Bank Problem

[nin137]

i just moved out to seattle, washington and switched banks from wachovia to wells fargo. now i don't want this to be a post in which i just talk badly about wells fargo but today was the last straw! i was applying for a credit card and i needed verification of my address, the representative at my local branch offered that if the credit card company needed any clarification then they could call her and she stapled her card onto the application i sent them.
lo and behold today i find a charge of $2 on my account for 'banker phone call'. now this may be customary or whatnot i don't know, but the fact that she made it seem as though taht i wouldn't be charged is what makes me mad. also it's $2, but it's just the principle of the matter.
the other thing that really annoys me is that they charge me for using quicken! whether i do a direct connect download or web connect they charge me $4 a month...not much i know, but just enough to make me exasperated.
wachovia didn't charge me for any of this and they even notarized documents for me for free!
now the real purpose of this post is to ask...does anyone else here use wells fargo? can anyone please give me a reason to not close my account with them and move it to washington mutual?
i'm afraid there will be some stupid hidden closing cost i never saw...grr!

[TwoRails]

I've used WF a long time ago and didn't have any problems. Many banks now a days have different "levels" of service, depending on which account you have (such as how much you have in checking, for instance). I have two BofA accounts and both have different levels. What's free in one account, costs in the other. You might want to clarify "what" you have, or change over to another bank.

[bailey]

heck, at my bank everything is free, but if I ever need it I do have to pay for replacement blank checks, but then I don't usally write checks, maybe 15 a year.
I even have online banking too free.

[Hi Ho]

My parents have always used Key Bank and so I have all of my accounts there. I haven't had any problems, no fees.

[i8uiky]

iv ben with washington mutual for about 10 years and have no complaints. I like the free online bill pay and their open saterday(one of the few in my home town).

[mbossman2]

Banks generate huge profits off fees.

I much prefer dealing with smaller, local banks rather than the huge mega-banks. you know the branch manager, he knows you and if any crap like that fee pops up, one word to the manager and poof..it disappears.

not so easy with a mega-bank.

plus with the strides in technology, small banks can now offer many of the same services the mega-banks can and do and usually for a better price and level of service.

[nin137]

yeah, i definitely agree with the points above. I'm going to go there tomorrow and argue with them. i guess i'll just mention that i'm going to switch banks if this keeps up (although i doubt that will matter to them that much...it's not like i'm taking millions with me).
right now the hassle of transferring all the money and the paperwork is keeping me at wells fargo; hopefully in the future they will make it worth my while.
one last note (which i think is kind of funny really) was when i was thinking of using them to open a traditional ira.
there's a $40 annual fee (which i think is insane) but the kicker was that the representative said (with a straight face nonetheless) that they waive the fee once you have $100,000!!!!!! in the account.
now i just got out of two years of working and am now in law school; her saying that to my face was borderline sarcasm.

[David M]

Change your bank first of all...go with someone like Washington Mutual. Secondly DON'T use banks for investing your money. Get a self directed Roth IRA through Scott Trade or Ameritrade. You don't need a bank to get an IRA. Bank IRA's are very limited in how you can invest your money and the returns are generally lousy.

[edfair]

Just be aware that WAMU may be showing some strains. Atlanta shut down about 1/3 of their offices.
One thing that happens when a bank starts showing strains is service falloff and rate increases.

Who knows, Wells Fargo may have a charge for chewing out a manager.

[EzyStvy]

Speaking of banks. Should have seen the look of horror on my face yesterday at the ATM. It said it couldn't give me any cash cause I had used my PIN too many times. Oh, I don't think so...This morning the CS department said it was probably a computer glitch.

[nin137]

well for anyone who would remotely care as to what happens when you try to get a bank charge off of your account, here is what happened:
i go to the local branch and of course the girl who i dealt with who originally charged me is out. i have to speak to some other representative who must have been having a bad day.
we got into not really an argument but a 'spirited debate' as to whether or not i should have been aware of the charge.
that kind of made me mad because in my opinion the whole thing wasn't open to dispute in the first place.
it went something like this,
"well we can take the charge off now but i would like to advise you in the future that we are allowed to charge you for any activity not directly related to your account."
"i asked if there were any fees for her to verify my address and she said there weren't."
"yes well there are no fees for that, but there is a fee for the phone call she had to make."
"but she offered the phone call; when she did i assumed that there wasn't a fee for that as she didn't mention one after telling me that there was no fee for the entire process."
so forth so on.
kind of annoying, i was trying to get him to see that it is quite impossible for me to ask a question i didn't know existed...i.e. "is there a charge to the phone call?"; considering that that portion of the whole process seemed to be almost a vestigal part of it.
oh well, at least they took off the $2....if only it had been $200 then i wouldn't feel like such a loser right now.

