Consumer complaint received 2025-09-26 00:00:00
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service — International money transfer
Issue: Other transaction problem — 
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY
State: DC

Complaint narrative:
On XX/XX/year>, an XXXX deposited a sum of money ( above {$100000.00} ) to my Wells Fargo account which sum constituted a loan towards the purchase of a house in a foreign country. The house would be placed in my name but financed in part by my parents and in part by a family friend, who owned the XXXX, and my parents would be living in it. 

On XX/XX/year>, I visited a Wells Fargo branch in DC with the intent to wire the amount of the loan to my mothers account which she would then transfer to the seller of the house. At some point, the banker called the fraud department to verify the information needed to allow the wire to proceed and, as I recall, to obtain some sort of code needed, which I thought was standard practice for international wire transfers above {$100000.00}. As part of the fraud departments verification process, they called the owner of the XXXX to verify that the amount deposited to my account was indeed a loan made for the above-stated purposes. Neither me nor the banker were part of or listened to that conversation between the operator and the XXXX owner. Once done, the operator informed the banker that they would not allow the wire to proceed for XXXX reasons : ( XXXX ) the operator stated that the XXXX owner didn't verify that it was a loan but said that it was a gift; and ( XXXX ) that the operator could not find the XXXX through the XXXX XXXX XXXX website. 

First, per the XXXX owner 's account, he never stated that the money was a gift. Even more importantly, I showed the banker a copy of an executed Promissory Note in the amount of the loan payable to the XXXX owner. It should be emphasized that the reason for which the money was sent to me is irrelevant and not something Wells Fargo should need to know. 

Secondly, I looked up the XXXX while at the branch and showed the banker the link from the XXXX of XXXX which showed the entity in good standing ( another irrelevant factor ). The fact that an operator from the fraud department of the biggest bank in the US could not find that is quite surprising.

Following that incident, I received an email from Wells Fargo the same day stating that while at the branch, I had made updates to my account identification and explaining that because of that, I my wire transfer was rejected. In fact, no such updates were made. Also, the reasons communicated to me at the branch for why the wire was rejected and the reasons in the letter are not consistent. 

That same day, I went to another branch to try again. It should be noted that the banker had advised me not to mention to the next branchs banker that I attempted to wire the funds and was unsuccessful. While processing the wire, he went through the same process and spoke to a different operator from the fraud department who also rejected the wire citing inconsistencies. When I asked repeatedly for further information of the reasons, they were not provided. It should be noted that prior to the branch manager speaking on the phone with the operator, I had already showed him the promissory note as evidence that the sum was a loan. After around 3 and a half hours at that branch and having all attempts to wire the funds fail, I decided to cash out the funds and transfer them domestically to a trusted third-party family friend, who would in turn wire the funds to my mother 's foreign account. 

On XX/XX/year>, the family friend visited a Wells Fargo branch in a different state where she attempted to transfer the funds. There, she was asked a series of questions about the origination of the funds to which she responded that I had sent the money and candidly mentioned that I had been unable to wire the funds directly to my mother 's foreign account because of my account being flagged for fraud. I then received a phone call from Wells Fargo and verbally confirmed I had indeed sent the money to the friend ; the operator seemed to have no further questions or concerns. Ironically, it did not matter here is the money was a gift or a loan to XXXX. The bank once again rejected the wire transfer. 

On XX/XX/year>, I, my friend and my father ( who was not even involved ) all received an email from Wells Fargo informing us that due to a business decision, our bank accounts were being closed as of XX/XX/year>, that our funds would be frozen until then and upon closure on XX/XX/year>, a certified check would be mailed out to each of us with the balance from our respective accounts. 

On XX/XX/year>, we received a further email extending the date of closure of our accounts till XX/XX/year>, quoting because we [ Wells Fargo ] are awaiting a request from the sending bank for return of the funds that were deposited into your account.. 

First, if the reason for extending the account closure is to account for the time needed to return the funds back to my account, that does not explain why my fathers account was also affected. Secondly, an international wire transfer typically takes 2-5 business days ; a domestic transfer between accounts of the same bank should not take 16 days. 

The checking account was my sole checking account from which I pay bills, rent, credit cards and everyday expenses and the delay in mailing the funds back to me means that all payments to my account will become past due, that I will need to pay late payments on late credit card payments, that my credit score will be affected and that I will have difficulty paying rent.

This incident has caused me so much frustration, energy, time and will be costing me money as well. I believe that the bank 's behavior has been reckless for the following reasons, among others : ( i ) the first operator 's incompetence to do a simple search of a XXXX account which was cited as XXXX of the reasons for rejecting the first wire attempt, ( ii ) the bank 's inconsistent responses for rejecting my wire attempt after the first branch visit, ( iii ) the lack of response provided in the second branch visit citing only " inconsistencies '', ( iv ) the unnecessary extension of the freeze of my account till XX/XX/year> without any regard to the consequences of leaving me without funds to pay my necessary expenses. 

Note : The above is a summary of the events that occurred between XX/XX/year> - XX/XX/year> and does not include the full details of the events.

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