Consumer complaint received 2019-11-19
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY
State: TX
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Fee problem

Complaint:
Dates are approximate w/respect to call times wherein explained below. Wells Fargo should have records of calls and discussions ( when referenced ), in addition to direct access to the referenced account and statements related to my concerns and complaint below. 
I am an 18-year customer of Wells Fargo. I started banking with them in high school. I began exclusively using Wells Fargo for all my banking services in/around XXXX. In XXXX, I opened the simple checking account I have now and specifically requested an account-type that did not incur fees for general use or for failure to keep a threshold balance at any given time. They set me up with a checking account ( also referred to herein as checking ) that did not require a balance ; called for a direct deposit on uncertain terms, and came with a free Way To Save auto-draft savings account. My checking account is/was NOT set up for overdraft protection - meaning no funds could be withdrawn or paid to cover any insufficiencies with respect to withdrawals of any kind to my checking account. The small savings account ( also, savings ) that took XXXX or so for every debit card purchase and dropped it into the savings, was not set up for overdraft into my checking ; the savings remained generally meager in terms of a balance held. 
In or around XXXX XXXX, I found myself in a situation where funds werent available to cover a withdrawal pending a direct deposit from my employer. XXXX of the amounts attempted was an erroneous withdrawal by XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ( XXXX ) ; it was double the amount of my monthly payment. The other was an amount for XXXX XXXX XXXX which could not have been covered given the erroneous amounts withdrawn and unfortunate timing of the withdrawal. I needed to address the erroneous withdrawal first, and contacted both XXXX and Wells Fargo, respectively. XXXX advised I would have to put a stop-payment on the withdrawal because they were unable to reverse the withdrawal from their end in the early stages of the transaction. I then called Wells Fargo for their perspective and was given very little guidance or explanation from the representative I initially spoke to in my first attempt to resolve the issues. I didnt know how uninformed I was until later in the process and after speaking with multiple people at the bank. Ultimately, I placed a stop-payment on both amounts. At the time, I either wasnt advised, or it wasnt clearly articulated to me, that I would be charged for the stop-payment ( s ) even if they did not actually stop the payment ( s ). It wasnt until I called the banks Claims Department the next day to get an update - and I was given the late-coming information on {$66.00} in failed stop-payment fees and the resulting nsf fees. I told the second representative that I was unaware that I would be paying for a service even if the service wasnt actually provided. I noted that this was my first rodeo and she told me I could call back and speak to Customer Service Representative and have my fees waived. It was confirmed the 2 stop-payments did not process and I found myself in nsf status at around {$900.00}. I called and wrote into the Customer Service Department for the bank and the waiver of fees was not honored as described to me. After several disgruntled requests by me, they waived only half of the fees assessed for the stop-payment and nsf issue. This seems to be the beginning of a spiral of excessive fees charged to me, and my belief there was little I could do to get myself out of the mess Wells Fargo wholly failed to acknowledge, monitor, remedy, and communicate with me on. Any fiduciary duty the bank may have has been long-ignored and much TO MY DETRIMENT.

Little did I know that in the near future, the fees I was assessed for overdrafts and covered payments, that I HAD NOT authorized or even been made aware my account-type was afforded, would put me in a serious financial bind that is ongoing in nature. The overdrafts were assessed nsf fees ; that same transaction attempt would later be assessed what they called re-try fees. And if those re-try attempts came up short - the cycle began all over again with additional nsf fees! Ive never heard of such absurdity and abuse of financial power. At no point did I authorize the bank to pick and choose what withdrawals/overdrafts/nsfs would be covered at any given time ; sometimes they would pay and sometimes they would not. The uncertainty and worry the bank has created for me has made it difficult to focus on anything but their fees and the fear in not knowing what would be covered at any given moment! Small transactions around {$10.00} easily became {$100.00}. Large transactions seemed to be favorable and they would somehow cover the withdrawal but leave me with a hefty balance owed to them with a number of fees that were attached.

This pattern continues on with no concern or question on the part of the bank Ive been entrusting my money and general financial health to for many years. The only inquiry I received was an inquiry into fraudulent charges, sent by a text message, to which I responded no via the same text message. At times, their fees have taken 60 % - maybe more - of my paychecks and I have found myself authorizing ATM withdrawals at {$35.00} fees here and there in order to cover the cost of gasoline to take my son to school and myself to work. I am struggling to make XXXX XXXX payments ; my car was repossessed last week ; my XXXX rent payment was rejected resulting in significant fees and I was one day from an eviction filing when the hardship withdrawal I had to take from my XXXX finally came in to me. It feels horrible to struggle like to buy groceries to feed my son. I have never been in a financial predicament like this in my XXXX   years. There is, without a doubt in my mind, something wrong, fraudulent, and egregious in a banking setup that allows continuous and excessive fees resulting in depletion of someones earned wages every two weeks ; yet, the bank continues to authorize what I can only describe as discretionary overdrafts at MY cost. If THAT is what they call fiduciary duty, they should be OUT OF BUSINESS. 
Im happy to submit any additional information needed to investigate and support a claim against Wells Fargo regarding this situation.

Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief