Consumer complaint received 2021-03-16
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY
State: GA
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Problem accessing account

Complaint:
On XX/XX/2020 my XXXX year old daughter and I made a trip to XXXX. We are actually still here. We were told that we need to quarantine for 14 days due to the coronavirus. We had no problem as we were staying with family. Once quarantine was over, we needed to get food and supplies. So on XX/XX/2020 I decided to log into my Wells Fargo account and transfer some funds to my personal account for use while I'm here. To my surprise, the mobile app did not work. I thought well maybe they're having technical issues. So I logged into my computer and tried to login. I got a message that my login was incorrect. My credentials are saved so there's no way my account password was incorrect. Another try and I was notified that my password was locked out and I needed to reset it. I followed the steps and it still denied me access to my account. There was a number listed to call for assistance. As you can imagine, I was furious. I never received a fraud alert, email nor phone call and I had no way to access my account. I tried calling and was on hold for more than 30 minutes, so i hung up. I had to decide to either create a large phone bill by staying on hold until I got someone, or face the dehumanizing and humiliating reality of asking relatives and friends for money to sustain myself and my daughter. We faced another issue, power went out for several days, and we had no way to recharge phones, laptops, etc. When power returned on friday, I called and still no answer. The weekend was now upon us and we still had no access to money. We would have literally starved if I did not muster up and ask for small loans for people we know. Finally on monday  XX/XX/2020, I got someone on the phone. They said my account needed to be reset and I needed to confirm a few things before I could get access back into my account. I asked why was my account locked and the rep said he didn't have specific details but it seems to be some sort of security issue. I explained that I needed a better answer than that, because I am in an international country and just faced a big problem not being able to access neither my personal nor business accounts. He explained that since both accounts have the same login, it is the login that was locked out, hence, locking out all accounts associated with the login. After verifying everything and getting back access, I asked again, what triggered this security issue. He said there was a fraud alert placed on the account by a transaction but I needed to speak to the fraud department about it. I got transferred and the other person told me exactly what transaction caused the issue. My cousin had sent me less than {$200.00} via XXXX and wells fargo claims my cousin placed a fraud alert on the transaction so they shut down the account. I contacted my cousin and she said she faced the same issue at her bank and she confirmed she DID NOT place a fraud alert on the transaction. She said she is also willing to write a statement confirming this. I am so hurt and humiliated and had to put aside my pride asking friends and family for money. This situation should NEVER have happened. Fraud alerts should ALWAYS be confirmed with a phone call and follow up of some kind. My phone has international access so if they called I would have definitely known. The mobile app is also a secondary means to communicate with consumers. Simply locking people out of their account with no explanation and no notification is a terrible way to do business. All my auto payment bills and subscriptions are tied to these accounts. So if I was not needing to access the account immediately, I would have never known that this happened. 

A rep from wells fargo replied to the original complaint with completely generic information and did not address my specific issue. 

Here is my response to the reply from Wells Fargo, including the additional attachment in letter form. I will address each inaccurate point as follows : 1. As stated in the first paragraph, you state, " We are sorry to learn of the difficulties you encountered when attempting to access your account. Our objective has always been and continues to be to meet our customers financial needs and drive customer satisfaction ... '' Answer : However, I find this extremely difficult to believe. This is NOT the first incident with the bank and I see communication as a key underlying factor causing disruption in my life. A bank has more personal information about a person than any other entity, so why not call or email someone? You already send out fraud alerts via phone and email, you already ask for pin verification via phone, and so many more online systems. So why would you even think of using the slowest means of communication to alert a customer of such a critical banking issue preventing access to my account? 2. In the second paragraph you state, " Our records show on XX/XX/2020, we received a request for the return of funds in the amount of {$340.00} that was transferred to your account ending in XXXX through XXXX on XX/XX/2020. Our records show your Online Banking was disabled due to suspicious activity on the account, and an email advising you of this was sent out on the same day. '' Answer : As I've asked multiple times, WHO requested these funds be returned? The sender? The bank? Who? You do not have to name names obviously, but this makes no sense to claim someone ask for the funds to be returned and I spoke to the sender and no such claim was made. SECONDLY, What " suspicious activity '' did you detect on my account? THIRDLY, when and from what address was this supposed email sent out? I've combed through all my associated emails and no such email was found. Please advise. 3. In the third paragraph you state, " Further research show case number XXXX was opened on XX/XX/2020, to determine if the transaction was in fact fraud and whether or not funds needed to be retracted and returned to the partner bank ... '' Answer : I'm not sure if you read this letter, but it does not explain what " irregular activity '' you're referring to. The letter also does not say my account would be completely restricted. It only talks about the transaction amount being unavailable during your investigation. So again, in case you did not see this part in my original communication, WHY was my ENTIRE account with ALL my personal and business accounts completely inaccessible? 4. In the Fourth paragraph you state, " Please ensure that our ultimate goal is to provide a safe and secure banking environment for all of our clients by safeguarding our customer information carefully in every transaction and at every level of our organization. Wells Fargo has strict security standards and procedures in place to protect our clients account information. Should we detect potentially fraudulent activity, we take immediate steps to protect our customers. This sometimes requires that we temporarily restrict the account until we can verify activity with the account holder. These blocks can typically be lifted within minutes once a customer contacts us to verify activity ( provided there are no unauthorized transactions ). Our records show the block was removed from your account once we were able to speak with you and verify your information. '' Answer : This is absolutely a surprise. You want to tell me you can restrict my account, because of a single incoming transaction? A transaction you DID NOT verify with the sending bank before freezing my account and removing or restricting access? Why did you not just restrict the funds? That's normal, not taking someone's access to their funds. I mean it was like the perfect storm, you restricted access as soon as I needed it the most. Along with that, no proper notification. Please look at your communication again, that was a total disaster for me and my family. 5. In the Fifth paragraph you state, " Please understand that our intent is to provide hassle-free service to all customers with the most professional, courteous and efficient customer assistance possible. Team members are required to follow certain verification and security measures to help protect consumers from fraudulent activity. It is not the banks intent to make your banking experience difficult, but to ensure we are consistent in applying bank policy and our security measures to all of the banks customers. We feel it is a necessary process in order to protect our customers. We truly apologize for any inconvenience this matter may have caused. '' Answer : This entire paragraph, I believe, is inadequate in this case. I seriously believe this was one of the most difficult banking experiences I've had to date. I'm not sure if you can picture the horror, and yes it was definitely horror. My daughter and I had to deal with the humiliation caused by your bank and systems in place. 6. I believe you need to truly reconsider the answers I've provided above, re-conduct your research and see whether you reach the same decision. An apology is simply not enough in this case. I believe if you ignore the evidence presented you're ignoring the fact that your actions caused undue distress and anguish for my daughter and myself in a foreign country with no other means of survival but to beg and borrow money unnecessarily to survive. If we were not around people we know, we could have died without the means to acquire food. Think about that before you respond again with vague information.

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