Consumer complaint received 2023-03-25
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY
State: TX
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Problem with a lender or other company charging your account
Sub-issue: Transaction was not authorized

Complaint:
In XXXX XXXX, I noticed that I had approximately 10 fraudulent transactions on my Wells Fargo checking account spanning from XXXX The charges appeared to be based in CA, but I had been an official resident of XXXX XXXX, TX since XX/XX/XXXX. Two of the fraudulent charges appeared as XXXX and one of them was posted to my WF checking account on XX/XX/XXXX for {$1300.00}. WF helped me dispute the other fraudulent transactions, even the {$340.00} XXXX fraud transaction. When I tried to dispute the {$1300.00}, WF said that it was a valid charge, although my monthly insurance premium is {$160.00}. I contacted XXXX to verify and confirm that my automatic payments to them are set up to come out of my XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX checking account on XX/XX/XXXX and that my change of direct deposit request form, signed by me on XX/XX/XXXX was received and processed, which it was. My claim was opened on XXXX  and closed on XX/XX/XXXX however, I had to open a new claim after constantly calling the card claim department to get specific details on what I need to show to prove that the transaction was not authorized by me, and neither was it taken from the legitimate XXXX XXXX XXXX. The reps said they needed a letter from XXXX which state the amount that XXXX charges me and the date it posted in XX/XX/XXXX or my bank statements. They said a letter from XXXX stating that they did not charge the {$1300.00}, but they do not provide such letters. Wells Fargo also recommended making a police report, which I did as well. All of these take time to request and days to receive and I did my best to provide them with what was requested. Most of the reps I spoke with sounded uncertain about a lot of the information that they were giving to me, but I still tried to comply with them. XX/XX/XXXX, I emailed cardclaim@wellsfargo.com my XXXX change of direct deposit request form. I included the initial claim number in my email which was XXXX so that I could have the claim reopened. XX/XX/XXXX, I emailed WF my XX/XX/XXXX XXXX insurance bill/payment summary and my XXXX monthly statement to show the legitimate XXXX payment made on XXXX XXXX, I emailed WF my fraud report number, XXXX, received from the FTC and the same number was used to make a police report with XXXX XXXX in XXXX XXXX, TX and the police report number is XXXX. After making calls to them every 2-3 days they informed me that I would have to open a new claim and that I needed to resend all the documentation to the new claim number they would reissue me. On XX/XX/XXXX, I resent my fraud report number XXXX received from the FTC and police report number to cardclaim@wellsfargo.com under the new claim number XXXX. On XXXX, I received an email from Wells Fargo that the investigation is complete and that a detailed letter was sent by mail. On XXXX when I opened the letter, it said the charges were made by me or someone had my permission. On XX/XX/XXXX, I had called and spoken with a total of 5 Wells Fargo employees and was told that because I do business with XXXX the charge is not considered fraudulent. I politely corrected the employee and said that I had been using the work fraud and fraudulent in regard to the transaction since XXXX, when did the status change to non-fraudulent? I have also asked to have a copy of a card fraud affidavit that I can fill out but none of the employees seemed to know what that was. I had consulted with an attorney, and he said that Wells Fargo should be able to provide the document so that I can sign a sworn statement saying that it is not a charge authorized by myself. I also inquired again why the {$340.00} XXXX fraud charge was cleared by Wells Fargo but not the higher amount? The answers given to me never make sense but it feels like they just don't want to take the loss and would rather pin it on me, which is not fair at all.

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 explanation