I don't understand how this happens. Did they not notice the additional fees?
Those fees had to come out of accounts that actually had money. Depending on the type of account, a minimum amount was required to open the account.
We notice unusual charges immediately. Doesn't anyone reconcile accounts anymore?
Don't get me wrong -- I'm not blaming the customers for this theft. But, I'm surprised at how far it spread before it was exposed.
I've been a Wells Fargo customer for decades. I've never noticed anything shady like this. But, maybe they noticed that I log in to the bank website on a regular basis.
I am getting very sour. I say just shoot them both.
Suppose a Wells Fargo customer has two accounts, and he's paying, let's say, $50 in fees annually. Then Wells Fargo opens up a third account for him, without his knowledge. Now he's paying $75 in fees annually.
I can see that customer (if he even reads his statements) saying, "Oh, I guess the fees went up. Just like my gas bill and everything else."
As I noted before, this is theft. People should be doing serious prison time for this. But they won't.
Those fees had to come out of accounts that actually had money. Depending on the type of account, a minimum amount was required to open the account.
We notice unusual charges immediately. Doesn't anyone reconcile accounts anymore?
Don't get me wrong — I'm not blaming the customers for this theft. But, I'm surprised at how far it spread before it was exposed.
I've been a Wells Fargo customer for decades. I've never noticed anything shady like this. But, maybe they noticed that I log in to the bank website on a regular basis.
I can see how this could happen if they consolidated all of the small (the fake ones) account fees into a single line item on the “good” account. It would just look like a small fee increase.
I wonder if that was what they did?
They are really not presenting it accurately. They were not accounts per se. They were selling products.
Say you were opening a checking account. The agent would then get you a debit card, overdraft protection, and online banking. Those are three more “products”. You would probably never see a fee for any of that stuff. Although the credit check for overdraft would be a hit on your credit score.
It’s when they rolled in Savings accounts or money markets, and credit cards that would really screw you up. Linking all of those things could cause fees if you over drew one account into another.
Normally this stuff was caught by audits and by accounts being idle and not funded. The funny thing is that an idle checking account is going to cost the bank between $4 and $6 a month in processing fees.
All of this smells like a horrible sales environment gone crazy. The sad part is that an agent can make good money if they just pitch the right products. It takes longer to do it wrong. You could do it right twice in that time.