“For people who are supposed to be good with money...”
These people sure are good with money...that is good at taking your money where ever they can.
I have had multiple instances in which I attempted to move money. The online account reflected the changes I made. Thinking I have the money moved successfully among my accounts, I go buy something using my debit card. 2 days later, I have a over draft and an over draft fee.
Then I signed up for a "new" checking account because my "old" account didn't allow me to add a secondary person onto the account. They sent a new check card for the wrong account, so I used that thinking it was for my new account....nope it wasn't. It was for a linked account that I have. Then I get a notice saying they are going to charge me for my "new" checking account ($8/mo!). They then proceed to charge my "old" account for the "new account" and I get slammed with another over draft fee.
What a joke. Stay away from these people. For people who are supposed to be good with money, they sure are dumb.
“Bank Manipulated Fees”
I would never do checking with Wells Fargo because they (as many banks) manipulate fee charges by ensuring each month checks written for larger amounts are posted before checks written for smaller amounts, regardless of dates written. Their system is set up to maximize the number of bounded checks during the month, so they can also maximize the overdraft fees they charge you! Reviews like Michael Gaio and Richard H. are absolutely correct, but it's no bank error or accident . They know their system is taking advantage of customers, so there is nothing for them to discuss or explain. And they certainly aren't going to admit it!
“Smaller Customers = no importance”
In reading through the other issues, I see that my experience is not unique. I have been a customer of Wells Fargo for 20 years and with the exception of a few of my mistakes have been relatively happy. And then... in the last two months I have had over-drafts even though money was in the account when the actual charges were posted. I was told that due to the fact that I live in the state of Washington, charges were overdrawn even if there was money in the account if they were posted before the deposit. So basically you buy gas with your debit card on the way to the bank to put your money in and guess what you are charged an overdraft... They were not interested keeping my business cuz the maintain the error was mine. And I am sure that if I had a lot more money they would care but little customers are of no interest to them to maintain. Closing my account as soon as my direct deposit clears.
“cd's and money market accounts don't accur enought interest”
I love the bank i just need more interest for my accounts.I don't think we were offered enought.
“Legalized Thievery!”
We just received a letter that our interest rate on our credit card will be jumping up 5.00% to 20+%! And that hike will also apply to our outstanding balance! We're outraged! How can they do this to their loyal customers? We have our mortgage through them and this one credit card. We're really upset and will have to opt out of the new policy and will pay off the balance as soon as possible, in order to avoid paying the extra money to them. What are we to do????
“Too much of nothing”
My overall experience with Wells Fargo has been very poor. As a freelance contractor, my income is variable, and I manage most everything myself. Although I do my best to keep a tight budget, mistakes are sometimes very hard to avoid, and when they are made--Wells Fargo is there to take a big cut! I have paid out $1000s in overdraft fees over just a few years. Although, admittedly, the instances of overdraft have often been due to my own negligence, sometimes they actually were WF's fault--but I've had to be ON THE BALL to prove it. WFs overdraft policy sucks: charging $35 per instance of transaction when overdraft is in effect! Also, WF re-orders the transactions based on amount in order of highest to lowest. Their logic is that the higher payments are more likely to be rent or something "important" and so is a decision they make in "our benefit". Yet this decision has actually cost me $100s or $1000s in overdraft fees (because a higher debit goes thru first, increasing the chance of overdraft, and then all other transactions after that get the $35 fee per instance - even if it is a $1.00 transaction!!!). If you tell them you prefer it the other way, they don't care. Also, I frequently encounter other types of strange ways they manage the transactions: posting "pending items" for days on end, and then when they finally go thru, the dates of the transactions actually change. When I call them up, they are very rarely ever really considerate of my questions or concerns and just spout off cyclical answers about their policies and such. I even had an instance where I had to go into a bank branch and talk to the President. She was so rude, I could not believe it. I had to force her to look at printed screen shots I had taken of the screwy arrangements of my on-line account listing. She was very resistant, but once she finally did, she was grudgingly compliant, and reversed all of the overdraft fees. Anyway, I'm done with all this drama--I'm changing banks.
“deposit and charge manipulation.”
For the couple of months I have banked there, every single charge including checks would show up as pending, and then would finalize the next day (deposits are the same way). So I check my activity on the 8th, and 3 charges have came in as pending. Then on the 9th, a check shows up as having finalized on the 8th, and the 3 previous charges have bounced. Further, my direct deposit has shown up pending on Thursday and finalizes on Friday every week. This time, it doesn't show up on Thursday at all (but does show up pending on Friday morning meaning it will finalize on Saturday, a day late). Had I not caught this and done a direct deposit advance (which cost me 46$), that would have cost me another 12 bounced charges.
So I check with others at my work (this is an employee account), and I am the only one that got a direct deposit a day late. 2 people confirmed for sure that their deposit showed pending on Thursday.
I go in and talk to the bank. The first guy I talked to said, yes we will push larger checks back as they are often more important checks like rent (which of course causes many more small charges that have already cleared to bounce). He asked what I would have preferred, that they let the large one bounce? I told him yes. He went to talk to another employee. I walked over as I had not mentioned the direct deposit yet, and told him I had another issue as well.
This guy just changed the subject when I mentioned what the other guy had said, and he said that checks won't show in online banking till a day or two after they post. I tried to show him printouts that showed pending checks. I tried to show him a printout from the 8th that showed funds for the 3 charges but no sign of the larger check, then another printout on the 9th with the large check being pushed back to the 8th. He ignored all the printed proof I had. He never looked at my proof close enough to read anything. He called me a lair and treated me like garbage.
“Wells Fargo refinancing and credit crunch”
In January 2009, when mortgage interest rates fell down to 4.875%, I decided to refinance my existing home mortgage and had contacted my Wells Fargo mortgage banker. He gave me a free 3 month rate lock and charged me half a percentage point refundable at closing plus the appraisal fee $350. This was the same mortgage banker who did an excellent job four months earlier assisting me in buying my first home. Therefore, I knew and trusted this banker. My appraisal happened quickly and even though my house lost fifteen grand in value within a mere four months I still had enough equity for it not to be an instrumental problem. The rest of the paper work took another month to complete and by the mid of February everything seemed to be in order. I received a commitment letter from Wells Fargo and started waiting for the closing date calling in once a week just to remind them that Iâm still out there waiting.
After the passing of one month, there was still no news on the closing. Anytime I called or emailed I was hearing a repetitive story about waiting for CEMA. Apparently, it is some kind of mysterious entity that not even my mortgage banker can get through. I should tell you that I tried calling Wells Fargo customer service hoping to get a better result but after 20 minutes holding and being transferred from one customer representative to another, I ended up backtracking to my starting point. My mortgage banker told me that Wells Fargo receives 9000 refinancing requests per day and their system is designed to handle only 1100 so they cannot keep up with the demand. In addition the bank is tightening up there credit standards therefore their employees must undergo additional training and learn new procedures which further increases the wait time. Meanwhile my rate lock has expired and my appraisal and credit check will expire soon and there is nothing I can do but wait and hope that Wells Fargo doesnât screw me up. So be careful with paying them refundable points upfront because you will loose the f
“Top notch online banking.”
Their online banking features are one of the top 2 that I've had experience with and researched. When starting a new business, we switched from a "free checking" bank to Wells Fargo just because of the ease of use online and integration options with software.
Their fees are manageable and they will actually try to situate your accounts in such a way as to reduce fees. (Such as if you get a checking and savings account with a merchant account, then two of the accounts are free; etc) Whether that's a marketing gimmick or if they're really trying to help you out is up for grabs from my perspective.
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