Consumer complaint received 2024-06-27 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:
( Section 1 ) Summary of What Caused This Event To Happen : What has happened is there has been a huge misunderstanding. From XX/XX/XXXX- XX/XX/XXXX I have had one bank account ( XXXX XXXX ) closed because of alleged check fraud and seven bank accounts closed for wire fraud or check fraud allegations. I have committed no crime at all and have proof to prove it. I have a written letter from the supervisor at the financial institution called the Transfer Board in the XXXX XXXX and you contact information this financial institution to ask any questions pertaining to where the funds were coming from who was is the account holder. 

The financial institution is called the Transfer Board. The Transfer Board are government banks in the XXXX XXXX solely authorized from the XXXX government to pay people money from the government, such as compensation, pensions, loans and so on. 

My fianc traveled to the XXXX XXXX in XX/XX/XXXX by herself to settle a lawsuit because of a family tragedy. Once the lawsuit was settled, she was given an account with the Transfer Board in the XXXX XXXX. I will send you a copy of her driver license to validate my fianc is a United States citizen and that I am not making this person up. 

After the lawsuit was settled in XX/XX/XXXX, my fianc realized that she made a huge mistake on her behalf by not opening a standard American checking account in the U.S.A. before heading to XXXX, XXXX. The only bank American bank account she had during that time was with XXXX XXXX XXXX. Without a standard American bank account in her name, she couldnt transfer her funds thats in her Transfer Board account in the XXXX XXXX. The Transfer Board required my fianc to have a standard American bank account, such as XXXX, XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX, XXXX XXXX, etc., in order for her to successfully do wire transfers and deposit checks. 

Where I come into the picture is since my fianc didnt have an American standard bank account, doesnt mean I didnt. During XX/XX/XXXX - XX/XX/XXXX, I had three American standard bank accounts with XXXX XXXX, XXXX, and XXXX. I have had those three bank accounts for years before this incident. The checking accounts with Wells Fargo, XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX, XXXX and XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX  were bank accounts that I had gotten between XX/XX/XXXX - XX/XX/XXXX because the Transfer Board needed a standard American bank account to attempt a wire transfer or deposit a check to help me and my fianc resolve the mistake of not getting her a standard American bank accounts before leaving the country. We didnt get a joint bank account either because we were planning to do that after she came back from XXXX XXXX 

Since she didnt have a standard American bank account, the Transfer Board in the XXXX XXXX was trying to help her with her issue. I will include a copy of the letter written by the supervisor from the Transfer Board and you can contact the financial institution to verify everything I am saying. I have attempted to sit down to try to communicate with one of the suspended bank accounts ( Wells Fargo ) at the XXXX location between XX/XX/XXXX- XX/XX/XXXX and I was treated so poorly by that branch fraud department. I was so disgusted with the biased that was shown from the fraud department, which if the employee would have allowed me to explain the situation and provide the documentation, I wouldnt have to come to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The employee from the Wells Fargo fraud department threatened to call the police over the phone and was very disrespectful to the Wells Fargo branch manager in XXXX, TX for no apparent reason as well. The branch manager at the Wells Fargo in XXXX, TX can confirm this because she met with me personally in her office and made the call to the Wells Fargo fraud department from her office phone during the meeting. Anyway, after that meeting with Wells Fargo in XX/XX/XXXX or XX/XX/XXXX, I refuse to take any further chances depending on the branch managers to help me resolve this issue forward. So if you ask me, have I sought help from the branch managers? The answer to that question will be yes, I have attempted to try to do this privately, where this issue could be resolved quietly without bringing too many people in the situation, but I wont tolerate the blatant discrimination and bias any further because I did that with Wells Fargo branch in XXXX, TX and I was treated horribly with so much disrespectful, without getting a chance to explain what transpired to get the bank account suspended, nor didnt the branch manager take the allotted time to look at my documentation that will validate everything I am about to explain to you now. Everything is going to sound crazy when I explain these events, but I have evidence to show you I am not lying. I have separate the events into sections to keep everything organized in the course that took place from XX/XX/XXXX- XX/XX/XXXX. 


