$3 monthly debit card fee? Goodbye Wells Fargo!

[PingSpike]

Ya, I read through the FAQ on the UPS thing and couldn't find anything. Gonna call them tomorrow. Do you know if you can deposit money orders and cashier checks through deposit @ home?

And man, their auto insurance beat the next lowest quote I had by about 25%. It's insane. If only they could get their act together on homeowner's. I was looking at about $1700 through them versus $1000 with other companies.

My experience with insurance is everyone talks big about their multiple policy discount but it never made up for how badly they ripped you off on one of the policies or the other. I'm sure it works for some one but all the companies I call want 50% more than the lowest auto or 50% more than the lowest home. Then I ask them about the multiple policy discount and they tell me it has already been applied. :\

 

[KentState]

I believe this is on top of the $3/month debit fee.

You are correct. I do both direct deposit and have a decent balance in both checking and money market and they are going to charge me the $3/month fee. I basically said pound sand to them today and signed up with a credit union.

 

[JTsyo]

I have my old Wachovia account grandfathered into Wells Fargo. the account had a lot of advantages that I didn't want to give up for a Wells Fargo checking account.

 

[Farang]

If you're in Washington state, use BECU. Honestly I don't know how banks do any business here with them around, I would never go back to a major bank.

 

[Tequila]

If you struggle to keep $2000 in your bank account then Wells Fargo is not for you since fees will eat you alive. Start out at a credit union in that case.

The sweet spot for Wells is 25k and creating a PMA account and linking that to your checking and savings. I'm a very satisfied customer of Wells Fargo and don't get hit with any fees aside from my yearly safe deposit box.

 

[KentState]

If you struggle to keep $2000 in your bank account then Wells Fargo is not for you since fees will eat you alive. Start out at a credit union in that case.

The sweet spot for Wells is 25k and creating a PMA account and linking that to your checking and savings. I'm a very satisfied customer of Wells Fargo and don't get hit with any fees aside from my yearly safe deposit box.

Not sure what state you are in, but this is a fee that everyone is getting in Georgia. Has nothing to do with the amount of money or account type.

 

[FelixDeCat]

Account officially closed today. They tried to talk me into staying by creating a linked savings account with $25. Every time I used a debit card, one dollar would be moved from checking to savings.

I declined the offer from the buxom banker.

 

[dmcowen674]

Account officially closed today. They tried to talk me into staying by creating a linked savings account with $25. Every time I used a debit card, one dollar would be moved from checking to savings.

I declined the offer from the buxom banker.

Good for you. Wells Fargo are outright thieves. They all are but WF is the worst.

 

[AnitaPeterson]

The minute my bank starts charging me for the privilege of making them more money with a debit card, my account is SO closed. I'm not about pay them to keep 5 figures in my checking account at no interest.

THIS.

You should come to Canada. Almost EVERY bank here taxes you for the privilege of keeping your money in their coffers.

Times are changing, and banks' profits have been slashed greatly, so look for ALL major banks to be implementing changes, and they will ALL have some sort of requirements to be met in order to have those service fees waived.

Oh, cry me a river over the poor banks that can't make an extra gazillion from fees, on top of the speculations which nearly brought the world economy to its knees.

 

[ponyo]

Wait, they are charging $3 monthly for debit card fee? I didn't get the memo. Does this apply to previous Wachovia Crown Banking customers?

 

[darkewaffle]

THIS.

Oh, cry me a river over the poor banks that can't make an extra gazillion from fees, on top of the speculations which nearly brought the world economy to its knees.

Clearly nobody is to blame but the banks for that :awe:

 

[darkewaffle]

Wait, they are charging $3 monthly for debit card fee? I didn't get the memo. Does this apply to previous Wachovia Crown Banking customers?

So far it looks as though it will apply to any debit card holders (business or personal) in the four (or is it five?) chosen states who use their card to make a purchase in a given month. The states are GA/NV/NM/OR/WA according to earlier posts but I could have sworn it was only four states, maybe I'm mistaken.

 

[onza]

So far it looks as though it will apply to any debit card holders (business or personal) in the four (or is it five?) chosen states who use their card to make a purchase in a given month. The states are GA/NV/NM/OR/WA according to earlier posts but I could have sworn it was only four states, maybe I'm mistaken.

