Consumer complaint received 2025-09-17 00:00:00
Product: Checking or savings account — Checking account
Issue: Managing an account — Deposits and withdrawals
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY
State: TX

Complaint narrative:
The short version is that Wells Fargo shut down my account without contacting me XXXX, which caused my insurance payment to be returned, which caused my license to be suspended. 
The more detailed version is as follows : I received a phone call from Wells Fargo on XXXX  the XXXX of XXXX. The lady on the line said that my account had been blocked, and that I needed to go to a branch and show XXXX forms of ID. I was at work, so I couldn't get to a branch. The caller then said she would transfer me to " loss prevention '' to get more information. The first person I was transferred to seemed to know nothing about what was happening with my account. I explained what had happened, and she put me on hold to research. She came back and said that the account was closed due to an unauthorized transaction. She said it was a XXXX payment for {$1000.00}. I said yeah that was me. I was sending {$1000.00} to my girlfriend to repay her for helping me while I was laid XXXX wasn't satisfied with the answer, because in my mind the XXXX payment was legitimate. She transferred me to the fraud group. 
The fraud group essentially said the same thing, but they took it a step further. My account went from blocked to closed on the first transfer. Next I was told that I could not access anything. Not the account to review transactions. Not the XXXX payment to see if it went through. Not even the {$1400.00} that was in the account. I was told that on the XXXX of this month, they would close the account and send me a check for the funds. At that point panic started to set in. I had paid for car insurance over the weekend, but the payment hadn't cleared yet. I'm on a XXXX, so if my insurance lapses I lose my license. I explained this to the person, but she did not seem to care. At that point I said something like " yeah you probably just closed it down because my direct deposits stopped when I was laid off in XXXX. She said no it was the {$1000.00} unauthorized XXXX payment. After a few rounds of me saying it WAS authorized, becase I sent it, and her saying it didn't matter it was still an unauthorized transaction, I asked for a supervisor. I then talked to XXXX the supervisor. He essentially said the same thing - XXXX transaction was flagged as unauthorized, so they blocked access to the account. 
He did file a case for me with the XXXX team. He said it would take XXXX XXXX XXXX  days to get a response. As of this writing, I have not received a response. 
Today, I left work early to go to a branch. I need my money to pay some bills. They were very empathetic to my situation, and they called the XXXX  XXXX folks on my behalf. The branch banker was told that the account was not " closed '', but an investigation was going on and it was shut down to protect the bank. BECAUSE MY DIRECT DEPOSITS HAD STOPPED. I let her know that I was laid off in XXXX, and as a result had no payments to be deposited. I had just started working, and my direct deposit is scheduled to go in on the XXXX. I was told that I could not access my funds. If my direct deposit goes in, they will be forced to open the account back up, so it seems that my only option is to wait until my direct deposit goes in. 
The frustrating part of this is that it all could have been avoided. If they had notified me that there was a concern over the lack of direct deposits, I could have figured something out to ensure I'm not left dead broke with my license and insurance being suspended. In addition to the return payment fee that the insurance company will charge, I'll have apply to reinstate my license, which will cost me another XXXX. 
This whole situation could have been avoided, but Wells Fargo preferred to make the decision without asking me what happened to the deposits which resuled in all my money being frozen for a minimum of XXXX  days.

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