Consumer complaint received 2020-11-23
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY
State: DC
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Domestic (US) money transfer
Issue: Other service problem

Complaint:
On XX/XX/XXXX, I carried out a wire transfer from a personal brokerage account at XXXX for the amount of {$41000.00}. 

The wire 's anticipated path would be to first credit an intermediary bank XXXX Wells Fargo XXXX before reaching the final destination of another personal brokerage account I hold with XXXX XXXX. 

However, that same day, after waiting longer than usual, I contacted XXXX to confirm that this transfer had been placed. I was given a fed reference number and was told that the transaction had been successfully completed with acceptance of funds by Wells Fargo. 

Next, I contacted XXXX XXXX who had not been notified by Wells Fargo of any wires in the amount of {$41000.00} that were in the account. After a day went by, it became clear that I was headed down the path of Wells Fargo 's deceptive practices, and would experience a a 2 week long run around from party to party to figure out where the funds were. Several recalls for wire were requested, and several calls were made by myself and XXXX to Wells Fargo to understand what would need to be done to rectify the issue. 

Later it was found that the wire instructions I wrote may have caused the disruption, as the final destination account number and the account number at Wells Fargo had apparently been incorrectly swapped on the wire instructions. Normally, wires with unclear instructions would be either totally rejected, and at worse, placed into someone else 's account if this error had been made on the instructions. Neither were the case here. Wells Fargo somehow managed to accept the funds without placing it into the account that XXXX XXXX holds with them ( I correctly included the 10 digit account number provided ). To be clear, Wells Fargo likely hadn't be able to place it into someone else 's account with a XXXX XXXX 9 digit account number that was also provided ( if even in the wrong section ). Instead of rejecting the wire, Wells Fargo continued to hold {$41000.00} without crediting an account that would allow it to be identified, and did not respond to 2 recalls of the wire placed on XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX. This caused me significant personal anguish as it is my total savings amidst lingering unemployment due to the pandemic. 

Wells Fargo refuses to speak with me about the matter because I am not the account holder. And just today XXXX XX/XX/XXXX XXXX, I was able to compel XXXX XXXX ( Wells Fargo account holder ) to investigate the issue further. XXXX XXXX had initially been reluctant to get involved because they had no record that the wire had ever been sent in the first place ( ie not showing in Wells Fargo account ). Regardless, Wells Fargo did respond to communication from XXXX XXXX and confirmed that the funds were sent and that my options were to " either have the sender place a recall or amend the wire ''. This haphazard response was provided despite XXXX having sent 2 separate wire recalls in the weeks prior. Also note that XXXX XXXX had been able to get detailed information from Wells Fargo about the wire despite Wells Fargo not having officially placed the funds into XXXX XXXX 's account. 

Today makes 2 weeks since the wire had been placed. Wells Fargo appears to be holding the funds hostage with the hope that I will eventually give up on having them returned or to create an unnecessary service delay that would confer a lengthy period of investing the funds for their own gain. I've worked in finance and it is unacceptable and even scammy to accept wires with instructions that make it difficult to place. It appears that they instead accepted it based on the correct information being provided ( ie. swapped account numbers ) and seized the opportunity to hold the funds for a simple error without good intention.

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