I noticed in the news yesterday that the feds have listed their restrictions on Wells Fargo, stemming
from the scams from years ago (unauthorized accounts, etc.)
I'm guessing their MS program began around that time?
One of the very first shops I ever did was a Wells Fargo shop and then I went on to do a few more.
I never noted anything untoward in those experiences.
I bank with them personally, so wondering if any of you ever noticed anything out of line when you shopped WF? I've only had two negative experiences with them in personal banking - they dropped their secure messaging feature which I used to appreciate having. As well, I met the terms of a bonus, but I had to pull it out from them after kicking and screaming - took a whole year.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/05/2025 11:53AM by BarefootBliss.

Been stuck as a WF customer for years, experiencing the total deterioration of the client relationship over time.

As much as I'd love to stop doing business there, they have a couple of features, perhaps in response to the BS they pulled, that I've yet to find at any other bank: 24-hour grace period for all transactions that might cause an overdraft, and 2-day advance paycheck posting.

The combination of the two, given my current cash flow-dependent situation, is invaluable. I had a Chase checking account for a while to snag a few hundred dollars of bonus, but they address potential overdraft items "at their discretion", so I ended up closing that one.

I've done a few WF shops over the years, opening additional accounts and then (usually) closing them. I have no interest whatsoever in the complaint shops, so I feel I have to be judicious about the frequency with which I open/close accounts.

I currently have a savings account that was opened for a shop. It's no charge as long as I move $25 from checking each month, but I usually move it back at some point in time. The interest rate borders on non-existent, and I have online savings and certificate accounts I can stick money into at good rates. So, eventually I will close the savings account and wait awhile to re-open one.

I have had personal account for 20 years with them. It's not a primary account. I have an account with neary all the nationwide banks.

I never experienced any of the things that they got themselves into trouble for.

I do the phone call complaints often. Most of the workers don't give out the complaint reference # like they are supposed to. I will do the teller shops whenever I can. Those are simple enough.

I have never had any issues since I started doing the shops but I did run into situations with them where I do not think they were consciously trying to "cheat" but think they were just untrained and unaware of the rules. Esp with the phone shop for service calls I have gotten all sorts of incorrect responses which were not detrimental to my account. But after all these years of these phone calls to what seems like every branch every month I would think their staff would have learned how to handle them by now.

I had Wells Fargo as a young adult because it was the only free checking option in my area. There were a lot of restrictions, they charged you to see a teller. Pretty absurd.

Anyway, acquaintance of a friend stole my debit card after watching me enter my PIN at a POS machine. Then, he went to the ATM and withdrew the max he could as many times as he could until it stopped working. Finally, he tossed the card in my vehicle so I would find it again and assume I'd dropped it.

I discovered the issue when my rent payment bounced. My roomies paid me and I issued the check for the group so it was a large amount for me. I had to visit the local branch to view the images their ATM had captured. I immediately recognized the person and put together how it was possible he had my PIN. I contacted the friend and got their acquaintance's name, address, and phone number which I provided to the bank. They STILL openly accused me of being "in on it" and waited as long as they could to reimburse me for the theft.

The acquaintance also stole from the friend in the form of huge bills for 900# calls during the few weeks he was staying with him. My friend was able to get a one time credit more easily than I was able to get my account replenished and a new card issued.

I found a new bank and will NEVER return to Wells. The treatment I received was almost as offensive as the crime committed against me.

@Deedeezthoughts

Sorry for your experience. This is why debit is for dummies. You have to fight to get your money back. Credit cards you just don't pay the bill and you report it.

This is why there is no debit card in my wallet ever. They are in my safe and I don't use them.

I had a renter that had this problem and they were with Bank of america. It doesn't matter the bank..they are not as lenient with debit activity. I get that not everyone has great credit or can control themselves with a credit card.

Debit is the devil (channeling Kathy Bates from Waterboy with Adam Sandler)

[www.youtube.com]

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/05/2025 05:37PM by hbbigdaddy.

