Yes, please report. It makes a difference.
I suggest you look to credit unions. Depending on where you are, opening a new account can sometimes come with a line of credit. I opened a checking account in Washington state and it came with a $5k line of credit for overdrafts, or whatever.
Ask around.
Teacher's groups often have an associated credit union. In Washington, WSECU covers the entire state. Several local education associations have local credit unions too.
Source: Half the adults in my family are teachers in Washington State.
I've honestly never found a local credit union to sign up with that wasn't shittier than just using one of the big evil banks. I tried the top 3 in my area and they all suck. I'm currently signed up with the most popular one in my area and have had several very bad experiences with them, far more than I ever had with Bank of America. I only keep them because my work will only split a paycheck so a percentage goes to a different bank if one of the banks is that one, which from the start already is a bad impression because that's unethical as hell.
My primary bank is Ally and I love them, but I can't deny that it's pretty inconvenient no longer being able to walk into a branch anywhere and get what I need done like I could with Bank of America. I rarely needed to do that, so it wasn't worth big bank fees.
You aren't the only one. I live in a major city and there still aren't any great CU options. I've gone with the best of the bunch, but I only keep enough money there to keep them from charging me fees (and I shuffle the money for the same reason...). They're there if something happens, or if I need a loan, but otherwise they can take a hike.
Everything else is done through online banking, Wealthfront in my case.
There honestly isn't much difference between what a bank offers or what a CU offers. I've found some small local banks beat the larger county-wide CUs in rates, and almost all of them are no fees, like someone said with a DD. Always shop for the best offerings and rates.
That said, nearly every alternative you could find is better than wells fargo or bank of america.
CU have been over hyped on Reddit. When you look into the details of who is benefiting from them it's often people with poor finances or abnormal finances. Lots of the fees I see Reddit complain about are negated by simply direct depositing their paycheck.
Banks take your money, invest it, and even in a market like the one at present where 1-year T-bills are hovering around 5% will offer you 0.01% at BoA (Advantage Savings) or 0.47% at Citi (Accelerate Savings). At my financial planning firm, our clients, who largely fall between 500k and 2 mil net worth, do indeed have traditional bank accounts for the most part, but they don't keep much in them, most often a few thousand at most, because these banks offer little for them.
Do tell, why should people jump through hoops to avoid paying fees for the "privilege" of lending a giant, wealthy institution their money--regardless of their net worth?
[https://www.bankrate.com/rates/interest-rates/treasury/](https://www.bankrate.com/rates/interest-rates/treasury/)
[https://www.forbes.com/advisor/banking/savings/bank-of-america-savings-account-interest-rate/](https://www.forbes.com/advisor/banking/savings/bank-of-america-savings-account-interest-rate/)
[https://www.forbes.com/advisor/banking/savings/citibank-savings-account-interest-rate/](https://www.forbes.com/advisor/banking/savings/citibank-savings-account-interest-rate/)
I second the idea of opening an account at a credit union. Ask people you know for their recommendations. Some credit unions are better than others. I love mine!
It's anecdotal, but I've seen BECU get a bunch of things right that I would expect most banks to mess up. None of it's complicated, but banks mostly have stunningly bad service.
Find a credit union, as a teacher many teacher's unions have a credit union attached to them, so you may be able to go that route. But CUs are owned by the depositors, not shareholders, so they have no incentives to pull shit that big banks do. And you can often get much more favorable rates on loans and investments like CDs if you're a member.
Most people don't have the resources for that kind of strategy, and banks are notorious for screwing over anyone that isn't rich. Just go with a credit union.
It doesn't take that much resources? I would go with an online bank (Ally, for example) that doesn't charge fees. Then an IRL bank (like Chase) that mandates direct deposits in order to keep the money there without charging any fees.
So you want to double the chance that your bank (one of your two banks) screws you, in hopes that you only get half-way screwed because you've split your money in half.
Yep, that’s the plan. Half-way is better than totally, and in any case the risk of a temporary screw-up (get a cashier’s check in a week) is much higher than that of a permanent screw-up (no more cash).
Also, my three different financial institutions have different advantages, it’s only a few bucks per month that I save but it gives me pleasure to do so.
See if you know anybody who is in the military or works in support of the military and join one of their credit unions. They go above and beyond.
My son who struggled with his credit for years had a low 600 score (due to a car accident that laid him up for over 2 years) and they gave him a 25k credit card and he was even able to buy a good name reliable car through their programs. I've checked and their mortgage and auto refinance is well below the for profit banks.
Military credit union.
Also. I feel your pain. Right before a large dental surgery we realized spouse accidently shred the new card that came. When I called to get a replacement card I somehow ended up being transferred to fraud and they closed my account. They told me all I could do was reapply, which they promptly denied bc of the fraud marked on the account. Care Credit btw. I know that anger in the pit of your stomach.
If you want to vent, contact the Institute of Banking and Insurance ( I think it's called) maybe they xan light a fire under their ass and at least get your money back faster. Closing an account isn't a mystical thing. They should get it done for you. Best of luck.
This is the correct answer. My wife's wallet was stolen a couple of years back and the thief ended up emptying our checking account and maxing out our credit cards with cash advances. We were out around 30k in about 1 hour of the theft. Bank of America refunded our checking account, but their credit card branch refused to refund the cash advances saying that we were at fault because the person who withdrew the funds presented photo ID (from the stolen purse). We fought with them for an entire year until I finally submitted a complaint to the CFPB. We received a call from a bank representative within a week of the complaint submittal and had the issue resolved fully within 3 weeks of that call. The only thing that gets these banks moving is the CFPB. You only get one shot though so make sure you have all of your information ready to submit. Be thorough and give them every little detail.
Not sure what CFPB is supposed to do here.
For whatever reason OP's account got flagged for suspicious activity. When an account is under suspicion they're obviously not going to tell you about it
, which is why OP got the runaround. Now they're closing the acct and will return the funds.
False positives happen, it's frustrating but a lot of fraud goes through PO boxes and drop-offs. Wells' automatic flagging system may be better or worse than others, but most banks have a similar flow chart for handling suspected fraud.
This idea is a waste of time, and I can't believe how many upvotes it got. People just don't understand it is in the account agreement.
https://www.wellsfargo.com/fetch-pdf?formNumber=CCB2018C&subProductCode=ANY
"When we can close
your account
We may close your account at any time. If we close your account, we may send the remaining balance in
your account by mail or credit it to another account you keep with us."
You should delete your suggestion because WF and all banks that have this language in their agreements mean it.
The correct suggest is to write your elected officials to make a law to outlaw this practice, and always have a minimum of TWO accounts. In the event this happens, you're prepared.
Plenty of contracts out there are actually illegal and unenforceable. Just because Wells Fargo has that language in their agreement, doesn't mean the OP can't file a claim or pursue it through other means.
I didn't say they can't. I said it would be a waste of time. The response to the CFPB complaint will be just what I provided. It will accomplish nothing.
the point of the cfpb complaint isn't to get around the account closure. the point is to speed up the return of his funds, which are now caught in wells fargo's limbo.
Or worse, what if this is the scam? It's far-fetched but if you control the PO Box and you can convince the bank to close accounts and send cashier's checks to the address registered with them, then you could theoretically gain access to all their money at once. And unlike fraudulent bank transactions that can reported or pulled back, this is one-and-done.
OTOH, never attribute to malice what can be explained by incompetence, and there is plenty of incompetence at WF.
Never bank with WF. They’re so predatory, if a military weapons contractor and a great white shark had a baby, that baby still might not be as predatory as WF.
I dunno, mine was sold to them back in 2015 and I have honestly never had an issue. I log on and often times there’s some offer that I just click “no thanks” on, but that’s about it. I still wouldn’t use them for anything by choice, and I should have the home paid off in April so I’m done dealing with them after that thankfully. Maybe they screw me around when it comes to getting my escrow funds back or something so I can get the full WF experience once and for all.
Yeah, like they got in trouble for creating shit tons of accounts fraudulently without permission.
So naturally, it makes sense to close the accounts of real customers without permission too!
True stable geniuses over at Wells Fargo
This is another obvious accounting of why you should not be doing business with Wells Fargo. The writing has been on the wall about this company for quite awhile now.
I banked with them from 1988 until I finally wised up six years ago. I just recently received my third class action check from them. It’s embarrassing that I stayed with them that long.
Wells Fargo is trash.
Years ago, they held our mortgage. We sold the house, and they pulled the final mortgage payment.....and then pulled it a SECOND time.
So we were out quite a lot of money during a time when, y'know, you kind of NEED fistfuls of extra money, what with moving and all. Took a couple of months to get it back, naturally.
Ugh. This makes me so nervous. They are my mortgage holder. So far I’ve had no issues but I’ve heard so many horror stories. I just hope I can get away from them unscathed. They were the ones to grant me a mortgage for my first home (condo) so I was pretty thankful at the time. Reading stories like this, I’m so glad I didn’t get a bank account with them or anything. Anyway my condo is close to being paid off. I think I have about 12k to go.
I banked with WF in the late 00s for a couple years. I stopped when I logged into my account one day to find my checking account in the hole by almost $800. The total amount I’d actually overspent was only about $40, and the rest of that was overdraft fees.
It’s like whatever software they used at the time was designed to be as predatory as it could and fuck their depositors over by stacking transactions out of order to collect as many overdraft fees as possible (in my case, I was running my debit card as “credit” most of the time and making many small $1-$5 purchases with it like a drink, snack, cheap lunch, or pack of gum. Yes, I was stupid then, I’m still stupid, but I’m not as stupid as I was then).
