My daughter, 17 years old, got her first checking account this summer. Her employer, Petsmart, used Wells Fargo as their primary bank, and so they had special new account promos for children under the age of 18 when opening accounts at Wells Fargo.
The average balance in her account was about $40.00 since she didn't work very many hours. She only wrote one single check and the other transactions were on the ATM card. She diligently went online frequently to check the banks balance against her entries. At one point she calculated that she had 5.00 and something cents in her account. She used her card for a 3.58 transaction at Starbucks, which would still leave her with a small balance.
Well the next day, when she checked her account online, Wells Fargo had overdrawn her account by. 50 and then charged her 22.00 in overdraft fees. Then the next day there was yet another 22.00 overdraft fee, $44.00. She called the bank to see if they could kindly explain to her what happend and get the fees removed, but they would not remove them.
Now I formerly banked at Wells Fargo for 17 years, and though ultimately I was not happy with them and have since changed banks, I did have a couple of insufficient funds fees from time to time that, after explanation with a customer service rep, were removed. So my daughter and I went down to the bank to speak to a manager to see if they could help us out. Being that this is her first account ever, she has never bounced a check before in her life, she's a minor, it was obviously an honest mistake, certainly that can remove the fees and let this young girl start anew. They did not budge.
Since then, as the account is still open, because our intent is to resolve it, as opposed to just close the account, they have tacked on another $40.00 in fees, what they call $5.00 below minimum balance fees, or something like that, which I specifically told the lady when we opened the account, that an account that required a minimum would not be acceptable... Of course she assured us that everything will be just fine and that if we have any problems just to come and see her and she'll take care of us. Well, we are going to see her today, so I'll let you know what happens.
If things do not work out in our favor, I will be contacting a local news station to see if they can not only resolve the issue for me but give them the bad press that they deserve.
I hate Wells Fargo. I should have never let my daughter open an account with them.
0 comments