@hbbigdaddy wrote:

@Deedeezthoughts

Sorry for your experience. This is why debit is for dummies. You have to fight to get your money back. Credit cards you just don't pay the bill and you report it.

This is why there is no debit card in my wallet ever. They are in my safe and I don't use them.

I had a renter that had this problem and they were with Bank of america. It doesn't matter the bank..they are not as lenient with debit activity. I get that not everyone has great credit or can control themselves with a credit card.

Debit is the devil (channeling Kathy Bates from Waterboy with Adam Sandler)

[www.youtube.com]

I still use debit because the bank I have now requires a certain number of transactions per month as a hoop for the interest bearing checking account I have to pay that interest. But, I have also been in my bank when someone came in with a stolen card used online problem and they were NOT publicly accused of anything. They were treated with basic kindness and respect as they should be. They were not asked about their current relationship status, either. When I say Wells mistreated me, I am not making a flip remark. It was fully inappropriate, not just inconvenient.

BTW, this type of issue is why POS keypads have a peek guard around them now. They didn't used to have that and it was pretty easy to observe the entry if you were trying to do so and standing within 6'.

Oh, and I use debit almost exclusively at Walmart where you can go to self checkout and "split payment" to get multiple $5 transactions from one purchase. They give a dumb requirement so I game the system. And then everything else goes on a CC with rewards. It's been a long time since I was a young adult who didn't have a Vsa or MasterCard yet.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/05/2025 07:18PM by Deedeezthoughts.

yes, i have played the transactions game for higher interest on certain checking accounts, but haven't done that in quite a long time. i would go to 99 cent only stores and buy 10 things one at a time for the 10 transactions required. The employee at the register would look at me like i was crazy. I would tell them "you do this stupid stuff for 6% interest on 50K balance."

I don't think accounts pay that much anymore and i get 4% in some with no debit card hoops, so i won't bother with it anymore.

I opened a Wells Fargo account on a shop many years ago when it was Wachovia. I continue to do the teller shops when they pop up.

I have received multiple payments of restitution from them for some sort of accounts that I truly had no idea i had and am not sure i actually did since no payments were ever made for it. It was some type of insurance plus something else. They notified me. It was not something I pursued...hey, free money..ok..it was several thousand dollars.

My account is free with a direct deposit and they post my social security payments the weekend before it's actually paid. ????

I had been doing the ph9ne call shops consistently for about 3. I'm also a customer of the bank. I've had accounts with them for over 20 years. Nothing was said about this until recently when I did a complaint shop. They mark the shop as invalid because they said it didn't make sense because the account had been open for so long. I did the shop correctly and submitted it on time. I was very upset that they were trying not to pay for my work. After bothering them a lot, they paid me for the shop but told me not to do any more sales tactic shops with them!

Not sure you would try that scenario with an account that has been around that long. If I was a banker, I would question you too (even though they are not supposed to). The whole point of the shop is to make sure they are documenting the complaints correctly. I'm just amazed that you would even try this scenario on an account that has been open that long. Why didn't you open a 2nd account and have your complaints be about that account to not draw suspicion?

@Shopper797 wrote:

I had been doing the ph9ne call shops consistently for about 3. I'm also a customer of the bank. I've had accounts with them for over 20 years. Nothing was said about this until recently when I did a complaint shop. They mark the shop as invalid because they said it didn't make sense because the account had been open for so long. I did the shop correctly and submitted it on time. I was very upset that they were trying not to pay for my work. After bothering them a lot, they paid me for the shop but told me not to do any more sales tactic shops with them!

This was many years ago but my mom died when they were transferring Wachovia accts to Wells accounts. For some reason they neglected to include 2 of the 4 beneficiaries she had on the acct. Fortunately I had the original paperwork from when the acct was opened showing 4 names and also since I knew all my moms plans for transferring her "estate" I knew my 2 nephews were on the account.
Even tho I got it all straightened out at that branch, a few months later when I went to a different branch to liquidate the account with my two young adult kids in tow and two notarized statements from the other two beneficiaries they wanted to give all the money to the two who were there in person and told them they could split it with their cousins if they felt like they wanted to. I have told this story before but we have lots of new shoppers on the board since then.

