Beleaguered banking giant, Wells Fargo, is once more in the spotlight—and not in a good way. Internal technical errors recently resulted in some of the bank’s online customers being charged twice. A tweet from Wells Fargo apologized to those who had issues with bill payments, claiming “Technical teams have corrected the errors.” For some, the double-billed transactions resulted in accounts which were overdrawn by hundreds of dollars.
Apparently, the internal processing error was responsible for double postings of some items for some customers—it is currently unclear just how many Wells Fargo online customers were affected by the error. After overnight corrections were made, a spokeswoman for Wells Fargo stated the correct balances should be showing for all customers, and that any fees or charges associated with the error would be “taken care of.”
Many of the affected Wells Fargo customers made their displeasure about the situation clear in responding tweets with a Minneapolis woman saying “Sorry doesn’t even come close to making up for all the stress and chaos this caused.” After all, even the simplest error made by a Wells Fargo customer results in an overdraft charge of $35.00, yet those same customers are supposed to be happy with an “I’m sorry,” when their accounts are completely turned upside down with overdrafts and the resulting fees.
One Wells Fargo customer stated that when an alert came in on her cell phone that her Wells Fargo account was overdrawn by $800, she frantically scrambled to correct the overdraft by transferring money from her children’s savings accounts. Alexander was also forced to wait on hold for an hour and a half when she attempted to contact a Wells Fargo representative and was frustrated that the bank initially made no mention of the glitch on social media, which would have saved her a significant amount of time and frustration. She also noted that she has become increasingly unhappy with Wells Fargo, even though she has been a customer for three decades. This latest problem could well be the final straw, as Alexander has vowed to leave the bank immediately.
Wells Fargo is still attempting to shake off a series of scandals which have occurred over the past couple of years. As an example, the bank admitted more than 3.5 million fake accounts were opened on behalf of unsuspecting consumers by Wells Fargo employees in response to “wildly unrealistic sales goals.” Wells Fargo has also admitted that more than half a million customers were forced to purchase unneeded auto insurance. Despite the fact that new management has taken the place of those in charge during the Wells Fargo scandals, and the fact that Wells Fargo has repeatedly apologized to its customers, those customers may not be in a forgiving mood.
The banking giant is now attempting to cut costs in response to their massive legal expenses, despite the fact that Wells Fargo—along with other huge corporations—has essentially hit the financial jackpot following the federal tax overhaul and the elimination of oversight regulations. Wells Fargo plans to close at least 800 bank branches by 2020, although bank executives claim these closings are in response to the increasing preference by American consumers for online and mobile banking.
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