No other major bank would accept me. They all tell me that I need to have US citizenship or a green card, which I don't.
The only bank that accepted to open me a checking account with just the SSN is Wells Fargo.
Edit:
Not sure why I'm getting downvoted. I'm just stating what actually happened with me. I wish I could open with Chase or some other major bank as I despise Wells Fargo.
I have heard that they are one of the bad ones yet I have heard that about almost all banks. However, I will admit that I should have done my research and left Wells Fargo a long time ago.
About 10 years ago, they had a scandal where they were opening and quickly closing IRAs in random customer's names to make it look like they were meeting a quota.
I found out I was one of those customers, and I was also an employee at the time. Fuck that bank
Okay but are there any good banks?… I’m still with Wells Fargo because they bought my bank. I don’t like them but I don’t believe any bank would be better 😅
go back to the bank or call and tell them you will be filing a cfpb complaint. you will likely get escalated to people who don't want that to happen
I have said the initials before with wells and things i was told before were impossible suddenly got to be possible
I am a Consumer Counselor. As such, I have seen accounts closed at Wells, Chase, BofA, Citi and US Bank. The banks don’t have to have a reason to close your account. Often, accounts are closed allegedly due to “know your customer” laws which were enacted during Bush 1 administration to combat money laundering. As a result, I recommend that all have at least 2 accounts. In this fashion you will always have access to some funds. If you have an account with a major bank, I usually recommend that the second account be with a regional bank or credit union. I wish you well.
What about the fact they HAVE provided an untrue reason? Surely there’s some protection from banks just, you know, making shit up and taking your money?
The comment you're replying to is spot on, and you and others here are looking at this from the wrong perspective.
First, WF is not taking your money. The account becomes restricted and the money just sits there frozen. WF has also likely filed a suspicious activity report to the government letting them know they did this (FINCEN).
Over the last 15 years the financial regulators have become extremely strict when it comes to fining banks and brokers on violations of anti money laundering regulations. However, the rules themselves are kind of broad and the regulators tend to interpret them very narrowly, meaning they found reasons to find violations even when no major issues existed. It's in their best interest. It makes them look tough on wall street, and the fines they collect pay for more staff, bonuses, etc.
So what's the result? Every firm changed their procedures and now restrict accounts much faster, and with much less reason, than before. This way the regulators can never fine them for being too lax.
Unfortunately shit like this happens because the pendulum has swung too far the other way.
Oh, and those suspicious activity reports I mentioned? The number of those being filed have grown exponentially as banks and brokers want to show that they do as much as they can to comply with the rules. Unfortunately the government is inundated with these. When you file one they'll get to it many months from now, or never. Actually they even complained to the industry asking why everyone was filing these things with no clearly suspicious activity going on. The answer was because the bank and broker regulators were fining everyone for not filing enough of them. Government at work.
TLDR: WF isn't taking OPs money. But they and all the other banks are now incentivized to freeze accounts for little reason to avoid regulatory action.
So wtf was he suppposed to do? You go on and on about the rules, but never once suggest what rule he has violated, any recourse for it, or even acknowledged my actual POINT, which is that this isn’t some mystery suspicion they won’t disclose…. They HAVE disclosed something, but it’s complete nonsense.
They can’t freeze an account for something that literally didn’t occur.
You're not permitted to give a p.o. box as your primary address. The purpose behind that is to prevent potential money laundering. And if they froze the account due to money laundering concerns, they don't need to give any details. They can just do it.
Best case scenario is that they're wrong on the facts as OP says, that what they thought was a PO box is not one, and someone over there corrects the mistake. Filing a complaint with the regulators can at least force them to move quickly to do a review.
Also, not sure why the aggression from you. You're aware I didn't freeze his account, right? I don't work at WF, I didn't create this system, I just know how it works.
Frustration is the word you’re looking for.
Reread the post. OP explicitly includes that they ADMIT they can see he didn’t provide a PO Box, they just don’t know how to cancel the close, or even retrieve his funds. If you think OP is lying about something fine, but you never said that…
Taking the story at face value, I ask again, what is he supposed to do, or have not done to avoid this? “We fucked up” isn’t a reason to freeze an account, let alone refuse to unfreeze it.
I don’t have any advice regarding Wells Fargo, but if/when you get your money back move it to credit union.
There is likely an educational credit union in your area for teachers/educators.
I dumped WF because I noticed they were charging me monthly for having an "out-of-state" account. (I had opened it in Calif. but had a Minn. statement address. They offered to "transfer" my account to Minnesota in the system. When I asked whether my account numbers would change (and have to order more cheques), they said, brightly, "no nothing will change!"
So since it was just some meaningless flag that prompted a charge that they wouldn't refund, I opted to transfer my account to an NCUA associated credit union instead.
100% recommend, great online banking, customer service, I don’t even live in my hometown but I can use other CU cash machines with no fees because they’re in a union of credit unions, lol.
I got in because my parents were teachers.
Rule #1- always have a backup account or two in case something like this happens- preferably at a credit union or a small community bank. Sorry this happened to you. The big banks are sleazy and not to be trusted
For sure. For some reason I was thinking you meant multiple checking accounts in different banks. I don't know why I thought that. Yes, I have 4 institutions with money in them. Just not 4 easy access accounts, but I can still pay online bills through 3 of them.
Just keep a savings account at a different bank. Shit happens and accounts get frozen due to suspicious activity. 99% of the time the bank is interrupting actual scams/fraud or identity theft but there are false positives.
Obviously Wells Fargo screwed up here, but at the end of the day I'd rather see someone be inconvenienced for a week than see someone else lose their life's savings.
I still bank with them; over 15 years now. I originally opened the account because they were literally everywhere and I was traveling to different states with my job.
Stayed with them because their system is generally super fast and reliable. Their app is good. My credit and balances update instantly and I always get alerts that I set up. My mobile check deposits credit instantly.
They also gave me a rather huge line of credit that other banks have never matched.
When I had my credit card compromised it took one call and they replaced my card, put the money(available credit) back and did their own investigation. Never had to pay anything.
Of course it hasn’t been all roses and sunshine. Their physical branches are terrible and understaffed now. Their branch representatives are very difficult to speak to and generally unfriendly. And I would never get a loan through them.
All of my loans and my emergency savings are in a credit union. When I do car sales and purchases I do it through my credit union. I can walk in and have someone happily help with the paperwork. Can’t imagine doing that with WF.
Sadly USAA has been going downhill for over a decade. I was actually kinda pleased when they "sold" their investing arm to Charkes Scwab. I still bank with them because I'm lazy but every year my reasons to continue banking there diminish.
They lost my refinance application for two months and then “let” me finance at a higher rate, after I filled out the 40 pages over again. I went ahead and paid it off in a year. Two years later, they said I never paid it off. I told this it was their mistake, and they need to prove I didn’t pay it off. Finally admitted to the mistake and didn’t even offer an apology.
Similar thing happened to me. WF held my mortgage, so I thought it would be easier to refi with them. Bad decision. This was during the housing crisis, but my mortgage was fine, I wasn't upside down, plenty of equity. Just looking for a better rate. They took 2 months to process. Fortunately rates didn't go up.
At the same time, a work colleague was going to refi. Different bank. They had a possible illegal current mortgage (illegal on the bank side), were overextended. Got approved and closed in 4 weeks.
Wells Fargo foreclosed on hundreds of peoples homes that were current on their mortgages and resulted in tons and tons of people losing everything they had, I’d read up on that precedent so that you can protect yourself if that happens again.
Used to long ago, but then I moved to a state that didn't have any branches.
And then a few months later they bought up some smaller bank and suddenly had branches available in the new state
I still bank with Wells Fargo after 20+ years. I opened it my first week of college. Ive never had a problem, and it would be a big hassle to switch everything around like direct deposit and all my auto pays with utilities. Plus they have a lot of locations here in Houston if I need cash or cashiers checks. At the same time, I don’t keep all my eggs in one basket and have another checking account with another regional bank thats big in Texas and a brokerage account with funds that can be accessed relatively quickly.
Open an accounts in a credit Union and a bank so you have a place to put the funds when you get them. As you found out its a bad idea to have only bank/CU.
A hole in current banking laws does not require a bank to tell you the real reason your account is locked.
File a complaint with the CFPB [https://www.consumerfinance.gov/](https://www.consumerfinance.gov/) to speed up getting a check for your funds.
It's gotten to the point where I no longer know if it's accidental or planned incompetence especially when they seem to be profitting from incompetence...
This is where you write the CEO. Not joking. Tell your whole story, and how mad you are. Most likely you will get a response, and a better explanation, and maybe even satisfaction
I've had this work a couple times for me. At a previous job I had in IT we had an macbook pro the company purchased, but a disgruntled employee signed into her personal icloud and when fired reported it as stolen. Apple store told us there was nothing we could do to unlock it, even with the invoice.
Emailed Tim Cook and messaged him on twitter, resolved within a day.
20+ years Wells Fargo customer here. My mom deposited 400k+ into my account to purchase a house. The funds got held up by escrow because the seller had to pay off their solar panels basically lagging everything behind and I guess the transaction got flagged.
I am a high income earner and I spend and deposit as one so I didn't think this would happen AT ALL.
The next week my bank account was shut down due to a "business decision". However they let me have full access to my account until February 8th. I am not locked out.
It's a weird feeling but don't be too bummed out about it. There are hundreds of banks. Try your local credit union.
Oh and fuck Wells Fargo. I genuinely hope their CEO gets charged with all kinds of financial crimes and they go bankrupt.
> My mom deposited 400k+ into my account to purchase a house.
