Consumer complaint received 2016-07-17
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY
State: CA
Product: Credit card
Issue: Cash advance

Complaint:
This complaint is about a {$1800.00} credit card transaction from XXXX/XXXX/2016, and erroneous fees and interest that were charged as a result of this transaction. Wells Fargo Card Services is incorrectly coding the transaction as a cash advance instead of as a purchase. When I first notified Wells Fargo 's dispute department in XXXX 2016, Wells Fargo indicated that they have the ability to reclassify this cash advance transaction as a purchase. As of XXXX XXXX, 2016, these erroneous charges and interest netted to {$92.00} ( {$91.00} Cash Advance Fee from XXXX/XXXX/2016, {$1.00} Minimum Interest Charge from XXXX/XXXX/2016, and erroneous {$10.00} Cash Advance Fee on XXXX/XXXX/2016, and erroneous Cash Advance Refund of {$9.00} refund on XXXX/XXXX/2016 ). The items purchased were XXXX store gift cards ( gift certificates ). In attempt to resolve this issue, I 've called Wells Fargo 's customer service, dispute department, and high dollar dispute department multiple times in XXXX 2016 and XXXX 2016 and have provided them with my customer receipt and merchant testimony that the merchant attempted to process the purchase transaction as a credit card purchase. They tried to deflect blame for this issue to the merchant, XXXX ( dba XXXX ). But it is Wells Fargo that is engaging in unlawful and unethical practices. According to California CIVIL CODE SECTION 1749.45-1749.6 ( a ) It is unlawful for any person or entity to sell a gift certificate to a purchaser that contains any of the following : ( 1 ) An expiration date. ( 2 ) A service fee, including, but not limited to, a service fee for dormancy, except as provided in subdivision ( e ). I contacted XXXX on XXXX XXXX, 2016, and was notified that " XXXX is charging the credit card as a standard charge, and the charge is passed along to the third party bank and being converted to a cash advance charge ''. As of XXXX XXXX, 2016, Wells Fargo came to the conclusion that the {$1800.00} transaction was a cash advance, and proceeded to post the {$1800.00} transaction as a cash advance, along with the disputed related interest and fees. It is unlawful for Wells Fargo to collect cash advance fees from California customers for gift certificate transactions. Furthermore, Wells Fargo has engaged in acts of false advertising by honoring Wells Fargo XXXX points on a similar {$43.00} gift card ( gift certificate ) purchase transaction on XXXX XXXX, 2016 from XXXX. I received Wells Fargo XXXX points from my XXXX XXXX, 2016 XXXX XXXX gift card purchase, and that transaction processed a purchase. I have made numerous purchases from XXXX in 2016 through other credit cards, and all of them have posted as credit card purchase transactions, with the exception of the {$1800.00} transaction. As a credit card user, I should be entitled to XXXX Wells Fargo XXXX points from the {$1800.00} gift certificate purchase on XXXX XXXX, 2016, and should not have to incur the interest or fees due to Wells Fargo 's cash advance coding.

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