Wells Fargo Steals Your Money...

[cmeriptahoe]

Do you jimmies wanna go back to the barter system? Wampum? I wonder if DPS will accept glass beads for a pair of 138s?

Stick it in a mattress or play the game. Or sue them and teach them a lesson. But don't buy shit with $6 in your checking account and then get tweaky when they pay the item and whack you for it.

Exactly.

Barring the OP, the rest of you are bitching about stuff that could be easily avoided had you chosen to read the terms and conditions of your accounts. Educate yourself on how checking accounts function. Things do not post instantaneously. It's as simple as that. Yes it is electronic but transactions still take time to make their way to the bank's system. Some points of sale are using old machines that allow you to overdraw. It isn't their fault or your bank's if you choose to be mindless about your finances.

Don't be dumb, or do but don't bitch.

[smmokan]

What about travel? I dont want to be nickel and dimed every time I need to take money out of an ATM..this is where a lot of credit unions fall short.

I get reimbursed for every ATM withdrawl, regardless of where it is... WIN.

As far as I know, most smaller banks do this now.

[highangle]

Do you jimmies wanna go back to the barter system? Wampum? I wonder if DPS will accept glass beads for a pair of 138s?

Stick it in a mattress or play the game. Or sue them and teach them a lesson. But don't buy shit with $6 in your checking account and then get tweaky when they pay the item and whack you for it.

i don't understand why you seem to support shady accounting?

this is not an attack on the concept of banks or banking
most of us understand that banks provide good and valuable services that are worth much more to most of us than the bank charges
most of us also realize that without a profit margin, banks can't keep their doors open



this is about some banks using dubious accounting gimmicks to extract the maximum amount of fees from their customers in a less-than-honorable (or legal) way
this is also about who these banks target: the ones least likely to defend themselves


at the risk of invoking Godwin's Law, your points seem to rest on, "If you aint a Jew, what's the problem with NASD's policies?"

you may be a trust funder and have so much money in your accounts that you will never have to worry about overdrafts, but understand that others are being preyed upon in a dishonest way, and that it affects them on many levels

[StroupSkier]

I've had the same issue with Wachovia, which is owned by WF.

One of the lies I have been fed are that debit card transactions post post immediately and don't get rearranged - FALSE.

I used to be able to go into the bank and talk to someone, but they have taken that ability away as well.

They always rearrange transactions so that the most expensive item comes out first. Saying that it keeps money in the account, but really it just gets them extra overdraft charges.

I'll be moving my money into a local bank in Utah at the end of the month and filing a lawsuit against Wachovia at that time - I'm a little reluctant to file one until I have my money out.

[Jag]

They got bought out by Chase.

I've had a pending online account transfer since Saturday. 3 days. Still pending currently. Chases policy is that account deposits don't post until the next day. (Or something to that effect.) The clever thing is that on my online balance it says that the money has been transferred and my account balance is where I want it to be. But, it really isn't because the transfer is still pending.

Of course, if you don't go look at the detail, and just look at the account balance, you'd never know.

Copy that one.

Same thing here, bank bought out by Chase. I was told after depositing my payroll check on a Thursday afternoon and it not being applied until Wednesday, that it takes 4 working days to post. They told me that the check had to clear before credited, even payroll checks, and the guy was an asshole about it too.

[4matic]

Copy that one.

Same thing here, bank bought out by Chase. I was told after depositing my payroll check on a Thursday afternoon and it not being applied until Wednesday, that it takes 4 working days to post. They told me that the check had to clear before credited, even payroll checks, and the guy was an asshole about it too.

depends on how your payroll is admistered. If you get Paid directly by the employer by check, the company earns the float in their bank and you may have to wait for funds to clear. If you get paid by direct deposit or check from a third party like ADP, they earn the float and guarantee the funds to all banks. I'd say its your check issuer holding up payment.