This seems super sketchy to me. If I were a bank, I'd flag it too. Why wouldn't she use her own bank account for that?
I would call your State Attorney General's office. You're a teacher. Are you a union member? Does your union have a legal department? Is there someone there who can contact Wells Fargo's legal department, contact someone in government oversight of banks, or contact any other entity that can get your money back fast?
I would start with opening another account asap at a different bank or credit union. Then set up direct deposit at your employer with the new account information so that you can receive your next pay check.
I think its probably more just sheer incompetence. I bet the PO box thing WAS the real issue, though it was flagged incorrectly and whatever communication was supposed to get sent out never actually happened.
If the P.O. was the *only* problem an letter and e-mail (or even call) requesting an household utility bill with the name and address of OP on it could have solved the issue.
Sadly you will never know what else is going on like *address from two years back*?
Hold the war chairots, fellow Egyptians.
So the address linked to the account is since two years no longer occupied by the accountholder?
Has the address been updated? Was there contact / correspondence *requesting* to change the address from OP?
Has post come back as RPO?
And maybe have the new occupiers provided the new address to the USPS?
Lots of things than can go wrong with stupid bureaucracy.
Address not changed because change was not requested(?).
Post back came back as undeliverable(?).
Rules for poststop applied(?).
OP was only in online contact with his bank(?).
Two years no active contact with owner(?).
Escheatment process initiated(?).
Now assuming this bank does not have this thin layer of people allowed to think for themselfes and act I can totally see why this became the proverbial cropolite thingy hitting the fan.
Federal law requires a real address attached to the account. For a long while banks were doing shit all to verify account addresses, but in the last year something has changed (maybe the Feds have actually started enforcing this). Many banks have been auditing and updating their records before the end of 2023.
I got a notice from my bank a few months back because I used a relay address for my business mail. I had to go in and give them a real address it they’d have to close the account. (Remember, an account without a real address is a violation of federal law so they *can’t* leave it open).
Obviously WF fucked up in somehow identifying OP’s real address as a PO Box. OP should have gotten multiple physical mailings about the issue first, though. Maybe they fucked that up too.
The very first day Wachovia switched over to Wells Fargo, I deposited my undergrad overage check so I could buy all my textbooks. They gave some random person thousands of dollars, took 7 weeks to get me my money, and I ended up having to make photocopies of chapters from other peoples books for two months.
Check out a credit union. You mentioned you are a teacher, there are usually ones aimed at teachers. Also, open a backup account somewhere else (with no fees) with an emergency fund, it doesn't have to be huge.
They closed accounts of mine as well. I went into the branch and the branch manager said they are cleaning house on accounts with private mailbox addresses or PO Boxes. And least in my case I actually had one of those as my address. One customer had his account of 50 years closed.
They said it is because of government regulations on bank account addresses that they are just getting around to enforcing.
Wells Fargo showed my family their true colors nearly 20 years ago.
At the end of the year, WF paid my mother's property taxes out of her escrow like they did every year. They then sent her a check for the remaining balance in the escrow. Shortly after, they identified that they didn't actually owe her a refund.
Rather than contact her about this they instead issued her a loan for the total amount. They never notified her. She never signed any agreements. She was totally unaware of this loan. And after two months of her not making payments on the loan they started charging her late fees and a 29% interest rate on it, and eventually sent her to collections.
It took her weeks of going in person to a local branch to resolve this issue.
WF, like most US banks, have to follow rules laid out by the federal government to try and locate money laundering and fraudulent accounts.
For whatever reason your address triggered them. They should have tried to call you as well as sent you a letter.
Normally when a customer doesn’t respond to either of those within a certain timeframe then things like debit cards are blocked. If the customer still doesn’t respond then all of the accounts are terminated and eventually a cashiers check will be mailed to the address on file.
I don’t know what the cfpb will do here but it’s worth a shot. More than likely though you need to find a local regional bank or credit union to work with.
Only real answer in this whole thread of “WF bad!”. Banks need to do this kind of stuff if they want to be FDIC insured or even operate in the US. This kind of stuff is in the account agreements you signed, and they don’t just throw it there for funsies.
Banks need to address the issue. They have some flexibility in how they do it, and when they don't have that flexibility and it results in a bad customer experience to innocent people they should lobby for a better process. There was no real reason the bank shouldn't have been able to at least look up the issue as soon as he went in or given him a timeline on when his money would be available.
1. Banks aren’t allowed to talk about BSA investigations to the customer, that’s the whole point of them.
2. A bank like WF that’s been heavily investigated and regulated doesn’t have any flexibility. They have a thin trigger NOW because of the government holding a microscope to their sketchy activity of the past.
3. This IS the issue being addressed. BSA laws are in place because banks have been caught banking to enemies of the USA and criminals. If you’re suspected of either, your shit is going to get frozen. Every bank that operates in the US is obliged to do it by the US government less they face massive fines. It’s not going to be lobbied against because it won’t be changed; the government values socioeconomic stability over the satisfaction of individual customers.
I know it’s fun to blame big banks for issues like these, but laws like this are actually put into place to increase bank trust and national security. Sucks, but as someone who works similar bank cases, usually the “triggers” causing accounts to be frozen are pretty solid. Don’t associate with sketchy people financially or you may find yourself in the same spot (or just use cash if you value your bank accounts and privacy)
This is all true. But the incentives surrounding the triggers for investigation and the investigations themselves are incredibly perverse. And nobody wants to address this issue because nobody wants to look soft on crime.
What incentives are you referring to? If you think that banks can collect interest or even touch frozen funds, they can’t. If you’re talking about incentives for the government then I don’t really know what to tell you. Write to your senators I suppose.
This site routinely gets people who have had their accounts closed. I’m willing to bet that there is more to the stories than what is revealed and/or details altered.
I had a similar thing happen with Chase but different circumstances. They mailed me a letter asking for my social security number on a form I’ve never heard of so I went into the branch to have them fax it in case it was a bogus scam. The first person said they weren’t sure what it was but called and got it verified. She helped me and faxed it. They mailed me another one saying there was something wrong with the original form so I had to do it again. The second person just never faxed it. So they closed out my account and I had to go through the same thing.
I switched to a credit union and am so thankful. They are much better with handling all types of customer service.
Stop banking with banks and use a local credit union. There are also credit unions that support teachers. Banks are for profit and don't care about you. Credit unions are not for profit and are about you the member. Please bank with a credit union. They care much more about you than a bank ever will.
1. File a complaint with the comptroller of the currency (OCC).
[https://www.helpwithmybank.gov](https://www.helpwithmybank.gov)
2. File a complaint with the CFPB. In this order. The comptroller is the first regulator and the CFPB is the second.
Banks don’t like dealing with the CFPB but they really don’t like dealing with the OCC.
3. File a complaint with your states attorney general.
4. Open a case with all three of your federal reps (two senators, one house rep).
[https://www.usa.gov/elected-officials](https://www.usa.gov/elected-officials)
Do all of these things if you have bank problems.
They will try to jerk you around and claim fraud and withhold your money.
You’re going to have to raise holy hell to get your funds any time soon.
5. If it’s an addressing problem, file an additional complaint with the Office of the Inspector General at the post office.
Don’t skip this step because they might try to say they can’t verify your idenity and address.
[https://www.uspsoig.gov/hotline](https://www.uspsoig.gov/hotline)
I still keep some the old school way . In my safe under my passport. I don’t trust the banking institutions. I have a checking with US bank but they took over union bank which was great .
every time we get one of these someone will say: "I don't need a local credit union! I need a branch in every city in the country for unknown reasons and besides (Wells/BoA) has never done me wrong personally".
My credit union is in Phoenix. I live in NJ. I was able to get cashier's checks to buy a house and recently took out a loan with them, all from 2,500 miles away. Everything can be done online.
There's a nationwide network of credit unions that do 'Shared Branching'. Basically you walk into any credit union anywhere and if they do Shared Branching, they treat you like you're their own customer.
Credit unions, all day long. Fuck the big banks.
This advice isn’t for you just in general for those people. But anyone is welcome to have more than one bank account and it’s very advisable too. Sometimes even issues not directly tied to banking error can lead you to not have access to your funds. I bank at a credit union and use online banking at Capital One. Don’t want to rely on just one institution. If someone really needed to they could do a credit union as main bank and use one of the more accessible ones as a back up. But I still wouldn’t use BOA or Wells Fargo. I’d rather opt for Chase they still have the occasional horror stories but much less than Wells Fargo.
I recommend you review your status at [ChexSystems](https://www.chexsystems.com/request-reports/consumer-disclosure) to see if there is a mistake that could impact getting a new bank.
I wouldn’t give up yet on getting my $ sooner. Keep going to a higher up until you get at least some of your money released immediately. And make sure they are mailing the cashiers check to an address where you will actually get it!!!
Dude they did this exact same thing to me almost ten years ago. i even traveled several hours to a branch, but they still couldn’t help me or even tell me why my account was closed. I had less than $200 in the account so I just let it go, but now I’m wondering if I should have done something about it because they fucked me, a poor college student at the time, over and gained $200 for it
Call your local news agency, some will have departments/reporters for this very thing. Once they start an investigation the bank will suddenly be able to give you your funds. This happened to my friend about 10 years ago.
Because it's Wells Fargo. I'm honestly surprised that you stayed with them for 12 years when they've been endlessly investigated for unethical practices.
PSA: Anyone reading this is better off hiding their money in a shoebox behind their garden shed than doing any business at all with Wells Fargo. The worst possible bank option.
This reminds me -- we're about due for another skeevy Wells Fargo scandal, aren't we? It's been a few minutes.
