Complaint Review: Wells Fargo - Santa Fe New Mexico

Hi Richard, About your post. It seems that many people have a problem with the check card. What could be happening in your case, is that the money is really available to you at the time you do your purchase at that moment. But then overnight one of your purchases from two days back posts to your account, then you're overdrawn. Wells isn't the only bank that updates transactions overnight. And as far as not declining your purchase. From the teller line, I can't even keep count of how many ppl were embarassed that they were in a restaurant or grocery store hosting friends, and looked bad in front of all of them when the server or cashier announed that the card declined. Can you believe we've even had some ask why we didn't ALLOW the transaction to go through? I'm just saying that it seem we can't please every demographic of customers at the same time. It really sounds like the check card isn't working for you. I'm not going to tell you to use a register like other folks would. But if the card is giving you that much trouble, just cut it up. Because that will save you the fees, and it will save a teller from being yelled at when you find out that you're overdrawn. (I actually have one account that I use just for checks, and another I use just for check card transactions) It kinda helped me out with my balancing.

While keeping a register is an unpopular recommendation, it WILL help avoid situations like this, immensely. That said, the banks do use a computer program to determine on each customer's account an "overdraft limit". This is determined using a mathematical calculation, and is based on many things. When a new account is opened, I'm not sure what the overdraft limit is that is given them, but if the account is managed properly, the bank will ?grant the privilege? to the customer of an ?overdraft limit?. One way this limit is determined is based on how often the customer has overdrafted in the past, as well as how long it took for the customer to deposit money to cover the fees, as well as the transaction that caused the overdraft. If a customer brings the account to a positive balance within a reasonable time, probably 5 days or less, just my guess, and doesn't constantly overdraw the account, the bank will continue to grant them the "courtesy" of an overdraft limit. The customer doesn't ASK for this ?privilege?, it is just ?given?. This means when a bank employee looks at a customer's account, there is a space marked "Overdraft limit" and a dollar amount. I am a former bank employee, and don't have definitive knowledge of the "average" overdraft amount for customers, but I recall seeing $1000, as a usual amount. So, you go and use your debit card for $5.00. You actually only have $3.00. The bank has given you the "privilege" of overdrawing your account, in order to "spare you the inconvenience of having your sale declined, and denying you being able to make the purchases you need", and so, you have an overdraft. In order to have THE BANK flag your account as Zero Limit for Overdrafts, which would cause a debit card sale to come up ?declined?, a customer typically had to have a LOT of overdrafts, with weeks of a negative balance. You can ask the bank to make your account a Zero Overdraft account, but from what I've read on Ripoff Reports, they don't like to do that. The bank may claim they CAN'T do that. I know that as a Customer Service Rep, no, I COULDN'T do that. There was no way to do that. Going farther up the chain of command, perhaps they are able to do it, but again, it doesn't seem like a lot of customers have been successful in getting this done. I may be wrong about that, and if so, please feel free to correct me. This is just my experiences and opinion. Yes, the banks do this to generate fee income. No question about it. That's why keeping a register is a customer's only defense against unwittingly overdrawing their account. The banks aren't going to help you avoid this.

But you're wrong. Debit cards are not credit cards, they only look like one. Not all debits are presented to a bank for approval... some are, some aren't, depending on the merchant, they system, and the method of processing. What is universally true is that when presented, the bank has to pay them, whether the money is there or not. No class action is needed, what is needed is for people to be responsible and keep track of their money, and stop paying these huge fees to these cattle rustlers,

But you're wrong. Debit cards are not credit cards, they only look like one. Not all debits are presented to a bank for approval... some are, some aren't, depending on the merchant, they system, and the method of processing. What is universally true is that when presented, the bank has to pay them, whether the money is there or not. No class action is needed, what is needed is for people to be responsible and keep track of their money, and stop paying these huge fees to these cattle rustlers,

But you're wrong. Debit cards are not credit cards, they only look like one. Not all debits are presented to a bank for approval... some are, some aren't, depending on the merchant, they system, and the method of processing. What is universally true is that when presented, the bank has to pay them, whether the money is there or not. No class action is needed, what is needed is for people to be responsible and keep track of their money, and stop paying these huge fees to these cattle rustlers,

But you're wrong. Debit cards are not credit cards, they only look like one. Not all debits are presented to a bank for approval... some are, some aren't, depending on the merchant, they system, and the method of processing. What is universally true is that when presented, the bank has to pay them, whether the money is there or not. No class action is needed, what is needed is for people to be responsible and keep track of their money, and stop paying these huge fees to these cattle rustlers,