^ is correct. It's currently a test!!! Too see how many people LOVE paying the fee's. Hope they overturn it but I highly doubt it once they see the income coming in from the monthly fee.

 

[ponyo]

So far it looks as though it will apply to any debit card holders (business or personal) in the four (or is it five?) chosen states who use their card to make a purchase in a given month. The states are GA/NV/NM/OR/WA according to earlier posts but I could have sworn it was only four states, maybe I'm mistaken.

So you have to purchase something with a debit card? If you never use your debit card, then there's no charge?

 

[darkewaffle]

So you have to purchase something with a debit card? If you never use your debit card, then there's no charge?

I don't believe there is, I think the WSJ article said that if you only used your card at, say, an ATM you would not be subject to the new monthly fee, for WF at any rate.

 

[TheTony]

A lot of questionable information in this thread. To clarify:

- The new fee is a Wells Fargo fee that will take effect Oct. 14 in Georgia, New Mexico, Nevada and Oregon. Fee will not be charged if you do not use the card. Fee can be waived.

-This fee is separate from the fees many banks are charging for checking accounts.

- Other banks may or may not begin charging a fee or testing it in their respective markets. It is not a forced fee - the banks are doing it to recoup fee revenue. As is usually the case, once a few banks try it out and find it acceptable, others will surely adopt the practice. It may or may not be emulated by smaller banks.

- This can be attributed indirectly to new interchange fee legislation. However, that legislation was a result of years of complaints by many small businesses and their affiliated organizations whose allegation it was that the interchange fee was an unsustainable cost of doing business, and that they could better compete if this "barrier to entry" were lowered. As such, many of those businesses suggest that lowered interchange fees will result in lower prices for their customers. Whether this plays out remains to be seen.

 

[Eli]

Just saw this and came here to post it.

WTF? Screw you, Wells Fargo. We'll likely be taking our business elsewhere.

 

[MtnMan]

It was about 1993 when the last bank I had an account at tried to add a similar fee. Been 100% credit union and wonder why anyone would give a big bank a single dime.

 

[alkemyst]

Not everyone banks locally, credit unions don't help nationally or globally.

 

[lothar]

It essentially a tax on the consumer thats why. And there are a few huge banks with a virtual monopoly on it. Would you be ok if they charged 3.00 , 4.00, 10.00, 100.00 dollars "interchange fee" how would that impact the cost of the goods you are buying?

The idea that reducing(or eliminating) debit interchange fees will reduce the prices of goods at the grocery store or Wal-Mart is nothing short of idiocy.
That's like an idiot expecting the airlines to reduce ticket prices during the FAA shutdown.

 

[foghorn67]

I hear horror stories about big banks, but I've never been wronged by one yet.
credit unions can help nationally. Most are setup so you aren't jacked by ATM fees. Most credit unions honor other credit union's customers.

 

[dmcowen674]

Originally Posted by dmcowen674
Having all eggs in one basket has to be one of the dumbest things I've ever seen posted.

Good thing you prefaced with "Disclosure - I am a banker...".

Care to share your reasoning with me on that? I am not talking about investing all your money in a single company's stock. THAT would be the dumbest thing I have ever heard.

Dude

No one can trust your shitty computer system.

Today for example all of a sudden my card stopped working.

Came up invalid account at two different places. Then later on was working fine again.

If I had all eggs in one basket I would have been fucked.

 

[darkewaffle]

Dude

No one can trust your shitty computer system.

Today for example all of a sudden my card stopped working.

Came up invalid account at two different places. Then later on was working fine again.

If I had all eggs in one basket I would have been fucked.

So do you buy two cars just in case the one fails? Two refrigerators? Two air conditioners and water heaters?

Shit happens and no product is perfect. And having accounts at multiple institutions is just more likely to incur those fees everyone's so up in arms about lol :awe:

 

[alkemyst]

Full story so people can understand what the OP couldn't communicate:

http://money.cnn.com/2011/08/16/pf/debit_card_fee/index.htm

 

[alkemyst]

So do you buy two cars just in case the one fails? Two refrigerators? Two air conditioners and water heaters?

Shit happens and no product is perfect. And having accounts at multiple institutions is just more likely to incur those fees everyone's so up in arms about lol :awe:

WTF?!?! ummm dude, as long as you can access your cash any of those other problems are moot.

However, not being able to get cash can create a landslide.