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According to Democratic House Representative Katie Porter, Wells Fargo may have collected “hundreds of millions of dollars” in account fees from customers, because the bank presents confusing rules about the terms of its accounts.
Representative Porter is a member of the Financial Services Committee who recently sent a note to Charles W. Scharf, CEO and President of Wells Fargo, to this effect.
She requested that the bank provide details about this confusion, and the financial effects that the confusion has on Wells Fargo customers.
Rep. Porter claims that Wells Fargo knowingly provides “incomplete information over a span of multiple years” concerning its Everyday Checking and Opportunity Checking accounts. Reportedly, both accounts charge customers a monthly fee of $10 unless the customer fulfills at least one of several requirements.
The representative states that one of the requirements that customers can meet to avoid the $10 fee is to make a minimum of 10 transactions per month. Allegedly, ATM withdrawals do not count towards these 10 transactions.
Many customers reportedly believed that ATM transactions did count towards the 10 transactions, and were hit with unexpected fees, if they had thought they were making enough transactions, but were not.
Last month, Wells Fargo acknowledged the problem in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, noting that it was reviewing “certain past disclosures to customers regarding the minimum qualifying debit card usage for customers to receive a waiver of monthly service fees on certain consumer deposit accounts.”
In that filing, the bank noted that it expected to refund some of the fees collected. However, Rep. Porter requested more information in her letter to the bank, as Wells Fargo did not specify how many customers had been affected, or how many fees the bank would likely refund.
This issue of Wells Fargo bank fees comes amidst a rise in bank fees across the financial industry, says the Washington Post.
Reportedly, Bankrate says the average cost of an overdraft fee has risen from $21.57 in 1998 to $33.26 this last year. The fees associated with savings accounts and using ATMs from other financial institutions are also reportedly on the rise.
According to the Woodstock Institute’s Senior Vice President of Policy and Communication, Brent Adams, these fees have a significant impact on consumers. He says that the fees “have the effect of pushing more people out of the banking system,” and are often disclosed in a way that is confusing and easy to miss.
The issue of confusing fee disclosures is not the only scandal regarding Wells Fargo that has made the news. In 2016, it was revealed that many of Wells Fargo’s employees had been opening fake bank accounts for customers who did not request them, or had been upgrading accounts without consumers’ consent. This was reportedly an attempt to meet lofty sales goals.
News sources estimate that around 3.5 million accounts were opened as a part of this scam. To make matters worse, some customers reportedly incurred fees and interest charges in connection with these fake accounts.
Have you been charged unexpected banking fees from Wells Fargo or another financial institution? Let us know in the comments below.
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26 thoughts onWells Fargo Confusing Account Terms May Cost Customers Extra Fees, Lawmaker Says
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I had a car loan thru Wells Fargo Auto Dealership Services for over 4yrs and paid over $500 a month for the entire 4yrs and they confused me on a monthly basis and was charged extra fees and as an example i had made a payment of $500 in September 2019, and a week later was told my car was on the repo list for a late fee from April that had started at $35 but was then $300 and to pay that plus my payment to stay off the repo list so in October 2019 i paid them $800 and 2wks later my car was repossessed on a Sunday, then was told on Monday that i had to wait 3 days and call another branch in the company to find out how much it would cost to get my car back but as i waited that 3 days i was charged another $1000 in repo fees and holding fees and some other fees they made up that i just let them keep my car and they still harrass me saying i owe them money. This happened to me AT LEAST twice a year for the entirety of my loan and i was NEVER shown where my money went and they could never explain to me why i paid out all of this money but still owed almost the initial cost of the loan? I wish there was someway the government could go thru all of their accounts and see how many hard working citizens they have screwed over this way. I would give anything to not only have back the $15,000 i paid on my $30,000 loan for a $19,000 car but also to have my credit rating completely destroyed with this whole experience. Almost cost me my marriage and my life from all the stress and depression this company caused me! I will NEVER deal with this company again and i recommend that everyone stay as far away from them as possible.
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Wells Fargo had my home equity loan
They charged me so much that after 13 YEARS of paying off the $27,000 loan amount I only received $1241!
It’s ridiculous
I went up there to ask where my refund is and they said they mailed it
To the house I just sold
So I still haven’t received $241 of what I am supposed to get back
6 months later
Wells Fargo is shady and I believe many many people are ripped off by Wells Fargo.
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Adf me. Wells Fargo with deposit the same check twice and when they making two overdraft fees in one day on one check happened to me multiple times over and over and over so much where are teacup one check or take up like $700 in overdraft fees
Yes, Wells Fargo has been charging me a $10 account Service fee for a Savings account that I have $25 being automatically transferred to in order to avoid the fee.
Please add me, this has happened to me and my family