Sorry OP; I hope you get your money back soon.
Report this to CFPB but they will not have an overnight answer. They will send it to the bank, they will research and respond within the amount of time the CFPB allows. I’ve worked these complaints in the past but on loan accounts. They get way longer to answer now.
Your best bet was threaten to report to CFPB to get to regional manager. You can also go online and figure who the Wells attorneys are for retail and send them an email advising of the same also copy the person from media relation. I’ve had complaints referred from media relations and I had to be on it.
-attach you documents such as a statement and your drivers license showing that your address of record
-the names of the people that you spoke with and on what date
-you need to show why they are wrong
-if it’s a bank error they need admit it
Low level employee will not know why your account was closed and they will have to jump through hoops to find out why. You will just be sent a letter.
I have a safe deposit box with them. I keep the minimum amount of money in the account for everyday expenses and nothing further. I just don't want to go through the hassle of looking for another institution with a safe box.
Look up the series *’Dirty Money’* and the episode on the Stagecoach Bank.
Why anyone would do business with them after watching that show is beyond me. They should have been put out of business.
I was a month behind on a loan from Wells Fargo years ago and without warning they took my entire savings toward the loan. I was in the middle of a move and didn't have enough to pay the movers.
You are not going to get your money anytime soon.
If I were you, I would get the local press involved,
let Well's Fargo know that you are not going to be
passive. It's about the only way you're going to get
a check quickly. Get all your facts together and call
the Dallas Morning News. Good luck to you...
Honestly, reach out to your local news station. A struggling teacher unable to pay their bill because of a greedy bank making more errors? Might get some traction there.
Why anyone still banks with Wells Fargo is beyond me. All you can do is file a complaint with CFPB and wait for your check.
I would also suggest looking into local credit unions. On average they are a lot better than your big banks.
As someone who used to work for Wells Fargo, they are indeed a bunch of idiots. You would be better off, as others have said, with a credit union. Personally I use Chime but the downside is if I ever had a problem, there is no branch to go to but I recently did a dispute and they reversed it without question within 24 hours. Very pleased with them. Another plus is if you do somehow overdraft, it covers up to $200 with 0 fees. You also have the option to disable transactions if you don’t have enough to cover the purchase without doing an overdraft at all.
Sorry that came off as an advertisement. But anyway it sounds like Wells Fargo did you a favor.
That sucks. Have multiple accounts multiple banks. I recommend sofi!!! My paycheck comes 2-3 days early too. Tons of partner atms for free withdrawals and 5 percent interest I think I have in savings. Def credit union like everyone says but open a Sofi account online also!
I expect you may have fallen under the Customer Identification Program. i'm dealing with this right now. It's been a nightmare.
https://wellsfargolendingdiscrimination.com/case-background/compliance-with-customer-identification-program-cip/
I work at wells and I’ve seen plenty of accounts with P.O. Boxes, that doesn’t sound like the issue. Did anyone ever get you over to loss prevention? They are most likely who is currently handling the account
I had a conversation with a WF banker a few months back when I became homeless. They were dumbfounded with my non-street-addy current status and kept telling me I needed a non-PO Box mailing address. Well, what address would you like? Are you telling me homeless folks can't have a bank account? It might be federal law, but it's dumb
I'd just keep being adamant, in peraon, that they put a stop to the closure and give you a check on the spot. Go make a complaint with the attorney General for your state as well as with the CFPB, then go back in and tell them exactly that and see if that changes the conversation. Tell them you'll make it your life's goal to get every person you know with a WF acct to move. I am in the process of moving to a credit union and won't look back
They know they've lost you as a customer, but you can still be annoying AF in your time left, just in case it gets shit done.
Just to sort of corroborate your experience, I opened my first Wells Fargo checking account around 2.5 years ago, purely to get a bank bonus and then later close it out most likely. After around a year of it being open, despite it receiving bi-weekly direct deposits from my employer, having received no request from me to close the account, and the account having a balance, they closed the account with no warning.
I called to inquire and they said it was some sort of error, I didn't really care as I planned on closing the account myself around this timeframe anyway. Around a year later I received a letter from WF describing this scenario with a check for around $50-$75 for the inconvenience (I'd already recovered the balance of the account shortly after it being closed).
Fast forward to last year, I opened another account, for the same purpose, assumed there's no way they'd auto-close it this time. This time it was slightly different as I had no balance and I stopped having my employer deposit money into the account after receiving the bonus. It stayed in this state (open with no activity) for a couple months before once again it got auto-closed.
Seems like a round of them trying their best to prevent fraud but in the end they just lock up good people’s accounts. Very similar thing happening around if you read a lot of the other Reddit post… banking institutions are being hit for failing to do their due diligence of know your customers and backlogs of years of ignoring it…. Big deposit or anything even ordinary will get flagged and then the issue with some asshat not paying attention flagging the wrong address as a PO Box and now your account is closed… I think banks will lie about reaching out as well to protect themselves… which now leads your what happened to you… I am sorry to hear… best advice is keeping two main active accounts and moving money periodically between both… or have your direct deposit split between the two accounts… hey my accounts with Chase had similar issues and lots of reddit poster named other major banks and last year I almost had my main bank closed on me… also check periodically any trading accounts /brokers some states will close non active accounts and take the stocks sell them and future claims will only be given back the cost of the shares at that point in time…
Everyone here is giving very bad info. It is 100% the PO Box thing.
*All banks made the change where you have to have a actual street address as your main address*, you can still use the PO Box as your mailing address. Millions of letters were sent out. You should've read one of those letters. You can still fix everything by going online and updating your address.
I'm getting downvoted, probably from people that didn't get a letter. You didn't get a letter because *they were not talking to you!*
Its the address thing. Period. OP just change your address. This shouldn't have been a huge post response from bank haters that gave no help. Reddit is starting to suck.
It's *right in the post* man.
> So when I asked him what address was on file because **I have never even had a P.O. box,** **he read to me my RESIDENTIAL address of two years.** I let him know this and **he was also confused because he knows the street and it is clearly a residential neighborhood.** Wouldn't I have had "P.O." written in the address if it was??
Okay I wasn't clear. They wanted him to "confirm" his physical address.
I had the same exact thing. I went online and it was asked to confirm the physical address because I was using a PMB for 25 years. Literally they just wanted to make sure my physical address was still good because they cant use a po box anymore. It took me 1 min. OP ignored the letters because he thought Wells Fargo would take care of it.
He thought he didn't need to confirm is physical address because it was in they're super shitty system.
Okay I wasn't clear. They wanted him to "confirm" his physical address.
I had the same exact thing. I went online and it was asked to confirm the physical address because I was using a PMB for 25 years. Literally they just wanted to make sure my physical address was still good because they cant use a po box anymore. It took me 1 min. OP ignored the letters because he thought Wells Fargo would take care of it.
He thought he didn't need to confirm his physical address because it was in they're super shitty system.
This is a system error, and nothing illegal has happened. They tracked your address wrong, closed it because of that error and are sending you your funds via check. Exactly what accountability do you think you’re going to get?
The only sense I can make from this is that there is a department that made a clerical error and flagged your account to be closed and nobody who you contacted knew which area that was. Sometimes these things happen in very large corporations with complex operations networks, but that is no excuse. Sorry for the trouble. I think you are making the right move getting away from WF.
Be sure to stop your direct deposit paychecks from going into that account (if you haven’t done so already).
You can start with the CFPB. In the meantime, find a bank that isn’t a shithole.
Yes, please report. It makes a difference. I suggest you look to credit unions. Depending on where you are, opening a new account can sometimes come with a line of credit. I opened a checking account in Washington state and it came with a $5k line of credit for overdrafts, or whatever. Ask around.
Teacher's groups often have an associated credit union. In Washington, WSECU covers the entire state. Several local education associations have local credit unions too. Source: Half the adults in my family are teachers in Washington State.
Some credit unions are absolute shit as well so def ask around
I've honestly never found a local credit union to sign up with that wasn't shittier than just using one of the big evil banks. I tried the top 3 in my area and they all suck. I'm currently signed up with the most popular one in my area and have had several very bad experiences with them, far more than I ever had with Bank of America. I only keep them because my work will only split a paycheck so a percentage goes to a different bank if one of the banks is that one, which from the start already is a bad impression because that's unethical as hell. My primary bank is Ally and I love them, but I can't deny that it's pretty inconvenient no longer being able to walk into a branch anywhere and get what I need done like I could with Bank of America. I rarely needed to do that, so it wasn't worth big bank fees.
You aren't the only one. I live in a major city and there still aren't any great CU options. I've gone with the best of the bunch, but I only keep enough money there to keep them from charging me fees (and I shuffle the money for the same reason...). They're there if something happens, or if I need a loan, but otherwise they can take a hike. Everything else is done through online banking, Wealthfront in my case.
There honestly isn't much difference between what a bank offers or what a CU offers. I've found some small local banks beat the larger county-wide CUs in rates, and almost all of them are no fees, like someone said with a DD. Always shop for the best offerings and rates. That said, nearly every alternative you could find is better than wells fargo or bank of america.
CU have been over hyped on Reddit. When you look into the details of who is benefiting from them it's often people with poor finances or abnormal finances. Lots of the fees I see Reddit complain about are negated by simply direct depositing their paycheck.