[HAL9000]

Originally Posted by mbossman2 Banks generate huge profits off fees. I much prefer dealing with smaller, local banks rather than the huge mega-banks. you know the branch manager, he knows you and if any crap like that fee pops up, one word to the manager and poof..it disappears. not so easy with a mega-bank. plus with the strides in technology, small banks can now offer many of the same services the mega-banks can and do and usually for a better price and level of service.

I agree completely... when I started my new job, I had to get a bank account with a credit union for my pay deposits... well, I decided to use the one that is right in the building I work in. It's a very small CU as it is open to credit union employees only.... I think there is only about 6 people that work there and I know them all by name and the one that opened my line of credit, I used to talk to her in the loss prevention department with the credit cards all the time. Needless to say, the service is outstanding... which I wish I could say the same for my other account, TD Canada Trust.... I'm paying debts out with them and shutting down.

[Kareeser]

I used to have a TD Canada Trust account, and my parents set up a mutual fund automatic withdrawal.

Funny how after a couple years, TD invested all my money, but kept withdrawing the $25 bucks every month. By the time I found out, I was in the negative values, and TD was charging me for having a negative balance. (Hey, I was like... 10)

Mostly my fault, but it's just funny.

I use the bank service that Loblaws came up with. No fees on ANYTHING, but the tradeoff is that there are no tellers and no managers. Higher interest rate as well!

[Rockrz]

Originally Posted by nin137 today i find a charge of $2 on my account for 'banker phone call'.

Dude, this is easy...under Federal Reserve rules, your card cannot be charged without you having the knowledge to authorize the charge....this is your right under Federal Reserve rules, which is Federal Law.
"Tell" them to remove it...don't ask...TELL

If they refuse, then politely tell them this charge was a deception, and you did not authorize it or have any knowledge that this was going to be charged.

If they still refuse to remove it, then go to http://www.federalreserve.gov/pubs/Complaints/ and file a complaint with the Fed.

Once you do this, you'll be supprised how quick they give you your money back.

[Stuey]

Rockrz, they CAN charge him without his authorization. It's probably in the fine print. When someone overdraws on an account, the bank doesn't call them to ask if it's ok to apply the overdraw fee.

Anyways, how about an update? Did you stay with WF or have you found a more suitable bank yet?

[HAL9000]

Originally Posted by Kareeser .............. I use the bank service that Loblaws came up with. No fees on ANYTHING, but the tradeoff is that there are no tellers and no managers. Higher interest rate as well!

I'll tell you another thing... phone support.. guess where it's going... off shore... you'll be seeing that in 2007.

[doubledragon5]

We used Washington Mutual when we first moved here to TX from up north.. Big joke, hell the charged for every little thing you did.. For instance those so called ATM fees they charge for using someone else's.. It depended on what day you did it.. I have had as much as $6 bucks taken out of my account for one ATM trans at another bank.. Now we use chase, not bad but it can be annoying.. Like when I purchase things all over the country because of my job.. Their always calling me to verify if I made the purchase or not.. Sue their just trying to protect my account, but OTH if you don't call them back they lock out your account

[Rockrz]

Originally Posted by Stuey Rockrz, they CAN charge him without his authorization. It's probably in the fine print

No, not according to the Federal Reserve. Give 'em a call, they'll explain it to you...

Now, if it IS in the fine print, then it's the account holder's responsibility to read said fine print before signing up. If this is the case, they have to have you sign this fine print that gives them authorization.

I work in the banking industry and I deal with issues like this frequently.
Don't get information from someone guessing, go call the Federal Reserve for yourself and learn what can, and cannot be done under their rules.

The Federal Reserve dictates what banks can and can't do.
Go directly to the horse's mouth...as it were...to get your information.

Personally, I use Bank of America...they don't jerk their customers off like that...

[HAL9000]

As Stuey said, it's probably in the fine print and if you signed and agreed to it without reading, that's your problem.

[glc]

It's not a card that's being charged - it's an account service charge. There is a difference.

[HAL9000]

Card or account, either way, there is an agreement somewhere, and that fine print needs to be looked at.

[Rockrz]

Originally Posted by glc It's not a card that's being charged - it's an account service charge. There is a difference.

They are still required to make you aware of the charge before they debit your account.

Actually, you could probably still file a complaint and make them prove that they did notify you about the charge before taking it from your account. If they cannot prove that they made you aware of the charge...you get your money back!

By filing the complaint, you're putting the burden of proof on the bank. Most banks will just give you the money back rather than have to explain themselves and their policies to the Federal Reserve.

You'd be supprised at how many rights you have as a consumer under Federal Reserve rules.
Best thing to do is call 'em up...they're very friendly.

I've learned alot about banking industry regulations by calling them anytime I have a question.
That's what these folks are there for, to help you not get screwed by banks and merchants.