[VC]

I just got off the phone with Wells Fargo. Long story short they were charging me $10 a month for an account I setup as overdraft protection. I was an idiot and wasn't paying attention to the last 8 months they were charging me $10. Anyway, called them up and they apologized and said that can't do anything besides stop the charge. I called Bullshit, so she "talked to a supervisor" who authorized $20 to be refunded because she could only see 60 days of my account history. Somehow I find it really hard to believe I can pull up more info online then they can in the database. Anyway after she told me "thats all we can do", I asked to speak to a supervisor who reversed all the charges in about 30 seconds. They are douches

[cramer]

i work for one of the big banks. they were running the highest to lowest transactions as a couteousy to customer to make sure your mortgage, car payment, etc was paid. In reallity, we know all know why they were doing it. Most have changed that. I guess wells didnt? They also added the option for you to opt out. Your card wont work if you dont have the money. But theres a catch. If you only have a pending and not posted transaction, you'l occur returned item fees. Lastly, you can only occur 4 late draft charges in a day, down from 10.

All that said, watch your fucking accounts. I work for a big bank and ive been nailed not paying attention. Link your accounts to a credit card or savings for overdraft protection.

[WhiteHunter]

This exactly why i ditched Bank of America. That fucking banked fucked me out of so much money in retarded fees and shady policies. They will never see a penny of my money.

I'm with a small local bank that actually gives a shit about their customers. If a local bank starts screwing over their customers, they won't have any customers.

If BOA or Wells Fargo screws over a few customers, they couldn't care less.

DINNGGGG!!! Large banks rely on marketing, cutting edge products, efficiency and pricing (and predatory fee charging) to make money. If you are a profitable client that they are unlikely to take a loss on, ie. you carry consistently high balances or significant loan relationships, they may refund a fee here or there. If they lose some customers due to poor service, they'll smash out a catchy new marketing campaign, roll out a temporary but attractive product or offer extraordinary rates until they generate the number of accounts or loans they need. Unless you are highly profitable core client, the only long term relationship of value you have with them is the personal relationship you establish with a specific employee.

Your local community banks rely more often on creating long term relationships to make money. To create a long term relationship you have to provide service. They usually will not have the best rate or the most cutting edge products, but sometimes they will. However, you can almost always talk to a human, who will usually be reasonable and fair until you prove that you should not get the benefit of the doubt.

That being said, ask questions before you open an account. Some smaller banks play follow the leader rather than figuring it out for themselves.

I agree that overdraft fees are too high and wtf is overdraft protection of they still charge you a fee?

In this case "protection" is marketing. It may protect you from fees at both the bank and the merchant you wrote the check to, but the bank rigs it so they get the maximum fees possible. They screw you fast and hard and either send you on your way or bankrupt you, quickly.

[AltaAndy]

I recently canceled a chase card because of their terrible online banking. The credit card account info does not have a running total, just an amount of that specific charge. Seems like a pretty standard feature. They also took several days to post payments and inflated my interest rate, so I left.

I have had a different experience with bank of america than most on these boards, they seem to post payments quickly and have somewhat reasonable customer service.

someone above posted about how debit cards are one of the best things to happen to the big banks, and this nyt video explains why pretty well

http://video.nytimes.com/video/2010/...ilent-tax.html

[newschoolerz]

did Barak work for wells fargo? if not, he sure got some pointers, and i fukin voted for the assface.

[char]

Just because a check posts does not mean the funds clear. It's typically three business days for funds to clear. Nothing new about that.

I agree that overdraft fees are too high and wtf is overdraft protection of they still charge you a fee?

I don't know if this is directed at me, but I waited 3 days for a transfer from one checking account to another. At the same bank.

[Cono Este]

Free checking though? Ha. Its worse than a pay day loan scam.

My experience, told me, it depends on the vendor. The bank see's the pending charge, but does not put it in the balance, until the vendor etc..bullshit.

These are not your gran pappy's banks.

Get a safe. Cash checks, small credit card for electronic shit they wont let you live without.

done.

I will pay no one anymore, NO ONE!

cash is cool too, i forgot what it was like.

[splat]

did Barak work for wells fargo? if not, he sure got some pointers, and i fukin voted for the assface.

fkna, ns. we are a fee based society now.

[booner]

I got bit in the ass a few years back by overdrafting on purpose. I was low on cash and pay day was the next day. I made several debit purchases at a few dollars a piece..food, dip, etc.. that I had the cash for, then I took out some cash that I knew would overdraft me. Turns out they do the debits from largest to smallest. So I got hit with something like 5 or 6 overdraft charges at 30 bucks a pop..they refunded a few when I claimed ignorance.