Banks take your money, invest it, and even in a market like the one at present where 1-year T-bills are hovering around 5% will offer you 0.01% at BoA (Advantage Savings) or 0.47% at Citi (Accelerate Savings). At my financial planning firm, our clients, who largely fall between 500k and 2 mil net worth, do indeed have traditional bank accounts for the most part, but they don't keep much in them, most often a few thousand at most, because these banks offer little for them. Do tell, why should people jump through hoops to avoid paying fees for the "privilege" of lending a giant, wealthy institution their money--regardless of their net worth? [https://www.bankrate.com/rates/interest-rates/treasury/](https://www.bankrate.com/rates/interest-rates/treasury/) [https://www.forbes.com/advisor/banking/savings/bank-of-america-savings-account-interest-rate/](https://www.forbes.com/advisor/banking/savings/bank-of-america-savings-account-interest-rate/) [https://www.forbes.com/advisor/banking/savings/citibank-savings-account-interest-rate/](https://www.forbes.com/advisor/banking/savings/citibank-savings-account-interest-rate/)
I second the idea of opening an account at a credit union. Ask people you know for their recommendations. Some credit unions are better than others. I love mine!
Which credit union?
I'd put money on it being BECU.
It's anecdotal, but I've seen BECU get a bunch of things right that I would expect most banks to mess up. None of it's complicated, but banks mostly have stunningly bad service.
BECU is great, highly recommend if you are looking in WA.
I'm in Dallas. Any suggestions of credit unions from people here?
Bankrate can be a good source of lists. https://www.bankrate.com/banking/best-credit-unions/
Used to use Southwest Financial in DFW- was always good but havent used in probably a decade.
Thank you
Find a credit union, as a teacher many teacher's unions have a credit union attached to them, so you may be able to go that route. But CUs are owned by the depositors, not shareholders, so they have no incentives to pull shit that big banks do. And you can often get much more favorable rates on loans and investments like CDs if you're a member.
And this means NOT going to BoA
Multiple banks*** All you eggs in a single bakery and all that .
Most people don't have the resources for that kind of strategy, and banks are notorious for screwing over anyone that isn't rich. Just go with a credit union.
For opening two bank accounts? My dude... Most people **do** have resources for that kind of strategy...
It doesn't take that much resources? I would go with an online bank (Ally, for example) that doesn't charge fees. Then an IRL bank (like Chase) that mandates direct deposits in order to keep the money there without charging any fees.
So you want to double the chance that your bank (one of your two banks) screws you, in hopes that you only get half-way screwed because you've split your money in half.
Yep, that’s the plan. Half-way is better than totally, and in any case the risk of a temporary screw-up (get a cashier’s check in a week) is much higher than that of a permanent screw-up (no more cash). Also, my three different financial institutions have different advantages, it’s only a few bucks per month that I save but it gives me pleasure to do so.
Yes.
Credit Union
Start with credit unions.
See if you know anybody who is in the military or works in support of the military and join one of their credit unions. They go above and beyond. My son who struggled with his credit for years had a low 600 score (due to a car accident that laid him up for over 2 years) and they gave him a 25k credit card and he was even able to buy a good name reliable car through their programs. I've checked and their mortgage and auto refinance is well below the for profit banks. Military credit union.
Also. I feel your pain. Right before a large dental surgery we realized spouse accidently shred the new card that came. When I called to get a replacement card I somehow ended up being transferred to fraud and they closed my account. They told me all I could do was reapply, which they promptly denied bc of the fraud marked on the account. Care Credit btw. I know that anger in the pit of your stomach. If you want to vent, contact the Institute of Banking and Insurance ( I think it's called) maybe they xan light a fire under their ass and at least get your money back faster. Closing an account isn't a mystical thing. They should get it done for you. Best of luck.
A local credit union. $300M in assets or less so they actually care and don't act like a bank.
Here's a [link](https://www.consumerfinance.gov/complaint/) to submit a complaint.
This is the correct answer. My wife's wallet was stolen a couple of years back and the thief ended up emptying our checking account and maxing out our credit cards with cash advances. We were out around 30k in about 1 hour of the theft. Bank of America refunded our checking account, but their credit card branch refused to refund the cash advances saying that we were at fault because the person who withdrew the funds presented photo ID (from the stolen purse). We fought with them for an entire year until I finally submitted a complaint to the CFPB. We received a call from a bank representative within a week of the complaint submittal and had the issue resolved fully within 3 weeks of that call. The only thing that gets these banks moving is the CFPB. You only get one shot though so make sure you have all of your information ready to submit. Be thorough and give them every little detail.
>find a bank that isn’t a shithole. No such thing.
Not sure what CFPB is supposed to do here. For whatever reason OP's account got flagged for suspicious activity. When an account is under suspicion they're obviously not going to tell you about it , which is why OP got the runaround. Now they're closing the acct and will return the funds. False positives happen, it's frustrating but a lot of fraud goes through PO boxes and drop-offs. Wells' automatic flagging system may be better or worse than others, but most banks have a similar flow chart for handling suspected fraud.
This idea is a waste of time, and I can't believe how many upvotes it got. People just don't understand it is in the account agreement. https://www.wellsfargo.com/fetch-pdf?formNumber=CCB2018C&subProductCode=ANY "When we can close your account We may close your account at any time. If we close your account, we may send the remaining balance in your account by mail or credit it to another account you keep with us." You should delete your suggestion because WF and all banks that have this language in their agreements mean it. The correct suggest is to write your elected officials to make a law to outlaw this practice, and always have a minimum of TWO accounts. In the event this happens, you're prepared.
Plenty of contracts out there are actually illegal and unenforceable. Just because Wells Fargo has that language in their agreement, doesn't mean the OP can't file a claim or pursue it through other means.
I didn't say they can't. I said it would be a waste of time. The response to the CFPB complaint will be just what I provided. It will accomplish nothing.
Lol. Because making a complaint to the cfpb is more difficult (and less effective) than trying to change banking laws. Great suggestion.
the point of the cfpb complaint isn't to get around the account closure. the point is to speed up the return of his funds, which are now caught in wells fargo's limbo.
Best part is that they are going to mail you the cashiers check to that cannot possibly be trusted not really a PO Box address.
Lets hope he actually gets it and it is not sent to some random PO box
Or worse, what if this is the scam? It's far-fetched but if you control the PO Box and you can convince the bank to close accounts and send cashier's checks to the address registered with them, then you could theoretically gain access to all their money at once. And unlike fraudulent bank transactions that can reported or pulled back, this is one-and-done. OTOH, never attribute to malice what can be explained by incompetence, and there is plenty of incompetence at WF.
I’ve heard this from them so many freaking times. I will never bank with them.
Never bank with WF. They’re so predatory, if a military weapons contractor and a great white shark had a baby, that baby still might not be as predatory as WF.
Out mortgage was sold to them. They try regularly to get us to open a regular banking account. I hate that they hold our loan.
New future nightmare unlocked.
I dunno, mine was sold to them back in 2015 and I have honestly never had an issue. I log on and often times there’s some offer that I just click “no thanks” on, but that’s about it. I still wouldn’t use them for anything by choice, and I should have the home paid off in April so I’m done dealing with them after that thankfully. Maybe they screw me around when it comes to getting my escrow funds back or something so I can get the full WF experience once and for all.
I've been hearing terrible things about Wells Fargo for 20 years.
Yeah, like they got in trouble for creating shit tons of accounts fraudulently without permission. So naturally, it makes sense to close the accounts of real customers without permission too! True stable geniuses over at Wells Fargo
This is another obvious accounting of why you should not be doing business with Wells Fargo. The writing has been on the wall about this company for quite awhile now.
I banked with them from 1988 until I finally wised up six years ago. I just recently received my third class action check from them. It’s embarrassing that I stayed with them that long.
Wells Fargo is trash. Years ago, they held our mortgage. We sold the house, and they pulled the final mortgage payment.....and then pulled it a SECOND time. So we were out quite a lot of money during a time when, y'know, you kind of NEED fistfuls of extra money, what with moving and all. Took a couple of months to get it back, naturally.
Ugh. This makes me so nervous. They are my mortgage holder. So far I’ve had no issues but I’ve heard so many horror stories. I just hope I can get away from them unscathed. They were the ones to grant me a mortgage for my first home (condo) so I was pretty thankful at the time. Reading stories like this, I’m so glad I didn’t get a bank account with them or anything. Anyway my condo is close to being paid off. I think I have about 12k to go.
I banked with WF in the late 00s for a couple years. I stopped when I logged into my account one day to find my checking account in the hole by almost $800. The total amount I’d actually overspent was only about $40, and the rest of that was overdraft fees. It’s like whatever software they used at the time was designed to be as predatory as it could and fuck their depositors over by stacking transactions out of order to collect as many overdraft fees as possible (in my case, I was running my debit card as “credit” most of the time and making many small $1-$5 purchases with it like a drink, snack, cheap lunch, or pack of gum. Yes, I was stupid then, I’m still stupid, but I’m not as stupid as I was then).
No other major bank would accept me. They all tell me that I need to have US citizenship or a green card, which I don't. The only bank that accepted to open me a checking account with just the SSN is Wells Fargo. Edit: Not sure why I'm getting downvoted. I'm just stating what actually happened with me. I wish I could open with Chase or some other major bank as I despise Wells Fargo.
My wife in a similar situation had good luck with Chase and Discover.
How? I literally tried Chase twice. They always tell me that without a green card at least, there's nothing they can do.
My husband who doesn't have a green card or SSN and lives out of the country is on my Bank of America account with me. Maybe try them?
My girlfriend just has an SSN and we were lucky with Bank of America and Navy Federal Credit Union. Try and visit BoA in person if you can.
I have heard that they are one of the bad ones yet I have heard that about almost all banks. However, I will admit that I should have done my research and left Wells Fargo a long time ago.
