I wrote a while back about the problems we were having with how Wells Fargo chose to use our money. Well today, we got a $10 “excess activity fee,” which meant quite simply that we were using our savings account too much. Apparently when the lady at Wells Fargo – who helped us set up our savings account – told us that we could use our savings account to transfer money to our checking accounts when needed, she forgot to mention that if we did that, Wells Fargo would charge us for “excess activity.”

Also, I forgot about an automated payment I had set up and I went and overdrew my account again. But this is the good part – when that automated payment came in, Wells Fargo snuck it back earlier in the register so that it came before two minor charges (which amounted to $7 from McDonald’s and Burger King, which I knew I had money for when I spent it). By doing this, not only did the automated payment overdraft my account, but by nestling it before the $1.87 charge and the $5.08 withdrawals, all of a sudden those became overdrafts too, even though those payments were made when there was plenty of money in the account. But Wells Fargo gets to charge me for THREE $34 overdraft fees instead of the ONE that is justified.

Here are some quotes from friends who have had similar experiences with Wells Fargo:

Last time I made a deposit a couple weeks ago, the teller told me that I should get overdraft coverage, so that I don’t lose any money. I said, “No, thanks, I should be just fine, as is.” I have over nine grand in my checking account.

She replied, “Well, it’s like they say. I’ll never lose my keys, until it happens.” I told her, “I’ve never lost my keys.”

Her response chilled me clean through to the bone: “You will get charged for an overdraft, one of these days.”

What the hell kind of talk is that? I feel for you, man. Wells Fargo sucks.

That used to happen to me all the time. I switched to Bank of America and I haven’t had any problems since.

This happened to me one time and I thought I had taken the extra effort to go make a deposit in the ATM on Sunday and would be fine. By the time i checked my account in the next couple of days I was negative nine hundred dollars. -NINE HUNDRED- I even had checks sent back!! I called customer service and the random lady who would not give me her extention said ” Oh they won’t charge you for any of those. no worries. And she even said- you can still write checks right now- just don’t use your card … This had happened before and the reason was always listed as “Unusual deposit activity” – whatever that means. They would hold my paycheck for TWO WEEKS!! I am sure that so many people just get screwed all the time with this and I don’t even want to think about how much money I lost and weeks I went flat broke because of this crazy scheme!! I imagine that many people don’t go to the bank and just eat the charges.

My grandpa took out a loan from them a few years ago to finance a new truck and they did pretty much the exact same thing. He would make payments on time via checks in the mail and they would just hold the check until they could charge him late fees, it was ridiculous. Yeah, the dude might be old (I think he was in his late 70’s when this happened, not yet in his 80’s) but he’s been a home owner and the landlord of roughly 10 houses for decades. He knows how to take care of his bills and they completely f—– him over. He paid the loan off as soon as he could and won’t deal with Wells Fargo at all anymore. He hates them.

After I got screwed out of hundreds of dollars by Wells Fargo — my $20 overdraft fee turned into a $400 charge, a closed account and me being reported as a credit risk — I switched to Pinnacle and have loved it.

I know I sound like an actor in a small-town bank radio spot, but I’m telling you: They actually treat you like a person at Pinnacle, not just as an account number they try to extract the maximum amount of money from.

this same thing happened to me, only it was a $4 overdraft, I believe. then their charges snowballed, i couldn’t afford their fees, the account was closed and i was reported.

I love First National. I hated Wells Fargo. I give First National an A+ on customer service.

The same thing happened to my friend except she ended up with close to $2000 in overdraft fees. She also signed up for the overdraft protection, but the banker she set it up with screwed something up and Wells Fargo basically told her it’s not their fault their employee is a —- up … she had plenty of money in her savings that could have covered the fees if they would have set up her account right. But they didn’t nor did they care, just that she pay back the money she owed them.

I had trouble with Wells Fargo’s idiocy overseas. Despite the fact that I told the bank multiple times that I would be out of the country, our account was frozen at least three different times. That doesn’t seem like a big deal, but when you’re down to your last couple dollars and standing at the Kuala Lumpur airport ATM being told your account cannot be verified, it’s a bit of a problem.

We also had a similar overdraft problem, and when we called about it, they gave me the same, “maybe if you took more caution when withdrawing” spiel. They also seemed to be charging us arbitrary amounts when we would withdraw for “foreign conversion fees.” One time it might be $3, then two weeks later it would be $12 from the same ATM.

The second we got back we closed the accounts and avoided that place at all costs. I wonder if you went farther up the ladder with your situation if that would matter. Sounds like Wells Fargo is pretty united in their ability to give their customers the ‘ol screwjob.

i work with some ex-wells fargo folks who basically say the place is committed to —-ing people over.

AHH! i’m fed up and leaving too.

This entry was posted on Friday, February 1st, 2008 at 11:56 am and is filed under blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.