Consumer complaint received 2017-03-22
Product: Bank account or service — Checking account
Issue: Problems caused by my funds being low — 
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY (CA)

This problem concerns both my Wells Fargo checking and savings accounts. This started happening approximately 3 months ago, although it likely occurred at times in the past where I did not notice, or noticed but did not know how to resolve the issue. Wells Fargo has the option to enroll in their " overdraft protection '' program, and while they take great efforts to convince you that this program inures to your benefit, it clearly does not. They automatically enroll you in the overdraft protection program, shifting the onus to the customer to opt-out. I have now " opted out '' of this program at least 3 times in the last couple of years. On this latest occasion, I started spotting {$35.00} fees here and there, and wondered why ; I looked through my bank records and realized that I had somehow been " opted-in '' without my permission! While I was looking at my records on WF online banking website, I saw that they actually had a box you could click that would take you out of the overdraft protection plan ( the result being that if you attempted to make a charge on the debit card, it simply would decline the transaction ). I therefore clicked the unenroll box and assumed that would take care of the error ( this was after they charged me the {$35.00} approximately 3-4 times ). A couple of months later I again saw a few {$35.00} fees and realized with amazement that they had enrolled me in the overdraft protection again! So I 've lost hundreds of dollars because they keep putting me on this program in contravention to my requests! A sub-issue here is that after I was finally able to get of that program, my card would appropriately decline to charge when I attempted a purchase with insufficient funds, however, when an online store ( a recurring subscription situation ) would run the card it would go right through, causing the {$35.00} fee once again! And often when this occurs, WF seems to mis-order the purchases so that they can make extra money on the overdraft fees! This happened on at least 2 occasions. The second issue is regarding Wells Fargo 's ridiculous ATM fees. WF never used to charge me a fee to use another bank 's atm ( I would have to pay the other bank 's fee of course, but I was aware of that ) ; starting about 6 months ago, they decided to start charging me a fee for using another bank 's atm ( in addition to the other bank 's fees ) without any warning or announcement whatsoever. Even worse, the fees did not show up on my checking account statement ; they would appear on my savings account statement, where I rarely look! This is yet another example of what feels like WF trying to secretly rip me off. I have also seen a couple of " balance inquiry '' fees ( I guess in regards to an atm transaction, but it does n't specify ) that I never incurred. I literally never check my balance on an atm because I have an app on my phone where I can easily check my balance. Finally, I also feel that any atm fees WF tries to charge are ridiculous since they do not have any locations near me, the closest being an almost hour 's drive away ( I 'm in XXXX and XXXX is the closest drive, hardly convenient ) .Why should I have to pay for WF failure to install an ATM anywhere near our town? I am seriously considering finding another bank.