Consumer complaint received 2019-06-06
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY
State: CA
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Problem with a lender or other company charging your account
Sub-issue: Can't stop withdrawals from your account

Complaint:
I am the XXXX  of a technology company in XXXX XXXX. Our bank is Wells Fargo. We have been banking with them for 10 years. 

In early XX/XX/XXXX, I discovered there had been two ACH bank-to-bank transactions to an unknown XXXX XXXX account. Here they are. 

XX/XX/19 BUSINESS TO BUSINESS ACH XXXX XXXX ONLINE PMT XXXX XXXX XXXX {$100.00} XX/XX/19 BUSINESS TO BUSINESS ACH XXXX  XXXX ONLINE PMT XXXX XXXX XXXX {$390.00} After checking with my team to verify no one recognized this transactions, I called Wells Fargo on XX/XX/XXXX to report the problem. I told them to block all transactions from XXXX XXXX, as I did not recognize this, and its fraud. 

Wells Fargo agreed it was fraud, and refunded the {$390.00}, but did not refund the {$100.00}, as they said I had an obligation to report it within 24 hours. 

At this point, I decided I didn't care about the {$100.00}, and figured the problem was solved. 

However, a few weeks later, there was another one : XX/XX/19 BUSINESS TO BUSINESS ACH XXXX  XXXX ONLINE PMT XXXX XXXX XXXX {$390.00} I called Wells Fargo again, filed another claim. I asked them, why wasn't this blocked? They said it must be some mistake, they apologized, assured me the problem wouldn't happen again. 

Nonetheless, I told them I wasn't taking any chances. I told them to block all transactions, of any kind, from this account. I XXXX it out, removed all funds from it. 

And yet, that didn't work. A few weeks later, another one : XX/XX/19 BUSINESS TO BUSINESS ACH XXXX XXXXXXXX ONLINE PMT XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX {$300.00} Even though the bank balance is XXXX, they are still giving out the money. Now they just set my balance to XXXX, and charge me overdraft fees. At this point, I'm furious that they continue to give out money to someone named " XXXX '', despite they acknowledging its fraud. I demand over the phone to close the account. But Wells says its not possible to close the account, because the {$300.00} is a pending transactions. But its fraud I say! They say, doesn't matter, it has to clear first On XX/XX/XXXX, I go to the branch. I demand they close my account immediately, and stop giving away the money to these XXXX. However, there is still a pending transaction ( unrelated to this ). They say, don't worry -- we will put it in pending closed status, and as soon as this last transaction clears, it will be closed. 

I ask them -- what happens if the XXXX strike again overnight? Wells says.. well, in that case, they will have to pay it out, and they can wait another day. 

In other words -- Wells Fargo refuses to close my account to stop the fraud!

Yesterday, on XX/XX/XXXX, I filed a police report. Case number : XXXX. 

I also tried to call XXXX XXXX -- but XXXX XXXX told me that, since I '' m not a customer, they don't have any interest in helping me. I told XXXX XXXX -- but you are enabling fraud! XXXX XXXX responded that I needed to have the person committing the fraud to call them -- yes, XXXX XXXX 's policy is that they only stop fraud if the person committing the fraud self-reports it. Since I '' m not a customer of XXXX XXXX, I don't count. 

As predicted -- this morning, the XXXX struck again. 

XX/XX/19 BUSINESS TO BUSINESS ACH XXXX  XXXX MOBILE PMT XXXX XXXXBusiness to business ACHOpens Dialog {$1.00} Yep, you see that right -- they did a {$1.00} ACH. 

And yes, that means -- yet again, Wells Fargo can't close the account! They can't close it until this {$1.00} clears. 

Simply put : Wells Fargo refuses to block this fraud, and will let it occur every single day, as long as necessary, no matter what I do. Having XXXX funds in the account doesn't work, requesting the account be closed doesn't work, telling them its fraud doesn't work. 

The branch manager at the downtown branch in XXXX is perfectly aware of the problem. They are telling me there is simply nothing they can do. They will not allow me to close the account as long as there are pending transactions, and they won't stop people from executing unauthorized transactions. Its a vicious cycle. 

I'm lucky that the amounts are very small. BUT, this is having massive impacts on my business. I can't pay rent, I can't pay salaries, I can't pay bills, I can't process invoices.. my entire business has come to a halt b/c I don't have a functioning bank account. 

Wells Fargo is letting someone take arbitrary amounts from our bank account, every day, and refuses to put a halt to it. So I can't put any money anywhere, I can't pay for anything. 

This is costing me, and my employees, critical time and money every minute of every day. 

This needs a conclusion immediately. Many lives are being impacted.

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