Wells Fargo's First Strike was their miserable
attempt to refuse us a loan modification, telling us that they were not
participating in the Federally-funded program to achieve such needed mortgage
restructuring -- when in fact they were full participants and had taken all
those Federal dollars to boot. We
managed to force them to keep their word only after I complained to the Chief
White House economist, son of a former colleague of mine in graduate school,
and the Secretary of the Treasury. But Wells Fargo's grave reluctance to honor
their own commitment to loan modifications was disgraceful.
Wells Fargo's Second Strike was their misbegotten
attempt to impose a debit card usage fee on its Bank customers such as us, to
try to make up for losing part of a former unjustified debit card fee imposed upon
merchants, which had been properly limited by Congress. Even though WF had near-record earnings in 2011, they still
wanted to gouge their own loyal customers.
After public outrage, to which I was proud to contribute, that wrongful
But now -- watch out for that windup and fast pitch by Wells
Fargo -- comes the worst gouge of all, because it affects most WF Bank checking
account customers like us. WF wants to go national with a large monthly fee on small
depositors unless they agree and can afford to go through WF's hoops, sort of making us into
trained dogs and turning WF into Pavlov.
Here is
how our local Wells Fargo Bank office here in North Georgia has mishandled the
matter of this new, excessive, abusive, customer-unfriendly checking account
fee -- $15 monthly on our "Complete Advantage" account (which must be
the least-truthful name in the entire history of banking): After speaking briefly with local manager
Cliff, a hard man to reach, I called back five days later when he broke his promise
to call or email me promptly regarding the fee, after speaking with his
regional boss. I had proposed reducing
the monthly fee to $4 and allowing various options for avoidance, such as
having any WF mortgage, whether or not linked to our particular WF bank account
(how I pay my mortgage is my own business, not Wells Fargo's.)
Jennifer
at the local office told me Manager Cliff was out of the office for the next two days and his phone does not have voice
mail (is Wells Fargo in the 21st century at all?) So, I
asked for his email address (usually on WF business cards) but Jennifer said
she could not give that out, so instead she offered to send Manager Cliff an
email asking him to email me (of course, I had to go through the issue again --
this time, with her.) And, of course,
I have yet to hear back from Manager Cliff, or anyone else at Wells Fargo Bank.
Here,
then, is the one-time proposal, from this retired professor of Money and Banking,
to resolve this matter by compromise; this proposal was emailed to a host of WF
execs from CEO John G. Stumpf, through their investor relations, media
relations, and other sections (this is the exact wording of the proposal, which
was intended to open discussion at WF):
" If you reduce the monthly account fee to not
more than $4, and waive that
fee for any customers with a "banking relationship" of $25,000
or more with Wells Fargo (including bank accounts, mortgage, and/or other loan
relationships), you will be doing yourselves, your firm, and the American
public a good turn . In this tough economy, and in view of the Occupy Movement's protest of such fees
and charges as this one, the ill-will
you will receive from the imposition of this fee would far outweigh the extra
revenue you secure -- not to
mention that many of us will just move our accounts elsewhere. Let me know
by the Ides of March, March 15, 2012 , if you will take that positive step of fair compromise recommended
above . Here is an opportunity to do the right
thing, not only for America, but for Wells Fargo and its Bank as well. Carpe Diem
-- seize this opportunity. Respond now."
Wells Fargo's total refusal to even consider this serious,
fair, well-designed proposal --indeed,
their refusal to even acknowledge it -- represents Wells Fargo's Third
Strike -- which is not only a strikeout with
us loyal WF customers, but with America as well!
As for us, we are moving our bank account out of this miserable, rude, unfriendly
bank. WF's local staff do not do their jobs of handling customer
inquiries promptly and professionally, and WF's top executives do not care
about much of anything beyond their excessive salaries resulting from gouging
us, their own customers. Hence, America
and Americans should consider ceasing to do business with
Wells Fargo and Wells Fargo Bank, and all of the other mega-bank abusers.
It was not so long ago that hundreds of billions of Federal dollars were used to save such mega-banks from the consequences of their unwise sub-prime loans and other improper actions. Those funds were taken eagerly by the recipients, while they promised America that banking behavior would change -- and perhaps it has, but not necessarily for the better. There are plenty of community banks, credit unions, and other locally-based institutions which are eager to hold our accounts, make fair loans, and treat us with the respect which we deserve. While many of our small accounts may not be the most profitable for the mega-banks, they are still the backbone of our banking system -- indeed, an essential ingredient of it. It's time to switch to financial intitutions in which we can believe, and which believe in us.
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