Consumer complaint received 2024-08-14
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service — Domestic (US) money transfer
Issue: Other transaction problem — 
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY (TX)

1. This involved a XXXX transfer from my Wells Fargo checking account to a new payee, in XX/XX/2024. 
2. I filled out the " add payee '' ( online, not in app ). Inadvertently, and I accept, I mistyped the payee 's phone number by one digit, although I entered the payee 's name correctly 3. As a result, when I later went to transfer the funds to the payee ( {$150.00} ) the payee did not receive them 4. I went to check the payee 's details, and from what I could see these appeared correct. I say " appeared '' because when you look at the list of payees Wells Fargo asterisks-out all of the payees phone number except the last 4 digits. Those last 4 digits I entered were correct.

5. From what I can see ( even now ) there is no way of seeing the full phone number of the payee. As WF states in their payee list on my account For extra security, we've hidden some of your contacts ' info.

6. Further, despite requiring that I enter the name of the payee when I create their details, no attempt is made to match the name of the payee and their XXXX account phone number ( a practice I find stunningly bad ; I know from other bank accounts I hold with other institutions where I have set up money transfer, that connection is checked before any money is transferred ). 
7. The net result is that the {$150.00} was taken from my account but was ( of course ) never received by the intended payee.

8. After several to-and-fros I established the problem with the payee directly and transferred the funds to them ; nothing to do with this complaint.

9. I then went to Wells Fargo to attempt to recover my {$150.00}.

10. The bank was ( and remains ) not interested in trying to help. It says it was my mistake, and the transfer was done by XXXX, which is not Wells Fargo. 
11. I put my hand up to mistyping the payees phone number in the first instance. BUT, my complaint involves : a. No attempt by the bank to link the payee name to the phone number, which would have trapped my error before any money was transferred b. The masking of all but the last 4 digits of the payees details, which precluded my double-check of details at the time I initiated the funds transfer c. The total lack of interest and effort by the bank in trying to recover the money once advised of the situation 12. As an aside, I would note that in the past, when larger sums of money were involved, I tested any new payee 's details by initiating the transfer with a {$1.00} ( or similar ) amount to check it was being received as intended, before the main amount was sent. Plainly my bad in not doing so on this occasion ( largely because the amount involved didnt trigger that need ). 
13. While I accept my part in this, I do not accept that the bank, as the vendor to me of the XXXX service, has no responsibility to assist in the recovery of erroneously transferred funds even when, like here, no scam is involved. But, beyond that, the banks practice in setting up new payees makes the potential for erroneous transfers much more likely than if it had in place proper checks and adopted practices I have observed elsewhere in verifying details.