

Well, a few months later, I come to find that Wells Fargo is trying to charge me a $15 monthly service fee on that original closed account that was closed twice (and which the customer service representative said I reactivated) because I am not making any automatic withdrawals to my savings account from that closed account. To add insult to injury, the customer service representative tells me that she can "kindly" reduce the charge to half since it was not my fault.

Not only that... all the automatic withdrawals I had set up to my original checking account overdrew my account during that transition phase since that "closed" account didn't have enough funds and the customer service reps angrily told me that it was my fault I had no money in the account (well, duh... the money had been transferred to the other new account). Should there not have been a 2 month transition period or a link between those two accounts to make sure automatic withdrawals that had been made for such a long time were covered?

Especially because I'm told over the phone that the account number can't be disclosed and that I had to wait for my paperwork from the bank to arrive in the mail. How was I supposed to change automatic withdrawal account info without an account number? Nevertheless almost $100 in fees for Wells Fargo's mistakes I had to pay... and Wells Fargo gets off with an apology letter. Horrible service and horrible system where the customer has to pay for the company's mistakes!

Recently, I found that I had fraudulent spending on my account. I called in to the fraud department and made a claim. The representative sent me in the mail a document to fill out entitled "statement of disputed check card item(s)" in which I was to write down the disputed charges. In order to write down these items, I would need to view past statements, which is now impossible, because they closed my account (apparently this is standard for online banking customers). The only way to view is to have them sent to me, for a FEE. They are essentially making me pay money to prove that it was not me that made the charges...

Now, since the account went negative, they closed it, without telling me the account holder. Now one would think that the fraud department would work closely with the overdraft department because that many fraud cases make accounts go negative, however this is not the case. I have heard now from several managers that the departments DO NOT TALK TO ONE ANOTHER, do not share information, and are in effect separate entities. This is terrible business practice.

Since my account was deleted without my knowledge, my direct deposit (paycheck) was not "accepted" because it was sent to a now non existent account! What can they do for me? Put the check into a holding account, then wait several days to see if it can be rerouted to my savings, or if it will be kicked back to my company, there is NO physical person working for Wells Fargo which can tell what the outcome will be. It is a roll of the dice whether the transfer will work or whether the check will be kicked back.

So, they deleted my account, did not notify me, caused my paycheck to get thrown into limbo, then charged me to prove fraud on my account, despite the fact that I should have fraud protection. During this whole mess I had many employees speak authoritatively on subjects in which they had no first hand knowledge, and so essentially made up protocol and told me "this is how it is" only to speak to a supervisor later to find out that what I had been told was wholly incorrect.

It is a business fact that it takes 10 times more money to gain a new customer than it does to keep an existing customer happy. I will make it my personal project to derail as many potential customers as possible from this company. They are deceitful, ignorant of their own business practice, speak with authority on issues in which they have no real knowledge, have a business structure in which related departments essentially have no communication with each other acting as separate Enterprise, causing incredible confusion when an issue affects both departments.

I have never in all my years dealt with such an irresponsible company, terrible customer service, or ignorance of internal practice.

Don't open a checking account at Wells Fargo. If you fall on hard times they reorder transactions so that the highest transactions are first to maximize the overdraft fees that will charge you. We had $490 in overdraft fees in one day. They would not refund any of the fees. We had been selling stuff on eBay to buy food to eat. How can a company justify taking $490 to loan us $50 for less than 8 hours!

If I worked for Wells Fargo I would be ashamed to go to work. They make their money on the backs of struggling families. Search “** Wells Fargo” (use the quotes and spell the f word right) on Google and see how many times this phrase comes up! No bank even comes close to the number (20,800) as Wells Fargo.

OREGON -- I banked with Wells Fargo ever since it took over First National. For years I was happy with their service but after Wachovia took over Wells Fargo and used their name they started trying to sell the programs and extra accounts. All was pushing some gimmick or other. They treat their employees in the worst possible ways. If a employee doesn't sell enough on any given day they get chastised and made to call people way into the evening, like telemarketers.

They used to call me when I was a member until I demanded that they stop calling me. It is normal to drive by Wells Fargo after 7:00 at night and see employees still at work. So don't go to work for Wells Fargo and don't bank with them unless you like having them try to sell you something all the time.

NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE -- Wells Fargo charged me a $35 overdraft fee for a withdrawal of $700. I made the withdrawal at the branch, so you'd think the teller would have informed me if I didn't have that much in my account! (I also checked my online statement before making the withdrawal.) The shortfall happened because of another charge that went through that night. It was an automatic donation to a charity that shouldn't have gone through -- I had already arranged for the organization to get automatic payments from my new credit union account.

I have asked the org to refund the money to my WF account. But the overdraft fee was attached to the $700 branch withdrawal, due to WF's bizarre practice of having charges "go through" in a different order than they happened in real life. This will make it harder for me to get the fee cancelled, even if the charity refunds my money. And, it's inaccurate! I shouldn't be charged a fee for withdrawing money in a branch, when the teller can see that money is in my account.

The customer service representative I spoke to was very rude. She kept patronizingly explaining that both charges "went through" the next day, and that the teller who processed my withdrawal "didn't know" that the money wasn't actually in there (which it actually was!). If Wells Fargo doesn't know what's happening with my money, perhaps they shouldn't charge me overdraft fees to use it? Also, I told her that I had already planned to close down my account because I've been unhappy with the service I have received. She didn't seem concerned, & didn't even give me a token "I'm sorry."

I have had both checking and savings accounts with Wells Fargo for more than 10 years and have had problems with them from day one. I have always had direct deposit with them on a military payment I received the first of every month but they invariably post debits to my account before they post the direct deposit credits. I end up at the bank arguing with them to get them to take off the overdraft fees.

I have deposited check in amounts of up to $15,000 and never had a hold put on them until now. I deposited a check on Monday for $18,600 guaranteed funds (it was a life insurance policy surrender check) and they put a 14 day hold on the funds stating that the company may not honor the check. I really needed the funds available within 5 days - their only suggestion was for $1860 on money I deposited into my checking account and wanted to charge me interest on it.

BEWARE of big corporate banks, they are out to screw you in every way they can. They hold your money hostage so they can capitalize on it but don't want to give you access to it when you need it. Once they release the funds from my last deposit I won't be allowing them to capitalize on my hard earned money anymore.

I give Wells Fargo a "Terrible" for holiday spirit (and general fairness). My account history was flawless until last week when I bounced a check. It was my fault - I'll take the hit. However, the combination of some smaller transactions already in the system and deducting the OD fees, it ballooned into $245.

I had everything covered the next day. I called and asked very nicely if they could waive some of the fees, because $245 is excessive and goes far beyond the expense of covering my account for a day. I got a series of polite people telling me "No. The computer won't let me. That's just our policy." Well, now I have this nagging sense of injustice and I am venturing online to express my dissatisfaction until that feeling has been assuaged. Thanks for reading.

Wells Fargo is scamming consumers. I would like other people to be aware of what they are doing so they don't get taken advantage of like my husband and I. In short, Wells Fargo sent us a promotional offer in the mail to open up a free checking account with them and receive a $50 bonus. I called over the phone and opened an account with them giving them the promotional code for the $50 bonus. They never deposited the bonus and when I contacted them about this they said I had to talk to the customer service representative that set up the account but I can't get him to return my calls, surprise.

So I filed a complaint with the Attorney General and the Better Business Bureau. They responded to the BBB saying they are unable to determine the promotion requested and they have not given me my $50 bonus. I gave them all the information that was on the mailer as it stated to do. They are the ones that sent this offer to me and now they don't know what I am talking about even when I have provided them with the promotional code as it stated to do on the mailer.

Wells Fargo offered me a promotion to open a checking account and now they won't honor it. I find this very upsetting for me as a consumer to have Wells Fargo use a bait and switch marketing scam to get customers and I feel consumers need to be aware so they don't fall victim to this same scam.