My son recently went off to college. Before he left we opened a joint savings account at Wells Fargo. We requested an ATM card so that he could get money from this account from school. I specifically did not want him to have a checking account and a debit card as I feared he may run over his balance and incur overdraft fees.
This week I got a call from Wells Fargo telling me that his savings account was overdrawn. I thought to myself that that was impossible as it is a savings account. After checking into this, I found that the bank had given him $160 more than was in his account.in addition, they are charging us two $33 overdraft fees.
Today I spoke with a "void" at Wells Fargo. He insists that this is not a bank error and that "every" bank in the country will allow an individual to withdraw more money than is in their savings account. I told him that that the bank that I do my personal banking with will not do that. I continued to argue with him telling him that at no time should anyone be able to take more money than is in their account. That is supposed to be the beauty of a SAVINGS ACCOUNT.
I asked him if my son had gone to a local branch, and had asked to take out $160 more than was in his account, would they have given him the money? The answer was "no, of course not". He told me that a savings account should not be used for this purpose and that we should have opened a checking account. I asked if that is the case, why issue ATM cards for savings accounts? At this point the fine gentleman at Wells Fargo decided that it was better to not argue with me anymore. He said that as far as the bank was concerned I owed them this money.
The bottom line is, this is just yet another sleazy way for the big banks to collect fees. I am angry and soon to be out $66 in slimy overdraft fees.
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