Bman
Philadelphia,#2Consumer Comment
Sun, November 07, 2010
File a detailed report with this watchdog government agency:
http://www.ftc.gov/reports/index.shtm
Pearl
Queen Creek,#3Author of original report
Sat, November 06, 2010
This is concerning Wells Fargo and their illegal practices where lending
guidelines is concerned. I have been a devoted Wells Fargo customer for
almost 6 years. My husband and I split up a few months ago and we had a
joint account with them and I had a personal account by myself as well
through them. My husband and I closed our joint account when we
separated. I kept my own account open and fully functional. Back in June
2010 I had to use the direct deposit advance option that came with my
account for having a direct deposit and having an account in good
standing. Apparently, I have had this service available for a long time
to me. Unfortunately, with the economy being what it is and financial
difficulties I have had to take these advances every month since June.
This 500 is budgeted into my income since My kids and I have lived off
of SSI disability and that is what the direct deposit is. So fast
forward to October. My husband and I have since reconciled. So I have
decided to put him onto my personal WF account so that we can have a
joint account again. When I did this NOTHING was brought to my
attention that adding him to my account would be an issue or cause me
any problems with my account services. So on my October 18, 2010
statement that had BOTH my husband and I's name on it says that my
direct deposit advance limit is still 500.00 and available to me. Well
on October 30, 2010 I got my direct deposit in my account and WF took
their payment of 550.00 for my October advance. So I went to take an
advance for November (since my November SSI payment went to pay the
October one back..yes, I know this is a vicious cycle and one that
really sucks to be in. I was in the process of getting out of it the
first of the year when I got my tax return and I could then not have to
take another advance) when I went to take the advance for November it
told me I was no longer eligible for this account service either due to
my account being overdrawn (it wasn't) or in a bankruptcy (which I am
not in a current BK) So panic stricken about this due to this is my rent
money, I called the customer service center that the notice said to
call. I spoke to a representative name Morgan (I.D. # 870368)(She said
she was not allowed to give me her last name but could give me her I.D.
number) explained what was going on. She proceeded to tell me that I
was in a BK status. I said NO, I am not in BK. I filed BK over 3.5 years
ago with my husband. She said well that is why you are not eligible
due to when you added your husband to your account it flagged you for a
BK status. I asked then why was I not flagged for a BK status? She said
she did not know. I explained that I was not give proper notice of my
account services being changed with this advance option. She said that
they did not need to give a notice. I told her that it is a line of
credit and they do have to give notices if the terms of the agreement
change by federal law. She said that it was not a line of credit (if you
look under WF terms and conditions of a direct deposit advance it
states it is a very expensive line of credit). She said that she would
talk to her supervisor about this (supervisor's name is Vivian Mite
phone number 651-792-3371.) Morgan then came back on the line and
stated that since they were treating this as a BK then due to federal
and their guidelines that they were not supposed to go back and take the
repayment for October's advance out of my account and that the 550.00
would be credited back into my account in a couple days and I would no
longer be eligible for the advances due to the BK. So on Monday I
called WF and asked when the money would be deposited back into my
account and the representative (Ricky Chua) told me there were no notes
on it and that it wouldn't be credited back. So I asked him for his ID
number and he said that he was not allowed to give that out to me and
gave me his last name. Which I asked him why Morgan gave me her ID
number but couldn't give me her last name? He said he did not know why
she did that because she wasn't supposed to do it. So I asked to speak
to his supervisor. So he put Angela Reddicks on the line. She then gave
me the run around and said she does not know why my account was flagged.
I said is it because of my husband being added and she said she did not
know. She then ran my social security number and said that NOTHING came
up about any negative stuff like the BK under it. So she didn't know
why. She said it must be because of my husband. So I asked her to take
my husband off my account so that it will go back to its original
standing and I would have all my account services restored. She said she
couldn't do that because once an account was flagged it remained
flagged. I said even if it isn't me who is causing the flagging to be
done; she said yes. I told her that I was very angry with Morgan and
Vivian for telling me that the money would be refunded because that
information really screwed my bills up since I was counting on that
money and now it is not going back in my account. So she did get me
Vivian's phone number. I tried calling Vivian 4x and left messages. This
was on Tuesday, Weds. and I yet to hear back from her. This is a
manager mind you, and I told her it was urgent she get back to me. So I
asked to speak to her supervisor and she gave me her name and said she
wasn't available. So the next day I went into the local branch and spoke
with Sobanna and Erika F. and they understood what I was stating and I
got the impression they knew that WF was in the wrong. I told them that
either I wanted them to follow their BK guidelines and have to refund
the money back to my account or to at least give me the adequate notice
(I believe it is 45 days) that my account services were changing and I
would no longer be eligible for the direct deposit advance. This was on
Tues October 2, 2010 that I went into the branch. Erika told me that she
would see what she could do (She was a great customer service
representative) She then started calling the resolution center and spoke
with Nathan. He told her he would give her a response within 24 or so
hours on this. I didn't hear anything back on Weds and Thurs was Erika's
day off. So I called today and played phone tag with Erika all day.
Finally, she told me that he won't honor etiher requests. So to me that
is being illegal since banks are supposed to follow certain procedures.
She said that Nathan stated I should have never been approved for the
direct deposit advances due to I had filed BK 3.5 years ago. So due to
someone's error and not doing their job I am paying the price. Also, as
my friend who is in banking pointed out to me is if I was NOT eligible
for this service then they should have to refund my service fee of 50.00
on each loan. Just really tired of banks and big corporations screwing
people over.They don't even follow their own guidelines.