[grrrr]

I made a deposit at Wells Fargo which included my paycheck and a personal check. Two days later I was running up overdrafts. I called to find out why, and they told me it was because their policy was to hold deposits over $5K of personal checks for 5 days. when I pointed out that the deposit was largely a government check, they said...too bad, there was a personal check in it, so we're holding it. Even though they had the money within 8 hours.

Screw Wells Fargo. Do not do business with them.

[carvedog]

Exactly.

Barring the OP, the rest of you are bitching about stuff that could be easily avoided had you chosen to read the terms and conditions of your accounts. Educate yourself on how checking accounts function. Things do not post instantaneously. It's as simple as that. Yes it is electronic but transactions still take time to make their way to the bank's system. Some points of sale are using old machines that allow you to overdraw. It isn't their fault or your bank's if you choose to be mindless about your finances.

Don't be dumb, or do but don't bitch.

Bullshit. Transactions do not accumulate in some server black hole that takes 72 hours to process. I would bet that we will find out someday that banks have internal routing procedures to automatically delay the posting of transactions and funds to increase their "hold" time of being able to use our money.

I got scammed by Wells doing supposedly instant transfers and some other stuff too. I asked one of the customer "service" people if she really believed the line of spew she had just laid on me. and now could she sleep at night?

Almost made her cry. She knew the bank was wrong and that I was right, she just couldn't say it. I was not trying to make her cry, just happened.

Wells Fargo=A huge bag of dicks.

I don't know if this is directed at me, but I waited 3 days for a transfer from one checking account to another. At the same bank.

Same here multiple times. Such crap.

[AKbruin]

I left WF a couple weeks ago for similar reasons. After a rent check was deposited early, a paycheck auto-deposited a day later than usual, a few other random circumstances, and a day of intense Christmas shopping, I got slammed with nearly $300 in overdraft fees at $35 a pop. They reduced the total by a third when I called customer service, but it wasn't enough. Regardless of my own culpability, I moved to a local bank with a much more benevolent overdraft policy.

I have to wonder about the long-term sustainability of the big bank overdraft policies though. Do customers stay with their banks after getting burned? I only know that I had been a WF customer for 16 years, have great credit, generally had a good chunk of change in my checking and savings accounts, and am fairly close to seeking a home loan. Seems penny wise, pound foolish.

[stash searcher]

yes indeed. just happened to us monday. stupid rearrangements.. and why does the statement look different on a daily basis? just bullshit. just went and moved all but $20 over to a new account at a local credit union. FU wells fargo. every time i tell them that all the other banks i've dealt with manage to post debit transactions same day, they tell me that they can't do that. and you cannot opt out of the overdraft protection. they won't let you. and they won't stop rearranging from largest to smallest.
the final straw: mailed something from fedex on dec. 24th.
on bank statement, read pending for a while... finally "went through" on jan 1. girl at wells fargo tells me that they couldn't process it that day because they can't do it until the next business day. jan 4. bullshit. i asked her.. "aren't you open saturdays?" "yes, but it's not a business day." as far as i'm concerned, what the fuck is the point of being open for business if it's not a business day? so all business conducted on saturday just doesn't count?
only reason i've left my wf account open is in the hopes that after i threaten them with joining a lawsuit they'll at least give me $31 back.. fuckers.

[focus]

wtf is overdraft protection of they still charge you a fee?

It protects you from the check getting bounced back to the gas station, incurring additional fees, shit lists, and collections. You'll get nailed w/ an NSF either way.

Exactly.

Barring the OP, the rest of you are bitching about stuff that could be easily avoided had you chosen to read the terms and conditions of your accounts. Educate yourself on how checking accounts function. Things do not post instantaneously. It's as simple as that. Yes it is electronic but transactions still take time to make their way to the bank's system. Some points of sale are using old machines that allow you to overdraw. It isn't their fault or your bank's if you choose to be mindless about your finances.

Don't be dumb, or do but don't bitch.

2nded.