@MsJudi wrote:

I opened a Wells Fargo account on a shop many years ago when it was Wachovia. I continue to do the teller shops when they pop up.

I have received multiple payments of restitution from them for some sort of accounts that I truly had no idea i had and am not sure i actually did since no payments were ever made for it. It was some type of insurance plus something else. They notified me. It was not something I pursued...hey, free money..ok..it was several thousand dollars.

My account is free with a direct deposit and they post my social security payments the weekend before it's actually paid. ????

@hbbigdaddy In reality, if there had been someone that opened an account under your name, it might actually be a long time before you know it's there if you don't check your statements regularly. But that's neither here nor there. I don't make the rules. It should have been in the guidelines. Mind you, I've done over 20 or 30 of these shops before. The employee should know what to do if somebody complains about this problem and follow those steps correctly. It's not my fault that the company didn't clearly specify the rules. For the company to try to avoid paying me after the shop had been submitted is not good business.

@hbbigdaddy wrote:

Not sure you would try that scenario with an account that has been around that long. If I was a banker, I would question you too (even though they are not supposed to). The whole point of the shop is to make sure they are documenting the complaints correctly. I'm just amazed that you would even try this scenario on an account that has been open that long. Why didn't you open a 2nd account and have your complaints be about that account to not draw suspicion?

@Shopper797 wrote:

I had been doing the ph9ne call shops consistently for about 3. I'm also a customer of the bank. I've had accounts with them for over 20 years. Nothing was said about this until recently when I did a complaint shop. They mark the shop as invalid because they said it didn't make sense because the account had been open for so long. I did the shop correctly and submitted it on time. I was very upset that they were trying not to pay for my work. After bothering them a lot, they paid me for the shop but told me not to do any more sales tactic shops with them!

I closed my Wells Fargo account 3 years ago and still get notices and Fico score emails every month. A count has 2 cents in it. They still consider me a customer. Not sure I qualify for the shops as account only has 2 cents in it

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/08/2025 07:58PM by OldmanJames.

@OldmanJames wrote:

I closed my Wells Fargo account 3 years ago and still get notices and Fico score emails every month. A count has 2 cents in it. They still consider me a customer. Not sure I qualify for the shops as account only has 2 cents in it

Next round when you see the shop read the guidelines because, even tho I have read them so many times I am not sure about this as I know I qualify. I think you need (for the ones I do) to have a checking acct or atm card perhaps a credit card. But if you have only 2c I imagine you have a savings acct ? I do not think a savings acct alone would qualify. But they have several different scenarios.

What I don't understand is a "closed" account with a balance. Maybe in your mind you closed it, but the bank has left it open with a 2 cent balance and continues to generate statements. If you want it truly closed, you would call and close it for real.

@hbbigdaddy wrote:

yes, i have played the transactions game for higher interest on certain checking accounts, but haven't done that in quite a long time. i would go to 99 cent only stores and buy 10 things one at a time for the 10 transactions required. The employee at the register would look at me like i was crazy. I would tell them "you do this stupid stuff for 6% interest on 50K balance."

I don't think accounts pay that much anymore and i get 4% in some with no debit card hoops, so i won't bother with it anymore.

We could probably switch and get a bank with fewer hoops or whatever but this is a local bank and we have had a long term relationship that goes far beyond the current account. This is the kind of place that gave us a bridge loan so we could buy our dream home even though we hadn't yet sold the previous house. There was no way any of the national chains would have taken the risk. So, even if we don't max that account anymore for the interest, we aren't letting that relationship go, either, and maintain the minimum. My kids have accounts there, too, even though they keep most things with Discover for exactly the reasons you mentioned. No fees AND interest even though they are basically broke college students. It's a different world than when I was their age