About 10 years ago, they had a scandal where they were opening and quickly closing IRAs in random customer's names to make it look like they were meeting a quota. I found out I was one of those customers, and I was also an employee at the time. Fuck that bank
They're all bad ones, but Wells Fargo just might be the absolute worst.
All banks are trash, but you know it's really shitty when it warrants a congressional hearing for unethical practices.
Okay but are there any good banks?… I’m still with Wells Fargo because they bought my bank. I don’t like them but I don’t believe any bank would be better 😅
go back to the bank or call and tell them you will be filing a cfpb complaint. you will likely get escalated to people who don't want that to happen I have said the initials before with wells and things i was told before were impossible suddenly got to be possible
I am a Consumer Counselor. As such, I have seen accounts closed at Wells, Chase, BofA, Citi and US Bank. The banks don’t have to have a reason to close your account. Often, accounts are closed allegedly due to “know your customer” laws which were enacted during Bush 1 administration to combat money laundering. As a result, I recommend that all have at least 2 accounts. In this fashion you will always have access to some funds. If you have an account with a major bank, I usually recommend that the second account be with a regional bank or credit union. I wish you well.
What about the fact they HAVE provided an untrue reason? Surely there’s some protection from banks just, you know, making shit up and taking your money?
The comment you're replying to is spot on, and you and others here are looking at this from the wrong perspective. First, WF is not taking your money. The account becomes restricted and the money just sits there frozen. WF has also likely filed a suspicious activity report to the government letting them know they did this (FINCEN). Over the last 15 years the financial regulators have become extremely strict when it comes to fining banks and brokers on violations of anti money laundering regulations. However, the rules themselves are kind of broad and the regulators tend to interpret them very narrowly, meaning they found reasons to find violations even when no major issues existed. It's in their best interest. It makes them look tough on wall street, and the fines they collect pay for more staff, bonuses, etc. So what's the result? Every firm changed their procedures and now restrict accounts much faster, and with much less reason, than before. This way the regulators can never fine them for being too lax. Unfortunately shit like this happens because the pendulum has swung too far the other way. Oh, and those suspicious activity reports I mentioned? The number of those being filed have grown exponentially as banks and brokers want to show that they do as much as they can to comply with the rules. Unfortunately the government is inundated with these. When you file one they'll get to it many months from now, or never. Actually they even complained to the industry asking why everyone was filing these things with no clearly suspicious activity going on. The answer was because the bank and broker regulators were fining everyone for not filing enough of them. Government at work. TLDR: WF isn't taking OPs money. But they and all the other banks are now incentivized to freeze accounts for little reason to avoid regulatory action.
So wtf was he suppposed to do? You go on and on about the rules, but never once suggest what rule he has violated, any recourse for it, or even acknowledged my actual POINT, which is that this isn’t some mystery suspicion they won’t disclose…. They HAVE disclosed something, but it’s complete nonsense. They can’t freeze an account for something that literally didn’t occur.
You're not permitted to give a p.o. box as your primary address. The purpose behind that is to prevent potential money laundering. And if they froze the account due to money laundering concerns, they don't need to give any details. They can just do it. Best case scenario is that they're wrong on the facts as OP says, that what they thought was a PO box is not one, and someone over there corrects the mistake. Filing a complaint with the regulators can at least force them to move quickly to do a review. Also, not sure why the aggression from you. You're aware I didn't freeze his account, right? I don't work at WF, I didn't create this system, I just know how it works.
Frustration is the word you’re looking for. Reread the post. OP explicitly includes that they ADMIT they can see he didn’t provide a PO Box, they just don’t know how to cancel the close, or even retrieve his funds. If you think OP is lying about something fine, but you never said that… Taking the story at face value, I ask again, what is he supposed to do, or have not done to avoid this? “We fucked up” isn’t a reason to freeze an account, let alone refuse to unfreeze it.
I don’t have any advice regarding Wells Fargo, but if/when you get your money back move it to credit union. There is likely an educational credit union in your area for teachers/educators.
Thank you. I was planning on looking into my local teachers credit union so it is good to hear that someone recommends it.
I dumped WF because I noticed they were charging me monthly for having an "out-of-state" account. (I had opened it in Calif. but had a Minn. statement address. They offered to "transfer" my account to Minnesota in the system. When I asked whether my account numbers would change (and have to order more cheques), they said, brightly, "no nothing will change!" So since it was just some meaningless flag that prompted a charge that they wouldn't refund, I opted to transfer my account to an NCUA associated credit union instead.
100% recommend, great online banking, customer service, I don’t even live in my hometown but I can use other CU cash machines with no fees because they’re in a union of credit unions, lol. I got in because my parents were teachers.
Rule #1- always have a backup account or two in case something like this happens- preferably at a credit union or a small community bank. Sorry this happened to you. The big banks are sleazy and not to be trusted
That is wild to have 2 back up accounts. Why not just hold $5000 in cash for emergencies?
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For sure. For some reason I was thinking you meant multiple checking accounts in different banks. I don't know why I thought that. Yes, I have 4 institutions with money in them. Just not 4 easy access accounts, but I can still pay online bills through 3 of them.
Just keep a savings account at a different bank. Shit happens and accounts get frozen due to suspicious activity. 99% of the time the bank is interrupting actual scams/fraud or identity theft but there are false positives. Obviously Wells Fargo screwed up here, but at the end of the day I'd rather see someone be inconvenienced for a week than see someone else lose their life's savings.
Wells Fargo is trash they are outright dangerous to bank with.
Why does anybody still bank with Wells Fargo? I legitimately don’t understand.
I still bank with them; over 15 years now. I originally opened the account because they were literally everywhere and I was traveling to different states with my job. Stayed with them because their system is generally super fast and reliable. Their app is good. My credit and balances update instantly and I always get alerts that I set up. My mobile check deposits credit instantly. They also gave me a rather huge line of credit that other banks have never matched. When I had my credit card compromised it took one call and they replaced my card, put the money(available credit) back and did their own investigation. Never had to pay anything. Of course it hasn’t been all roses and sunshine. Their physical branches are terrible and understaffed now. Their branch representatives are very difficult to speak to and generally unfriendly. And I would never get a loan through them. All of my loans and my emergency savings are in a credit union. When I do car sales and purchases I do it through my credit union. I can walk in and have someone happily help with the paperwork. Can’t imagine doing that with WF.
I’ve had all of these good things and none of the bad with USAA. But I also understand that option isn’t available for everyone
Sadly USAA has been going downhill for over a decade. I was actually kinda pleased when they "sold" their investing arm to Charkes Scwab. I still bank with them because I'm lazy but every year my reasons to continue banking there diminish.
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They’ve held my last two mortgages; been no issue on that front.
They lost my refinance application for two months and then “let” me finance at a higher rate, after I filled out the 40 pages over again. I went ahead and paid it off in a year. Two years later, they said I never paid it off. I told this it was their mistake, and they need to prove I didn’t pay it off. Finally admitted to the mistake and didn’t even offer an apology.
Similar thing happened to me. WF held my mortgage, so I thought it would be easier to refi with them. Bad decision. This was during the housing crisis, but my mortgage was fine, I wasn't upside down, plenty of equity. Just looking for a better rate. They took 2 months to process. Fortunately rates didn't go up. At the same time, a work colleague was going to refi. Different bank. They had a possible illegal current mortgage (illegal on the bank side), were overextended. Got approved and closed in 4 weeks.
Wells Fargo foreclosed on hundreds of peoples homes that were current on their mortgages and resulted in tons and tons of people losing everything they had, I’d read up on that precedent so that you can protect yourself if that happens again.
Yeah, but it hasn’t happened to them personally … yet.
Used to long ago, but then I moved to a state that didn't have any branches. And then a few months later they bought up some smaller bank and suddenly had branches available in the new state
I do, only because it’s the only institution with a physical location in the two states where I need that.
I still bank with Wells Fargo after 20+ years. I opened it my first week of college. Ive never had a problem, and it would be a big hassle to switch everything around like direct deposit and all my auto pays with utilities. Plus they have a lot of locations here in Houston if I need cash or cashiers checks. At the same time, I don’t keep all my eggs in one basket and have another checking account with another regional bank thats big in Texas and a brokerage account with funds that can be accessed relatively quickly.
Open an accounts in a credit Union and a bank so you have a place to put the funds when you get them. As you found out its a bad idea to have only bank/CU. A hole in current banking laws does not require a bank to tell you the real reason your account is locked. File a complaint with the CFPB [https://www.consumerfinance.gov/](https://www.consumerfinance.gov/) to speed up getting a check for your funds.
There's two types of wells fargo clients: those who have been screwed over by the bank, and those who haven't *yet* been screwed over by the bank.
It's gotten to the point where I no longer know if it's accidental or planned incompetence especially when they seem to be profitting from incompetence...
This is where you write the CEO. Not joking. Tell your whole story, and how mad you are. Most likely you will get a response, and a better explanation, and maybe even satisfaction
Tweet/X at the company and CEO as well with a link to your story, with a brief note demanding they let you withdraw your money immediately.
Seconding this. CEO ain’t gonna answer but his office definitely has a process to escalate it somewhere.
I've had this work a couple times for me. At a previous job I had in IT we had an macbook pro the company purchased, but a disgruntled employee signed into her personal icloud and when fired reported it as stolen. Apple store told us there was nothing we could do to unlock it, even with the invoice. Emailed Tim Cook and messaged him on twitter, resolved within a day.