I just got off the phone with Wells Fargo. Long story short they were charging me $10 a month for an account I setup as overdraft protection. I was an idiot and wasn't paying attention to the last 8 months they were charging me $10. Anyway, called them up and they apologized and said that can't do anything besides stop the charge. I called Bullshit, so she "talked to a supervisor" who authorized $20 to be refunded because she could only see 60 days of my account history. Somehow I find it really hard to believe I can pull up more info online then they can in the database. Anyway after she told me "thats all we can do", I asked to speak to a supervisor who reversed all the charges in about 30 seconds. They are douches

So, you bought something. Used it for 8 months, then didn't want to pay for it? I don't really get your gripe here. Did they not disclose the fee?

Bullshit. Transactions do not accumulate in some server black hole that takes 72 hours to process. I would bet that we will find out someday that banks have internal routing procedures to automatically delay the posting of transactions and funds to increase their "hold" time of being able to use our money.

They sorta do, actually. It's called the ACH network, and that shit runs on batches. Credits take 24 hours to clear, debits take 48 hours to clear. Every transaction involves both. Institutions that clear funds sooner than that are likely taking a chance on you - which is rad and all, but they might not be running in the clear until 72 hours after the transaction began, especially if there are any intermediary steps involved.

the final straw: mailed something from fedex on dec. 24th.
on bank statement, read pending for a while... finally "went through" on jan 1. girl at wells fargo tells me that they couldn't process it that day because they can't do it until the next business day. jan 4. bullshit. i asked her.. "aren't you open saturdays?" "yes, but it's not a business day." as far as i'm concerned, what the fuck is the point of being open for business if it's not a business day? so all business conducted on saturday just doesn't count?
only reason i've left my wf account open is in the hopes that after i threaten them with joining a lawsuit they'll at least give me $31 back.. fuckers.

Just cuz the branch is open doesn't mean that everything else is open, including the above mentioned ACH network. It's cool that you had this awesome opportunity to be an ass to some hourly employee, though.

[highangle]

gosh Focus! ur telling me that the purchases i made this morning that showed up as debits on my account activity within seconds (like most do) are really just the luck of ACH timing and/or mere figments of my imagination?

i guess the time lapse movie my daughter is making of the changing orders of debits over time in her Wells Fargo online account activity is a figment of her (or at least her computer's) imagination too?

gosh! i never realized that my and so many other's senses could be so easily deceived, and that this error of sensory perception only happens when people deal with Wells Fargo and some other big banks

surely medical science has cataloged this sensory anomaly?

i'm off to look it up in the Literature!

[focus]

Hey, I'm not disagreeing w/ your gripes. I think you're going about your deal correctly, and agree that WF is a shady outfit. Way to go for sticking it to 'em.

These threads always devolve into pointless bash sessions and lose all clarity and potency. We have to take some level of responsibility for our checking accounts, and we have to recognize that it isn't all so black and white, or else these discussions lose all value.

Authorizations are different from settlement, btw... which is likely what you see on your account seconds after the transaction. And obviously not everything runs through ACH, and different networks work on different timeframes. I was just pointing out that that 72 hour black hole kind of does exist.

[WhiteHunter]

This linky will answer many questions. Read at your leisure.

http://www.federalreserve.gov/pubs/regcc/regcc.htm

What WF and a lot of these banks you speak of are doing is not illegal....yet. In fact its well defined by the regulations. Banks are one of the 2 or 3 most highly regulated and audited industries in the country. If they are in violation of regulations they can pay dearly.

That being said, what they are doing with overdraft policies is not necessarily fair, reasonable or understandable to the common financially illiterate consumer. There are presently a couple of bills in front of congress to make these overdraft policies illegal. Unfortunately, as usual our pols fuck up more than they fix and within the same legislation some of them are attempting to add 3 - 4 more trees to mortgage paperwork and disclosures that are confusing and misleading to any one who doesn't take an accredited class to learn them.

[DJSapp]

Problem solved.

[Toadman]

Was with WF a long time ago. They bought out my prior bank. We got hit with some assinine ATM fee. Disputed it, and they would not credit our acct. We told them we were closing our accounts, and haven't been back since. More people need to walk with their money when banks or any business doesn't provide good customer service/products.