Consumer complaint received 2023-05-10
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY
State: FL
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: CD (Certificate of Deposit)
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Funds not handled or disbursed as instructed

Complaint:
XXXX XXXX, after my husband died late XX/XX/XXXX, I took the Certificate of Deposit we opened with XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX to Wells Fargo XXXX XXXX Branch. My daughter met with me at Wells Fargo on XXXX XXXX as witness. My husband and I had the same account starting with XXXX XXXX and stuck with them through every merger, including with Wells Fargo so we concluded Wells Fargo would disburse these funds owed. I brought the original and uncollected Certificate of Deposit to Wells Fargo ( Branch XXXX ) and was told it could not be found and to resort to the branch my husband and I opened the Certificate of Deposit with originally. XX/XX/XXXX, we, followed up with Wells Fargo XXXX ( XXXX XXXX ) to search for my unclaimed Certificate of Deposit. We were told that although I have the physical original document, they have no record of the Certificate of Deposit. We have the physical copy that would require to be turned in for it to be cashed, it states that in the directions of the Certificate of Deposit. As it also states on the official document, certificate no XXXX, NOT TRANSFERABLE, AUTOMATIC RENEWAL. If this Certificate of Deposit was electronically redeemed there should be some trail leading back to the transaction attached to the taxpayers ID. We did not ever redeem this deposit. As requested back in XX/XX/XXXX, we escalated this citation to the Estate Center of Wells Fargo and received a case number to continue researching the unredeemed funds. We also continued by contacting the division of unclaimed property with the Florida Department of Financial Services. Since November 2021 we have reached out to, Wells Fargo Care Estate, Wells Fargo Unclaimed Property, The Unclaimed Property Division of the Department of Financial Services, and both Assessment Operations & Claims Administration Analyst Department with the FDIC. Every resource stated they have zero record of this Certificate of Deposit. On XXXX XXXX We spent hours on the phone with XXXX who escalated the details to XXXX who reported the situation with the executive complaint management department of Wells Fargo. On XXXX XXXX, my granddaughter and I met with XXXX at Wells Fargo XXXX to continue searching for this Certificate of Deposit. She reviewed each document seeing that each response led to no one finding any information on our unredeemed certificate of deposit. XXXX contacted a higher up who advised the unclaimed fund department could look further and start a claim with the unclaimed property department ( even though we had done that already and provided proof. ) XXXX XXXX, we received a response to our complaint with Wells Fargo via email. They wrote, After contacting their Interest Reporting Team they were unable to see any statements that showed the CD account and after exhausting all other resources, we found no other records of escheatment history for this account. In their response they replied with a case number we were not given before. We are unsure why they keep giving us different numbers that do not match during each conversation. During this entire process Wells Fargo keeps stating if any account was closed or redeemed, they can only be accessed within XXXX years. Wells Fargo is not required to hold information on closed or redeemed accounts past the seven-year time span. Wells Fargo only has access to any statements within the last seven years, even if the account has been open for longer. Anything unclaimed when an account was closed would be sent to the state department. Wells Fargo has continued to deny disbursement of the Certificate of Deposit but they are responsible for this considering they purchased XXXX, who originally purchased XXXX XXXX.

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