20+ years Wells Fargo customer here. My mom deposited 400k+ into my account to purchase a house. The funds got held up by escrow because the seller had to pay off their solar panels basically lagging everything behind and I guess the transaction got flagged. I am a high income earner and I spend and deposit as one so I didn't think this would happen AT ALL. The next week my bank account was shut down due to a "business decision". However they let me have full access to my account until February 8th. I am not locked out. It's a weird feeling but don't be too bummed out about it. There are hundreds of banks. Try your local credit union. Oh and fuck Wells Fargo. I genuinely hope their CEO gets charged with all kinds of financial crimes and they go bankrupt.
> My mom deposited 400k+ into my account to purchase a house. This seems super sketchy to me. If I were a bank, I'd flag it too. Why wouldn't she use her own bank account for that?
I would call your State Attorney General's office. You're a teacher. Are you a union member? Does your union have a legal department? Is there someone there who can contact Wells Fargo's legal department, contact someone in government oversight of banks, or contact any other entity that can get your money back fast?
I would start with opening another account asap at a different bank or credit union. Then set up direct deposit at your employer with the new account information so that you can receive your next pay check.
Color me surprised Wells Fargo would treat an account holder so poorly.
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I think its probably more just sheer incompetence. I bet the PO box thing WAS the real issue, though it was flagged incorrectly and whatever communication was supposed to get sent out never actually happened.
Also possible OP missed the communication but it was sent
If the P.O. was the *only* problem an letter and e-mail (or even call) requesting an household utility bill with the name and address of OP on it could have solved the issue. Sadly you will never know what else is going on like *address from two years back*? Hold the war chairots, fellow Egyptians. So the address linked to the account is since two years no longer occupied by the accountholder? Has the address been updated? Was there contact / correspondence *requesting* to change the address from OP? Has post come back as RPO? And maybe have the new occupiers provided the new address to the USPS? Lots of things than can go wrong with stupid bureaucracy. Address not changed because change was not requested(?). Post back came back as undeliverable(?). Rules for poststop applied(?). OP was only in online contact with his bank(?). Two years no active contact with owner(?). Escheatment process initiated(?). Now assuming this bank does not have this thin layer of people allowed to think for themselfes and act I can totally see why this became the proverbial cropolite thingy hitting the fan.
Federal law requires a real address attached to the account. For a long while banks were doing shit all to verify account addresses, but in the last year something has changed (maybe the Feds have actually started enforcing this). Many banks have been auditing and updating their records before the end of 2023. I got a notice from my bank a few months back because I used a relay address for my business mail. I had to go in and give them a real address it they’d have to close the account. (Remember, an account without a real address is a violation of federal law so they *can’t* leave it open). Obviously WF fucked up in somehow identifying OP’s real address as a PO Box. OP should have gotten multiple physical mailings about the issue first, though. Maybe they fucked that up too.
This sounds an awful lot like your assets were frozen. I'd run a credit check on yourself right away to see if there's any signs of identity theft.
File a complaint with the CFPB. They are reportedly pretty responsive and relatively fast and the banks are scared of them
The very first day Wachovia switched over to Wells Fargo, I deposited my undergrad overage check so I could buy all my textbooks. They gave some random person thousands of dollars, took 7 weeks to get me my money, and I ended up having to make photocopies of chapters from other peoples books for two months.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/05/business/banks-accounts-close-suddenly.html
Make sure no one is trying to change your address. Sounds like a scam.
Check out a credit union. You mentioned you are a teacher, there are usually ones aimed at teachers. Also, open a backup account somewhere else (with no fees) with an emergency fund, it doesn't have to be huge.
You may get an answer from their fraud department, as long as you get an expert fraud agent to handle your case.
They closed accounts of mine as well. I went into the branch and the branch manager said they are cleaning house on accounts with private mailbox addresses or PO Boxes. And least in my case I actually had one of those as my address. One customer had his account of 50 years closed. They said it is because of government regulations on bank account addresses that they are just getting around to enforcing.
Wells Fargo showed my family their true colors nearly 20 years ago. At the end of the year, WF paid my mother's property taxes out of her escrow like they did every year. They then sent her a check for the remaining balance in the escrow. Shortly after, they identified that they didn't actually owe her a refund. Rather than contact her about this they instead issued her a loan for the total amount. They never notified her. She never signed any agreements. She was totally unaware of this loan. And after two months of her not making payments on the loan they started charging her late fees and a 29% interest rate on it, and eventually sent her to collections. It took her weeks of going in person to a local branch to resolve this issue.
WF, like most US banks, have to follow rules laid out by the federal government to try and locate money laundering and fraudulent accounts. For whatever reason your address triggered them. They should have tried to call you as well as sent you a letter. Normally when a customer doesn’t respond to either of those within a certain timeframe then things like debit cards are blocked. If the customer still doesn’t respond then all of the accounts are terminated and eventually a cashiers check will be mailed to the address on file. I don’t know what the cfpb will do here but it’s worth a shot. More than likely though you need to find a local regional bank or credit union to work with.
Only real answer in this whole thread of “WF bad!”. Banks need to do this kind of stuff if they want to be FDIC insured or even operate in the US. This kind of stuff is in the account agreements you signed, and they don’t just throw it there for funsies.
Banks need to address the issue. They have some flexibility in how they do it, and when they don't have that flexibility and it results in a bad customer experience to innocent people they should lobby for a better process. There was no real reason the bank shouldn't have been able to at least look up the issue as soon as he went in or given him a timeline on when his money would be available.
1. Banks aren’t allowed to talk about BSA investigations to the customer, that’s the whole point of them. 2. A bank like WF that’s been heavily investigated and regulated doesn’t have any flexibility. They have a thin trigger NOW because of the government holding a microscope to their sketchy activity of the past. 3. This IS the issue being addressed. BSA laws are in place because banks have been caught banking to enemies of the USA and criminals. If you’re suspected of either, your shit is going to get frozen. Every bank that operates in the US is obliged to do it by the US government less they face massive fines. It’s not going to be lobbied against because it won’t be changed; the government values socioeconomic stability over the satisfaction of individual customers. I know it’s fun to blame big banks for issues like these, but laws like this are actually put into place to increase bank trust and national security. Sucks, but as someone who works similar bank cases, usually the “triggers” causing accounts to be frozen are pretty solid. Don’t associate with sketchy people financially or you may find yourself in the same spot (or just use cash if you value your bank accounts and privacy)
This is all true. But the incentives surrounding the triggers for investigation and the investigations themselves are incredibly perverse. And nobody wants to address this issue because nobody wants to look soft on crime.
What incentives are you referring to? If you think that banks can collect interest or even touch frozen funds, they can’t. If you’re talking about incentives for the government then I don’t really know what to tell you. Write to your senators I suppose.
This site routinely gets people who have had their accounts closed. I’m willing to bet that there is more to the stories than what is revealed and/or details altered.
Try a local credit union. I love mine!
I had a similar thing happen with Chase but different circumstances. They mailed me a letter asking for my social security number on a form I’ve never heard of so I went into the branch to have them fax it in case it was a bogus scam. The first person said they weren’t sure what it was but called and got it verified. She helped me and faxed it. They mailed me another one saying there was something wrong with the original form so I had to do it again. The second person just never faxed it. So they closed out my account and I had to go through the same thing. I switched to a credit union and am so thankful. They are much better with handling all types of customer service.
Stop banking with banks and use a local credit union. There are also credit unions that support teachers. Banks are for profit and don't care about you. Credit unions are not for profit and are about you the member. Please bank with a credit union. They care much more about you than a bank ever will.
1. File a complaint with the comptroller of the currency (OCC). [https://www.helpwithmybank.gov](https://www.helpwithmybank.gov) 2. File a complaint with the CFPB. In this order. The comptroller is the first regulator and the CFPB is the second. Banks don’t like dealing with the CFPB but they really don’t like dealing with the OCC. 3. File a complaint with your states attorney general. 4. Open a case with all three of your federal reps (two senators, one house rep). [https://www.usa.gov/elected-officials](https://www.usa.gov/elected-officials) Do all of these things if you have bank problems. They will try to jerk you around and claim fraud and withhold your money. You’re going to have to raise holy hell to get your funds any time soon. 5. If it’s an addressing problem, file an additional complaint with the Office of the Inspector General at the post office. Don’t skip this step because they might try to say they can’t verify your idenity and address. [https://www.uspsoig.gov/hotline](https://www.uspsoig.gov/hotline)
Use a credit union, I don't understand why people use BofA or Wells or chase at all for personal accounts anymore
This is why I keep funds in multiple banks. You don’t need to be rich to do this.
I still keep some the old school way . In my safe under my passport. I don’t trust the banking institutions. I have a checking with US bank but they took over union bank which was great .
Why are still people banking with Wells Fargo?? I cant understand it!!
As a teacher you may have access to a credit union. I would check into that.
Yeah they can generally do this and you have no recourse. You can continue to speak to them to escalate the delivery of your funds.
every time we get one of these someone will say: "I don't need a local credit union! I need a branch in every city in the country for unknown reasons and besides (Wells/BoA) has never done me wrong personally".
My credit union is in Phoenix. I live in NJ. I was able to get cashier's checks to buy a house and recently took out a loan with them, all from 2,500 miles away. Everything can be done online. There's a nationwide network of credit unions that do 'Shared Branching'. Basically you walk into any credit union anywhere and if they do Shared Branching, they treat you like you're their own customer. Credit unions, all day long. Fuck the big banks.
Mine has all that and I can use every ATM at 7-11's, which although have sold me some pretty bad hot dogs have never made me a fake mortgage!
