Consumer complaint received 2025-01-03 00:00:00
Product: Checking or savings account — Checking account
Issue: Closing an account — Company closed your account
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY
State: VA

Complaint narrative:
I came to the U.S. from XXXX as an international student in XXXX and opened a checking account with Wells Fargo. In XX/XX/XXXX I received an email from Wells Fargo ( attached ) explaining " additional information is required [ ... ] so [ they ] can verify compliance with U.S. legal and regulatory requirements, including U.S. sanctions on XXXX. '' As they explain in their XXXX Declaration ( attached ), " The United States Government restricts the ability of banks to open or maintain banking relationships with individuals who are ordinarily resident in XXXX or part of the Government of XXXX. '' As I was ( and am ) neither of those XXXX, I submitted the documents they had requested, i.e. my Form XXXX and my most recent Form XXXX that establish my continued legal presence in the U.S. 

However, in XX/XX/XXXX Wells Fargo sent me another email ( attached ), saying " Thank you for responding to our recent request to provide updated residence and/or citizenship documentation. Weve reviewed this information and in connection with the Banks responsibilities to manage risk in our banking operations, we regret that we will be closing your account ( s ) effective as of the close of business on XX/XX/XXXX. You may also contact us to initiate closure at an earlier date. '' As it happens, between the XXXX emails Wells Fargo had changed its policy to explicitly exclude and discriminate against XXXX  in the U.S. on non-immigrant visas ( even if they are neither " ordinarily resident in XXXX or a part of the Government of XXXX '' ) as evidenced by the updated list of documents they now required ( attached ). There is XXXX evidence, and Wells Fargo has not provided any, that XXXX  on non-immigrant visas are more likely to violate U.S. sanctions and therefore should be excluded from the U.S. financial system. If anything, recent court cases ( e.g. XXXX where XXXX XXXX, XXXX, a XXXX citizen, and XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX, of XXXX, Texas, schemed with co-conspirators to evade U.S. economic sanctions against XXXX from XX/XX/XXXX to XX/XX/XXXX by facilitating the purchase of sanctioned oil from XXXX ) point to the contrary. 

In response to this, I visited a Wells Fargo branch and provided them with a copy of my XXXX student visa OPT ( Optional Practical Training ) EAD ( Employment Authorization Document ) card and my approved Form XXXX petition, and explained that I could not file a Form XXXX ( XXXX of the documents they had indicated that they would accept ) because of XXXX 's long wait times. I never heard back. 

Fast forwarding to XX/XX/XXXX, in anticipation of the closure of my checking account, I zeroed it out and transferred all my funds to another bank. However, on XX/XX/XXXX I received a notification from Wells Fargo ( attached ) that the IRS had made a deposit to my account ( the special payment from the IRS to taxpayers that had not claimed the XXXX Recovery Rebate Credit ). XX/XX/XXXX being a Saturday, and my account getting closed at the end of XX/XX/XXXX, I scheduled a same-day transfer to another bank on XX/XX/XXXX, which successfully went through ( receipt attached ) and the balance on my account returned to XXXX. 

Later on, however, the IRS deposit disappeared from my Wells Fargo account, my balance became negative, and I received a call from a Wells Fargo debt collection agent asking me to pay them back. When I told the agent about what Wells Fargo had said in their communications regarding my account ( " You may continue to use your account ( XXXX ) until the account is closed. Going forward, we will only authorize new withdrawals or payments from your account if you have sufficient available funds in the account, or in an account linked for overdraft protection. '' ) and asked him to explain to me why the IRS deposit magically disappeared and how is it possible for Wells Fargo to approve the transfer if I did not have sufficient funds in my account, the agent was unable to answer and instead transferred me to a customer service agent. The second agent was also unable to provide a proper explanation and instead asked me to email their XXXX XXXX department. At this point, it became clear to me that Wells Fargo had no intention of resolving the issue.

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