Consumer complaint received 2018-04-06
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY
State: MN
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Other features, terms, or problems
Sub-issue: Other problem

Complaint:
I have a Wells Fargo Platinum Credit Card ( I have had it since XX/XX/XXXX ). I also have a checking, savings, student loan and mortgage with Wells Fargo. On XX/XX/XXXX the minimum payment of {$150.00} was taken from my checking account and applied to my credit card - as an automatic payment. The issue is, I am not, nor have I ever been enrolled in automatic payments. I called Wells Fargo customer service and the first person I talked to said he doesn't see that I am enrolled in automatic payments. He said that maybe someone logged into my account. Of course, that doesn't make sense since they can see that there was never a request/agreement from my online account, via phone or in person for automatic payments. I asked for the payment to be reversed and put back in my checking account since I did not authorize the payment. I planned on paying the minimum payment, but from another account. He told me he reversed the payment and it would be in my account within 5 business days. I told him I still want to know how this automatic payment was made and authorized. He transferred me to someone else. After explaining what happened, again, the woman said I needed to talk to a supervisor. A supervisor came on the line and I explained it, again. She looked into some other things while I waited and she said the only time an automatic payment was setup was when I opened the credit card in XX/XX/XXXX and it was cancelled the same day. She said that typically happens since it may have been something I needed to opt out of and I decided to opt out at the same time as I opened the credit card. I continued to tell her that I still want to know who and how this automatic payment was authorized. I told her that if you look at my account history, I typically pay my minimum payment 1-10 days early and always have. I asked if it's possible that since I hadn't paid it and it was the due date, that Wells Fargo initiated the automatic payment. She told me that it was a good thing that the automatic payment was made because if I didn't pay that I would receive up to a {$37.00} late fee. I told her that that it is my decision to make and if I happened to pay it late and did accrue that fee, that it would be my fault and I would also pay that. But it is not ok ( nor legal ) for Wells Fargo to initiate an automatic payment and withdraw the money from my account without my authorization. She said that she would need to contact another department but they do not communicate via phone and it is not a customer friendly department. She said she would have to email them the issue and they will have to investigate and then add the notes to my account. She said it will take 5-10 business days and I have to call and ask what the results of the investigation are. The will not call me with the details/results of the investigation. Then I asked her to make sure the payment is reversed and the {$150.00} is deposited back into my account. She said that she initiated that request but the Finance department will have to approve it. Since the automatic payment was the minimum due and paid on the due date, if it's reversed it will put my account past due. I said that I was going to make the payment from another account and then noticed it was already withdrawn. I did not plan for it to go past due ( and I have never paid late ). It is not ok that they can take the money from my account without my authorization and then say that they may not give it back because it would make my account past due. It is my money and my credit and my decision to make. I am not sure where to go from here. I don't know how many people they have done this to and what they are getting away with but this is not ok.

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 non-monetary relief