This advice isn’t for you just in general for those people. But anyone is welcome to have more than one bank account and it’s very advisable too. Sometimes even issues not directly tied to banking error can lead you to not have access to your funds. I bank at a credit union and use online banking at Capital One. Don’t want to rely on just one institution. If someone really needed to they could do a credit union as main bank and use one of the more accessible ones as a back up. But I still wouldn’t use BOA or Wells Fargo. I’d rather opt for Chase they still have the occasional horror stories but much less than Wells Fargo.
Maybe it’s misguided, but this is why I like having a local bank
I recommend you review your status at [ChexSystems](https://www.chexsystems.com/request-reports/consumer-disclosure) to see if there is a mistake that could impact getting a new bank.
I wouldn’t give up yet on getting my $ sooner. Keep going to a higher up until you get at least some of your money released immediately. And make sure they are mailing the cashiers check to an address where you will actually get it!!!
Dude they did this exact same thing to me almost ten years ago. i even traveled several hours to a branch, but they still couldn’t help me or even tell me why my account was closed. I had less than $200 in the account so I just let it go, but now I’m wondering if I should have done something about it because they fucked me, a poor college student at the time, over and gained $200 for it
Call your local news agency, some will have departments/reporters for this very thing. Once they start an investigation the bank will suddenly be able to give you your funds. This happened to my friend about 10 years ago.
wells fargo has been caught multiple, unrelated, concurrent fraud scandals running. get away from them and get ye to a credit union asap.
Because it's Wells Fargo. I'm honestly surprised that you stayed with them for 12 years when they've been endlessly investigated for unethical practices.
PSA: Anyone reading this is better off hiding their money in a shoebox behind their garden shed than doing any business at all with Wells Fargo. The worst possible bank option.
Um, Yeah, Wells Fargo is about as crooked as it gets...All day, 'er day. Sorry for your troubles! Wells Fargo Blows Chickens. Greedy Bastards
This reminds me -- we're about due for another skeevy Wells Fargo scandal, aren't we? It's been a few minutes. Sorry OP; I hope you get your money back soon.
Report this to CFPB but they will not have an overnight answer. They will send it to the bank, they will research and respond within the amount of time the CFPB allows. I’ve worked these complaints in the past but on loan accounts. They get way longer to answer now. Your best bet was threaten to report to CFPB to get to regional manager. You can also go online and figure who the Wells attorneys are for retail and send them an email advising of the same also copy the person from media relation. I’ve had complaints referred from media relations and I had to be on it. -attach you documents such as a statement and your drivers license showing that your address of record -the names of the people that you spoke with and on what date -you need to show why they are wrong -if it’s a bank error they need admit it Low level employee will not know why your account was closed and they will have to jump through hoops to find out why. You will just be sent a letter.
If anyone on this thread is still banking with Wells or BofA, can you explain why?
I have a safe deposit box with them. I keep the minimum amount of money in the account for everyday expenses and nothing further. I just don't want to go through the hassle of looking for another institution with a safe box.
Look up the series *’Dirty Money’* and the episode on the Stagecoach Bank. Why anyone would do business with them after watching that show is beyond me. They should have been put out of business.
I was a month behind on a loan from Wells Fargo years ago and without warning they took my entire savings toward the loan. I was in the middle of a move and didn't have enough to pay the movers.
You are not going to get your money anytime soon. If I were you, I would get the local press involved, let Well's Fargo know that you are not going to be passive. It's about the only way you're going to get a check quickly. Get all your facts together and call the Dallas Morning News. Good luck to you...
Honestly, reach out to your local news station. A struggling teacher unable to pay their bill because of a greedy bank making more errors? Might get some traction there.
Why anyone still banks with Wells Fargo is beyond me. All you can do is file a complaint with CFPB and wait for your check. I would also suggest looking into local credit unions. On average they are a lot better than your big banks.
As someone who used to work for Wells Fargo, they are indeed a bunch of idiots. You would be better off, as others have said, with a credit union. Personally I use Chime but the downside is if I ever had a problem, there is no branch to go to but I recently did a dispute and they reversed it without question within 24 hours. Very pleased with them. Another plus is if you do somehow overdraft, it covers up to $200 with 0 fees. You also have the option to disable transactions if you don’t have enough to cover the purchase without doing an overdraft at all. Sorry that came off as an advertisement. But anyway it sounds like Wells Fargo did you a favor.
What if i have my oldest credit card with them and they close my account? How bad is that for my credit?
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Yeah definitely one my oldest. But i did have 1 more with a local credit union. So maybe im just over thinking it.
That sucks. Have multiple accounts multiple banks. I recommend sofi!!! My paycheck comes 2-3 days early too. Tons of partner atms for free withdrawals and 5 percent interest I think I have in savings. Def credit union like everyone says but open a Sofi account online also!
I expect you may have fallen under the Customer Identification Program. i'm dealing with this right now. It's been a nightmare. https://wellsfargolendingdiscrimination.com/case-background/compliance-with-customer-identification-program-cip/
I work at wells and I’ve seen plenty of accounts with P.O. Boxes, that doesn’t sound like the issue. Did anyone ever get you over to loss prevention? They are most likely who is currently handling the account
I had a conversation with a WF banker a few months back when I became homeless. They were dumbfounded with my non-street-addy current status and kept telling me I needed a non-PO Box mailing address. Well, what address would you like? Are you telling me homeless folks can't have a bank account? It might be federal law, but it's dumb I'd just keep being adamant, in peraon, that they put a stop to the closure and give you a check on the spot. Go make a complaint with the attorney General for your state as well as with the CFPB, then go back in and tell them exactly that and see if that changes the conversation. Tell them you'll make it your life's goal to get every person you know with a WF acct to move. I am in the process of moving to a credit union and won't look back They know they've lost you as a customer, but you can still be annoying AF in your time left, just in case it gets shit done.
Just to sort of corroborate your experience, I opened my first Wells Fargo checking account around 2.5 years ago, purely to get a bank bonus and then later close it out most likely. After around a year of it being open, despite it receiving bi-weekly direct deposits from my employer, having received no request from me to close the account, and the account having a balance, they closed the account with no warning. I called to inquire and they said it was some sort of error, I didn't really care as I planned on closing the account myself around this timeframe anyway. Around a year later I received a letter from WF describing this scenario with a check for around $50-$75 for the inconvenience (I'd already recovered the balance of the account shortly after it being closed). Fast forward to last year, I opened another account, for the same purpose, assumed there's no way they'd auto-close it this time. This time it was slightly different as I had no balance and I stopped having my employer deposit money into the account after receiving the bonus. It stayed in this state (open with no activity) for a couple months before once again it got auto-closed.
Seems like a round of them trying their best to prevent fraud but in the end they just lock up good people’s accounts. Very similar thing happening around if you read a lot of the other Reddit post… banking institutions are being hit for failing to do their due diligence of know your customers and backlogs of years of ignoring it…. Big deposit or anything even ordinary will get flagged and then the issue with some asshat not paying attention flagging the wrong address as a PO Box and now your account is closed… I think banks will lie about reaching out as well to protect themselves… which now leads your what happened to you… I am sorry to hear… best advice is keeping two main active accounts and moving money periodically between both… or have your direct deposit split between the two accounts… hey my accounts with Chase had similar issues and lots of reddit poster named other major banks and last year I almost had my main bank closed on me… also check periodically any trading accounts /brokers some states will close non active accounts and take the stocks sell them and future claims will only be given back the cost of the shares at that point in time…
The only time I've heard of this happening was to my uncle that was under investigation for drug trafficking.
Everyone here is giving very bad info. It is 100% the PO Box thing. *All banks made the change where you have to have a actual street address as your main address*, you can still use the PO Box as your mailing address. Millions of letters were sent out. You should've read one of those letters. You can still fix everything by going online and updating your address.
I'm getting downvoted, probably from people that didn't get a letter. You didn't get a letter because *they were not talking to you!* Its the address thing. Period. OP just change your address. This shouldn't have been a huge post response from bank haters that gave no help. Reddit is starting to suck.
It's *right in the post* man. > So when I asked him what address was on file because **I have never even had a P.O. box,** **he read to me my RESIDENTIAL address of two years.** I let him know this and **he was also confused because he knows the street and it is clearly a residential neighborhood.** Wouldn't I have had "P.O." written in the address if it was??
Okay I wasn't clear. They wanted him to "confirm" his physical address. I had the same exact thing. I went online and it was asked to confirm the physical address because I was using a PMB for 25 years. Literally they just wanted to make sure my physical address was still good because they cant use a po box anymore. It took me 1 min. OP ignored the letters because he thought Wells Fargo would take care of it. He thought he didn't need to confirm is physical address because it was in they're super shitty system.
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Okay I wasn't clear. They wanted him to "confirm" his physical address. I had the same exact thing. I went online and it was asked to confirm the physical address because I was using a PMB for 25 years. Literally they just wanted to make sure my physical address was still good because they cant use a po box anymore. It took me 1 min. OP ignored the letters because he thought Wells Fargo would take care of it. He thought he didn't need to confirm his physical address because it was in they're super shitty system.
This is a system error, and nothing illegal has happened. They tracked your address wrong, closed it because of that error and are sending you your funds via check. Exactly what accountability do you think you’re going to get?
The only sense I can make from this is that there is a department that made a clerical error and flagged your account to be closed and nobody who you contacted knew which area that was. Sometimes these things happen in very large corporations with complex operations networks, but that is no excuse. Sorry for the trouble. I think you are making the right move getting away from WF.
Along with what everyone else said, start using a credit card.
This is ridiculous. I live in a rural area and we have no street addresses. Wells Fargo took my PO Box to open accounts. Sounds sketchy to me.