( Section XXXX ) Wells Fargo bank closure XX/XX/XXXX - XX/XX/XXXX : My fianc attempted a wire transfer from her Transfer Board account to my Wells Fargo account in the amount of {$7800.00}. The XXXX transactions for fraud allegations may or may not be tied to the Wells Fargo account. I assumed the XXXX transactions are tied to the Wells Fargo bank account because the bank will use that as an excuse along with the wire transfer from my fianc bank account to justify suspending and closing the bank account. Please scroll down to section 15 if you need an explanation on why the XXXX transactions may have also helped the bank account to be suspended. You will have to contact the Transfer Board to see what exactly they tried to do. I, nor my fianc dont have a real description of the what the Transfer Board was trying to do during this time because we were allowing them to do their job. The letter taking responsibility for all my suspended accounts was written by the Transfer Board because everything was being orchestrated by them to help me and my fianc resolve the mistake we made when we didnt make sure she was prepared for her trip before leaving the United States . 

You are probably going to ask me, why wasnt this documentation shown to any of the banks during XX/XX/XXXX- XX/XX/XXXX to the banks fraud departments to prevent this from happening? The reason is because the documentation to validate my fianc account with the Transfer Board was accidentally sent to my fianc mother in XXXX instead of me, which during that time period she was in the hospital for XXXX recurrence. If you need to see her inpatient bills at the XXXX hospital she was admitted at, I can provide you my fianc mother hospital receipts for the XXXX and inpatient treatment she was receiving during this time period. With my fianc mother in an inpatient hospital fighting a XXXX, there was no way to get in contact with her during that time period and have her send me the documentation to validate her daughter account with the Transfer Board from XX/XX/XXXX- XX/XX/XXXX. She was finally able to send me a copy of the documentation in XX/XX/XXXX, but by then the damage had already been done. 

My fianc also couldnt contact the banks personally because the cellular phone she had during that time wasnt unlocked by her cell phone provider before she left the XXXX. So it was virtually impossible for her to contact the branch managers who were dealing with the check deposit or wire transfers during XX/XX/XXXX- XX/XX/XXXX to see what documentation that needed to have sent to keep my bank accounts from being suspended. 


( Section XXXX ) XX/XX/XXXX- XX/XX/XXXX : During this time period, me and my fianc were desperate at this point. We decided to get her a plane ticket back to the Texas, take the documentation to each closed bank account and show them that the wire transfers were made were legitimate and came from her bank account. We didnt get any joint bank accounts before she left because we planned to do that after her trip from XXXX XXXX Like I mentioned before, she was moving to XXXX permanently to be with me and had just permanently moved out of California right before her XXXX trip to settle the lawsuit. 
I got her the money for a plane ticket to come back to XXXX and when attempting to buy the ticket, she was seized by XXXX XXXX at the XXXX XXXX XXXX because it turns out her XXXX  was expired. She was taken to the XXXX XXXX called : XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX  ), Short-Term Holding Facilities ( STHFs ) and prisons. 

Prison Location : XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX, XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX. My fianc was held in the facility from XX/XX/XXXX- XX/XX/XXXX. Her XXXX cost {$10000.00} in order to be released from the XXXX. I ended up paying her bail off by XX/XX/XXXX. She remained at the XXXX until we found a way around her bank account issue, so she can pay for her XXXX and get back to XXXX to resolve the issue that got my bank accounts suspended. Her cellphone wasnt unlocked locked by the XXXX provider before she left the country and during the time from XX/XX/XXXX- XX/XX/XXXX, I got her the money for an unlocked cellphone and Vodafone SIM XXXX XXXX She was able to use the new unlocked phone to apply online to several standard American bank accounts, but within 72 hours all her applications were voided. I had her call the XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX customer support number with the unlocked cellphone to get an explanation and it turned out the reason why her applications were being rejected because of her IP address being outside the United States of America. The customer service representative told her, she will need to be in the USA to apply online for a bank account or come to the bank in person submit an application. What I came to realize is if there are XXXX XXXX XXXX branches in XXXX like there is in the United States of America, then she would need to get a global bank account that was in both the XXXX XXXX and United States. So, I searched online for every bank thats in XXXX, then went back on the internet to see which bank from my XXXX XXXX list are located in the United States. I found that XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX, XXXX and maybe a couple of others banks are located both in the United States and XXXX XXXX. I had my fianc contact the Transfer Board in the XXXX XXXX to see which bank would accept wire transfers and deposit from her XXXX XXXX account. XXXX bank ended up becoming the chosen bank she would get an account with and it was perfect for us because they have a multitude of XXXX branches in XXXX, XXXX where she is. Since she wasnt a XXXX XXXX, she was only mixing one essential component that was going to prevent her from getting the XXXX bank account, which was not having a permanent XXXX address because she is a United States citizen. 

