Consumer complaint received 2022-07-10
Company: WESBANCO BANK, INC.
State: PA
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Fee problem

Complaint:
This incident actually occurred a few years ago. I was not aware of CFPB at the time. 

My wife and I opened a joint Basic Checking account with WesBanco Bank on XXXX XX/XX/XXXX in order to receive Direct Deposit of our joint XXXX Federal tax return. When transferring some of the tax return money from the joint account to my individual checking account with XXXX Bank ( in two separate transactions debited on XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX ), I was assessed two {$10.00} fees for Outgoing Transfers in a single transaction totaling {$20.00} on XXXX XX/XX/XXXX. The fact that fees were not actually assessed until nearly a month after the triggering transactions seems suspiciously like a tactic for avoiding detection by the consumer. I am unable to find a disclosure of this fee on the Schedule of Fees we were given upon creating the account, or within any of the other paperwork we were given during the account opening or online banking activation processes. The closest thing I can find is that their Internet Banking and Bill Pay Agreement at the time vaguely stated Fees will be disclosed in our fee schedule and/or at the time of your request. 

The only place the fee is mentioned that I am aware of is buried within an online banking notification I received saying that my External Transfer Account Request was approved. The fee disclosure is referred to within the text of the notification as a " reminder, even though it was the first and only disclosure of such a fee I ever received. The notification is dated the same day that the first of the two fee-assessed transactions was initiated. I cant remember whether I initiated the transfer after receiving the notification or whether I received the notification as a result of initiating the transfer. I do know that I didnt read far enough through the seemingly-routine notification to find the covert mention of a previously-undisclosed fee buried within the text, assuming I even opened the notification at all prior to searching for the reason I was being assessed arbitrary fees. There is a good chance I didnt even know that I had received a notification. 

The process of linking the external bank account was an unusually difficult one compared to previous banks I have done business with, requiring multiple phone calls over several days to Customer Service ( trying to catch the proper personnel during Regular Business Hours and later asking why things were taking longer than promised ) on top of the usual online security practice of verifying small, temporary deposits. When the process was finally completed, looking for secret within the text of typically innocuous electronic notifications was the last thing on my mind. In any case, I should hope that fees disclosed in this manner ( outside of the Schedule of Fees and other documents typically regarded as fine print to the point of potentially being retroactive ) are not legally-enforceable. 

These fees are fraud at worst and false marketing at best. We would never have opened this account with WesBanco had we known that these fees existed, since such transfers were our main reason for needing the account. I suspect malicious intent behind the lack of transparency regarding the fees, due to the XXXX ) lack of disclosure in advance XXXX ) delayed assessment and XXXX ) bundling together of multiple fees to disguise their amounts, and I assume that many other customers have been wronged by these business practices. Since the amount of money was relatively small, and since I assumed malicious intent on the part of the financial institution, I dont believe I made any attempt to contact them about the issue. 

I have copies of the Schedule of Fees and other paperwork we received from WesBanco, as well as several screenshots from the WesBanco mobile app showing transactions and notifications. 

As a side note, we closed our account in a hurry after we realized what was happening, and even that did not go smoothly. A small amount of money was stuck in limbo, unable to be either withdrawn or transferred elsewhere, due to a pending transaction during closure. This seems to be more due to a lack of robustness on the part of WesBancos systems rather than maliciousness, and the issue was eventually resolved, but I thought Id mention it here, anyway.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation