Consumer complaint received 2016-08-29
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY
State: CA
Product: Bank account or service
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Account opening, closing, or management

Complaint:
On XXXX XXXX, 2016, my cousin, opened XXXX accounts at the XXXX XXXX in XXXX XXXX, CA. The first account was a sole ownership account for herself to be used as her vacation spending money and the second was a joint account with me as the primary account holder and her as the secondary joint owner for the purpose of buying property together. On XXXX XXXX, 2016, XXXX wire transferred her personal funds from her account in XXXX to support our real estate venture together. The funds cleared with no issues. However, she came to the conclusion that it was unnecessary for her to have a sole owner account for vacation money as the majority of the funds were to be used to buy property. She transferred her money from her sole account to her joint account online and made an online request to have her sole account closed. The sole account was ended up closed but her funds in the joint account were now frozen with a pledge. 
Since I am a primary owner on the joint account, I contacted customer service regarding the issue. They explained that they could not speak with me, only my cousin, even though I was on the account. I called the branch where we opened the account to get help from the banker, however, she was was out sick fro almost a week and no one in that branch could help me. During that time, I reached out to my local branch, XXXX XXXX XXXX, where the staff and Service Manager tried calling customer service internally. They were directed to Loss Prevention where they were told that they would not speak to me, only my cousin, and to have her call the number on the screen which was ( XXXX ) XXXX. Being that she was back home in the XXXX from her vacation, I relayed the information for her to call the number provided. She called the number several times and identified herself but was not offered any help with resolution. She was told that the only way for the pledge to be released was for her to travel back to the XXXX and walk into any Wells Fargo Branch to identify herself. She explained that she was pregnant and was past the permissible period to fly while pregnant. She offered to identify herself at any of the Wells Fargo investment branches in the XXXX but was denied. 

When the banker, came back to work, she contacted my wife and asked for her to take a trip to the XXXX XXXX. She claimed that it would be better for us to call the number together. My wife explained that we had already tried that route from home and at the XXXX XXXX branch with no success because no one is willing to speak with my husband. The banker pressed for us to come but when my wife would not agree, she proceeded to confess to her that she made a mistake by calling the XXXX number earlier in the morning and lying that XXXX was in front of her. She explained that agent was surprised to know that my cousin was back in the XXXX and asked to speak with her. The banker then changed her story for the agent, claiming that XXXX went home and that she had me there. The agent suspected she was not being truthful and did not continue. She then called my wife and pressed for us to come out to XXXX XXXX to call together so that my wife could pose as my cousin. My wife was completely astounded and refused her offer. 
This situation has been ongoing since. I understand that there are heightened security measures for legitimate reasons. As mentioned earlier, my wife managed at Wells Fargo for 10 years. I have no issues with security measures but this situation and lack of resolution is unacceptable. The fact that a banker lied and potentially made our situation worse is not acceptable. We have tried everything we could at the branch level with no success. The resolution team did nothing for us. I called the corporate office only to be given the same information and no alternative resolution options.

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