Afterwards I got her a residency slot at a homeless shelter called The Passage thats in XXXX, XXXX in XX/XX/XXXX. She began staying there officially in XX/XX/XXXX - current. She was able to use get a written letter signed by the chief executive of the homeless shelter to grant her the right to claim she had been a resident at the shelter for 6 months, thats why the letter is backdated to XXXX. You can contact the shelter and verify to see if my fianc has a residency there if needed. My fianc was able to get the bank account with the XXXX in XX/XX/XXXX due to her getting the written letter from the Passage Shelter in XXXX XXXX. Shelter address XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX. Shelter contact number : XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. 


( Section XXXX ) XX/XX/XXXX - XX/XX/XXXX : After my fianc had met with personally with a banker at one one of the XXXX branches in XXXX, XXXX to get herself a bank account, I had her immediately contact the embassy in XXXX via phone to see what documentation she needed to submit to renew her expired XXXX. I have the phone records to validate she contacted the embassy during this time. She submitted the XXXX XXXX XXXX to the embassy in XX/XX/XXXX to initiate the process of getting her new visa renewed. I also have a copy of a partial copy of the XXXX XXXX XXXX she submitted. 

In XX/XX/XXXX it turns out that XXXX policy requires the XXXX account holder to pay a total of two out of pocket fees after you have you have been accepted as a member. That means if she wanted to activate her XXXXXXXX XXXX account with XXXX and receive a XXXX debit card, she is obligated to pay a {$1600.00} ( XXXX ) bank account activation fee, and a {$1600.00} ( XXXX ) debit card activation fee. You can contact any of the XXXX branches in the XXXX XXXX to find out that these out of pocket fees are mandatory if you think I am lying about the XXXX out of pocket fees. 

In XX/XX/XXXX we also found out that my fianc account with the Transfer Board also required her to pay a one-time {$1600.00} fee to do wire transfers to her XXXX bank account and a {$1600.00} debt she owed. What didnt help was my fianc had been informed by the embassy in XX/XX/XXXX that her visa appointment would on XX/XX/XXXX. So we had to contact the embassy to push the appointment date back and I diligently worked to make sure I had the {$1600.00} ( XXXX ) bank account activation fee, the {$1600.00} ( XXXX ) debit card activation fee, the Transfer Board one-time {$1600.00} fee to wire transfer to her XXXX bank account XXXX and the Transfer Board {$1600.00} debt all paid off before the reschedule appointment date. The embassy appointment ended up getting rescheduled to XX/XX/XXXX. I paid off the four fees my fianc owed before the rescheduled XX/XX/XXXXXXXX XXXX appointment. I have the receipts and documentation to confirm I paid these out of pocket fees. She was able to do a XXXX wire transfer in XX/XX/XXXX from her Transfer Board account to her new XXXX bank account after we paid the four fees.

( Section 5 ) XX/XX/XXXX - XX/XX/XXXX : My wife attend the embassy appointment and paid for her XXXX  with the XXXX XXXX debit card, but the XXXX bank account was suspended because at that time we didnt know that XXXX debit card spending limit was {$10000.00} ( XXXX ) and if you spend {$10000.00} ( XXXX ) or more, then the XXXX account holder would have to pay a {$1600.00} bank account reactivation fee and a {$1600.00} debit card reactivation fee in order to use the bank account and debit card again. My fianc paid {$10000.00} to the embassy in XXXX to get her a new XXXX in 30 days, but when she did that, it caused the XXXX bank account to be suspended and during that time we didnt have a clue about the XXXX bank policies. In my experience of having a bank account, I never hear of banks making their account holder pay fees for spending your money in the bank account, but that shows you how novice I was during that time because I never read the XXXX bank policy. I have the receipts to validate my fianc paid {$10000.00} ( XXXX ) with her current XXXX bank account on XX/XX/XXXX and received her visa in XX/XX/XXXX. I have the receipts and documentation to validate everything I am saying. 

