Consumer complaint received 2023-07-28
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY
State: CA
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Closing an account
Sub-issue: Company closed your account

Complaint:
On XX/XX/XXXX, I received an email from XXXX to my university email address XXXX stating they were offering me an internship with XXXX XXXX as an XXXX XXXX. During this time, I was applying for internships on XXXX, a website that my university uses for job postings and where students find employment. The email stated XXXX XXXX had found my resume on XXXX  and they wanted me to apply to this internship using the link : XXXX  : XXXX? XXXX Before applying, I looked up the company on XXXX and saw they had a legit website with the link : XXXX : XXXX I continue to search up the company on XXXX as " XXXX XXXX  scam '' to make sure there was nothing on there that people have reported in the past. During the entirety of XX/XX/XXXX to XX/XX/XXXX, there were no reviews or digital information that this company was a scam. I decided to apply to the position with the link they sent me and replied to their email letting them know I have applied. After about two days, on XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX XXXX sent me an email from that same email address XXXX stating I had an interview scheduled. They used the website or software XXXX XXXX to power this interview which was in a form of record-only interview. The link to the interview was XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX Then, on XX/XX/XXXX I received an update on my interview with an email from XXXX, they stated they were offering me the Marketing Internship and I replied to them that same day to accept the job offer. After accepting, they instructed me to set up and download a XXXX  Teams account to continue my onboarding process with the company. I was instructed to contact XXXX once I got the XXXX  Teams set up. When I contacted them, I was communicating back and forth from XX/XX/XXXX to XX/XX/XXXX with XXXX XXXX, who claimed to be the hiring manager at XXXX XXXX. Through these chats, he instructed me to sign many onboarding documents including a document that outlined the company 's policies in which I had to agree to, a application to the internship where I wrote the hours I requested to work, and an employee information document where it asked for my SSN, my full name, address, phone, marital status, spouse 's information like their employer and phone, my birthdate, job information, emergency contact information like asking for full name, phone, address, relationship. Eventually, XXXX let me know that XXXX XXXX would be ordering some training equipment for the internship which included a computer with pre-installed software by a vendor. He let me know that the Finance Department would be sending me a check in which I had to print out and deposit to my Mobile Banking App. He asked me if I knew how to make deposits or if my bank allowed mobile deposits. I let him know that I did not know and he told me to figure it out. After I was able to research whether or not my Wells Fargo app allowed it, I let him know that it did allow mobile deposits. He sent me the check on XX/XX/XXXX through the email address XXXX. The amount of the check was XXXX I printed it and deposited it that same day and the funds were available instantly. The next day, on XX/XX/XXXX the check funds were still on my account and XXXX instructed me to send the payment to the vendor through XXXX. He told me that I should separate the payment into two transactions, one transaction of XXXX and the other transaction of XXXX The XXXX information of the vendor was XXXX. He also told me I had to provide a screenshot of the payment to him on XXXX  Teams, and to the email XXXX. I sent everything at around XXXX XXXX  on XX/XX/XXXX. Then, at XXXX XXXX  on XX/XX/XXXX, Wells Fargo sent me a message stating that my available balance has reached or dropped below XXXX. At this point, the check had been returned and my account was left into negatives. I quickly called my university and created a report with the Department of XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX University. Then, I went to the Wells Fargo Bank location in XXXX, California at around XXXX XXXX  on XX/XX/XXXX and spoke with the banker XXXX XXXX. He let me know that he would be making a claim with the fraud department and that they should be able to get my money back. I asked him if this will affect me in any way like my credit score, reputation with the bank, or if I will have to pay this amount back. He told me that this would not affect me in any way because the bank knows that it was fraud and it was not my fault. Now, after two months there has been no resolution to my multiple claims and my account has been closed by Wells Fargo. I visited the XXXX branch two times after my first time going asking for an update because I would never receive any calls about it. I then also visited the XXXX Wells Fargo branch once after that because again, there was never any explanation on my claims. During a time in the XXXX branch XXXX let me know that Wells Fargo was trying to get the money back from XXXX but that there was no guarantee. I also got a letter from the Fraud department on XX/XX/XXXX saying that my claim has been closed since they were not able to stop or reverse the funds and they can not get the refund. I went to the bank the same day everything happened, on XX/XX/XXXX, they should have been able to reverse the funds since all transactions take a while to be posted. My claim numbers from Wells Fargo for these two XXXX transactions were XXXX and XXXX. I went in person and I called because I was unhappy about this decision so XXXX let me know that he would bring this claim up with the Escalation department who would be contacting me through email. I have never heard back from this department about my claim. I also received a letter on XX/XX/XXXX from the Claims Assistance Center stating that the mobile deposit for XXXX  of the check was unauthorized and further on stated " Since the deposit ( s ) was unauthorized, we debited the amount of the deposit ( s ) from your account on XX/XX/2023. This adjustment has resulted in no loss to you. We also reversed any fees charged to your account as a result of the unauthorized deposit ''. These funds were never reversed and I was never reimbursed anything. They instead, closed my checkings account, and my credit card with Wells Fargo on XX/XX/XXXX. I called the number XXXX which was listed on the letter and I asked why this has not been resolved and caused my account to be closed. The person helping was unable to give me an answer and let me know that an investigator would be calling me within 1-2 business days for a response. I called XX/XX/XXXX and as of XX/XX/XXXX XXXX XXXX, I have not received a call. The only people at Wells Fargo that were always consistent on giving me updates were the debt collectors calling me to ask me to make a deposit. It seemed like nobody knew what was going on with my account and there was a lack of communication from all the departments. Every time I asked for help on these transactions, the person on the phone would give up on helping me and transfer me to another department. I created a claim with the Executive office of Wells Fargo on XX/XX/XXXX and received a secure message on XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX stating they would be letting me know about the resolution within 10 business days. The case number is XXXX. Since then, there has been no reply but I have been calling the number XXXX for updates which they said I would have an update by XX/XX/XXXX. I have not felt heard as a Wells Fargo customer and have been put under a lot of stress thinking that this will never be resolved since they have closed my account.

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