Fireworks at Wells Fargo

Before my tales about Wells Fargo yesterday, I wish to offer a Happy 4th of July to all my US readers. I hope lots of family and parades and holiday food and fireworks are on your agenda today.

Yesterday’s blog dealt with my battle with Wells Fargo Bank. As planned, I drove to Morgan Stanley to pick up a copy of my tax check then drove to the county offices and arrived there at 8:35AM. The office was to open at 9:00AM. I waited.

The woman at the desk was lovely, listened to my story then copied out a letter that explained that all my taxes were current.

From there, I drove near my mom’s house to the former Wachovia bank, which is now Wells Fargo. I was one angry woman. I asked this young pregnant woman to speak with a banker. She asked me to sit down. She was a banker. I calmed down. I asked when she was due and what she was having. Her answer – four weeks and another boy for which she was thrilled. How can I be angry with her?

I explained my problem. She got it. It took several phone calls to reach the proper person – Fred in San Antonio. He explained to the banker that it was not the April tax payment that was in question but the previous one. The December payment.

Background – I made a payment due December 10^th. I wrote out the check and put it in the mail. We had Christmas then went to Palm Springs for a week after the first of the year. When we got home, there was a notice in the mail from the county that I had written the check amount wrong by $700. I transposed numbers. There was a grace period, which we missed by being out of town. So, I immediately wrote the correct amount and added the penalty. Paid. Done. About a month later, I received a notice from the county that I was paid in full. Around the same time, I received a letter from Wells Fargo demanding proof that the taxes had been paid. I immediately sent it and received a letter from them dated February 5^th acknowledging the proof of payment.

What Fred in San Antonio told the banker was that I had never made the December payment and that was the reason for the escrow account. I pulled the Wells Fargo acknowledgement letter out of my purse and the lovely young banker read the letter to him. He put her on hold. For a while. Finally, he explained that he took the problem to his boss who had just put in the order to stopped the escrow account and referred to this whole mess as a processing problem. Oops. Sorry.

Thank goodness I had brought that letter with me.

I asked to speak to Fred to find out why the escrow account was opened on June 18^th and I was never notified. He was soooo sorry.

I also asked Fred about the additional .01 charged to my payment. He said that is what they do when they open an escrow account before they figure out the exact amount of taxes to be added to the payment. No notice. No nothing. Oh, and he also said that had I mailed Monday’s payment in, it would have been refused because of that .01 and I would be past due right now. And a ding on my credit.

Predatory practices. Dirty business.

He gave me a phone number, the name of his boss and told me to phone in 3-5 days to be sure the escrow account is closed. After it is confirmed, I will be writing to the CEO of Wells Fargo then we will file a complaint with the Federal Reserve.