The XXXX bank account stayed suspended after making the {$10000.00} ( XXXX ) payment for the XXXX in from XX/XX/XXXX- XX/XX/XXXX because we didnt understand why the bank account was suspended during that time, nor did we care because the objective was to just get her back safely to Texas and we would resolved all issues with the suspended accounts in the United States XXXX 

( Section 6 ) XX/XX/XXXX- XX/XX/XXXX : I saved up enough money for my fianc to get a second plane ticket back to Texas between XX/XX/XXXX- XX/XX/XXXX. When she purchased the plane ticket, she was stopped by XXXX XXXX at the XXXX XXXX XXXX for the second time because of an alleged debt she owed XXXX bank. It turns out that the XXXX bank was charging her the {$10000.00} ( XXXX ) payment spent on the visa. She was able to get everything successfully resolved between the XXXX bank and XXXX XXXX, which took five total days to do. My fianc couldnt leave the airport for those five days until XXXX XXXX verified everything she told them regarding her situation like I am describing to you with these suspended bank accounts. Before she could be permitted to leave the country she needed to pay a one-time {$1600.00} ( XXXX ) activation fee, so the {$10000.00} ( XXXX ) could be voided. The problem was I didnt have the money for the one-time {$1600.00} ( XXXX ) activation fee because the money was just spent on a plane ticket, which was voided by XXXX Services. Her plane ticket she had purchased from XXXX XXXX that was voided would be reinstated after she got the alleged {$10000.00} ( XXXX ) debt she owed XXXX taken care of. She ended going back to the shelter because it was going to take me at least 30 days to come up with the money for the one-time {$1600.00} ( XXXX ) activation fee. I paid the one-time {$1600.00} ( XXXX ) activation fee on by the first week of XX/XX/XXXX. Sadly, the day before my fianc was supposed to go to the airport in XX/XX/XXXX, she was robbed at the shelter and had her wallet and cellphone stolen. She managed to contact XXXX bank to report the stolen items within XXXX hours after being robbed and got the debit card canceled. But that meant she would be required to pay an ( {$1600.00} ) XXXX out of pocket fee to replace the XXXX XXXX debit card that was stolen. I have the receipts and documentation to validate everything I am saying. I even have the name of the police station in XXXX, XXXX she reported the robbery to. The robbery took place at the shelter when she was out of her room. The shelter is not how you are thinking where a bunch of people are sleeping in XXXX room on bunk beds. No, the shelter she is residing at is where everyone gets their own room. The shelter even has its own library and set meal times. 


( Section XXXX ) XX/XX/XXXX - XX/XX/XXXX : During the month of XX/XX/XXXX, the thief tried to call the XXXX to pretend he or she was my fianc to get the canceled debit card reinstated, not knowing she had reported the robbery to XXXX in XX/XX/XXXX within XXXX hours after the robbery and notified the bank to cancel the debit card that was stolen. The thief even tried to login into my fianc online banking in XX/XX/XXXX, which meant XXXX had no other option but to suspend the bank account. Not only did we have to pay an ( {$1600.00} ) XXXX out of pocket fee to replace the XXXX XXXX debit card that was stolen, but we also now had to pay a {$1600.00} ( XXXX ) bank account activation fee, and the {$1600.00} ( XXXX ) debit card activation fee. We were finally able to get the XXXX out of pocket fees paid off by XX/XX/XXXX. The bank account was reactivated in XX/XX/XXXX. I have the receipts and documentation to validate everything I am saying. 


( Section XXXX ) XX/XX/XXXX - current : My fianc is currently now in the process of getting her a new visa to replace the one that was stolen in XX/XX/XXXX. She just submitted a new application and made a XXXX payment with her XXXX bank account on XX/XX/XXXX to the embassy to begin the process of getting a new visa. The process to get a new passport is more expensive and takes longer than what she had to go through in XXXX. We are currently waiting on an official appointment date. When she has the official appointment date, she will be required to pay an additional XXXX and once the XXXX payment is paid, she will receive her visa in XXXX months. I have receipts and documentation to validate everything I am saying.

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