The Social Socialist: How Wells Fargo STEALS MONEY from Widows

11/23/11 1:22 PM

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The Social Socialist

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2011 SHARE

How Wells Fargo STEALS MONEY from Widows

I recently had a death in the family. I wont go into the details, but lets just say that having your estranged husband die a couple of days before your 33rd birthday is not something anyone should have to go through. About a week after it happened, I got a letter in the mail from Bank of America saying that they were sorry for my loss, but he owed them $450. Really nice!** As it turned out, he had a few random accounts with a small amount of money in theman ING savings account, an IRA, and some mutual funds managed through a Wells Fargo branch in Portland, Maine. Personally, I didnt like the idea of profiting off of his death, so it wasnt until about eight or nine months after his death (a couple of weeks ago) that I finally got around to pursuing any of the money. The beneficiary of the IRA turned out to be his father, which I suppose makes sense since we were only married for a year and half. No one ever really thinks theyre going to die at the age of 36. My husbands father, bless his heart, offered to send me all the money, so the stated beneficiary ended up not mattering. But like I said, profiting off of someones death just felt distasteful to me. The more I thought about it, the more I didnt feel right accepting all of it. Id recently been promoted and gotten a 10% pay increase while at the same time my sister-in-law was getting laid off of her job. Considering that the money in question was inherited from my husbands grandfather (i.e., his fathers father), it made more sense to settle for a smaller percentage so that my sister-in-law, Jan, wouldnt have to worry. Not to mention, I am much happier to have a sister than a lump of cash any day! Instead I decided I would just make do with the ING and the Wells Fargo accounts, which would be more than enough to pay off any final expenses. I know its just a matter of time before the vultures close in again. Bank of America must have their $450!!! What do you want to bet theyll charge me an extra fee just because I waited so long? Anyway, the reason Im laying out all this background is because I want to make it really clear that this is not just about the money. Money is great, but is that really why so many people left Bank of America and switched to credit unions recently? Sure, thats a big part of it, but not everyone who left those banks would have been charged that $5 monthly debit card fee. It was the principle that sparked the greater movement. People like me finally woke up
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The Social Socialist: How Wells Fargo STEALS MONEY from Widows

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and said, Wait a minute? Theyre going to start charging the poorest account holders a $5 monthly fee for accessing their own accounts? Theyre going to charge people just for being poor? So what if it doesnt affect me directly! Moving my money from Chase to a local credit union is something I can do for my community! Instead of the big banks betting my money and getting tax payer bailouts, I moved my money to a local credit union that gives home loans and small business loans to my actual neighborsnot the community in some kind of abstract sense but the real people that live in my town. Imagine the concept! In a show of solidarity, I, along with around 20 or 30 of my friends, moved our money to credit unions on Bank Transfer Day. And you know what? It feels GREAT!!! So getting back to the matter at hand, I got a small amount of money from ING, no problem. Then when I talked to Wells Fargo, at first I was very pleased. The account rep was very nice and said that she had met my husband a couple of times in Maine years ago, and she was sorry for my loss. She said that she could sell off the funds and send me a check right away. All I had to do was send in the right paperworkdeath certificate, notarized letter of direction, notarized small estate forms, notarized statement with the deceaseds address when he died, etc. You know, "easy" stuff. No problem. Then she said something else: If I wanted to move the money into a new account, there would be an $85 annual fee, and I could keep the money in mutual funds. Uh, yeah, no thanks. I didnt just go through all that trouble to move my money to a credit union only so some random Wells Fargo agent on the East Coast in a time zone three hours ahead of me could continue to lose more of the money on Wall Street. If Im going to invest any of it, Id much rather do it with someone recommended through my credit union who I can visit in the flesh out here in California. And supposedly that was no problem. She told me very sympathetically that she understood, and shed send me a check within a couple of weeks of receiving my documentation. No worries. Thank you very much. Please accept my sincerest condolences. Imagine my surprise then when she sent me an email the next day telling me that shed spoken with her manager and that according to IRS rules, they are unable to pay money out of a deceased persons account. Instead, she tells me, Ill have to open a new account; then they can transfer the money into it, and then they can send me a check. Now whoa whoa whoa wait a minute! The day before she told me that opening a new account would cost $85! I called and left her a very firm message that I hoped that this was all some kind of mistake and that Wells Fargo isnt in the business of taking advantage of widows. Did they really mean to charge me $85 to access my deceased husband's money? Oh, no no no, she tells me.

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Heres her email word-for-word: Rachel, In response to your email, I understand that you just want this behind you, and we have to follow policies and procedures. [...] There will be no annual fee, or any fee at all for us to open an account in your name, move the position from Sean's account to your new account, sell the position and send you a check. It can all be done within a week after your account is opened and verified. The annual fee is charged on an ongoing annual basis. I was saddened to hear that you feel I am "taking advantage of a widow". I was unaware of the IRS rules when we spoke earlier, for which I am sorry. Please call me at your earliest convenience so we can get this accomplished. ............... You know, I felt so bad about my original message that I called her and apologized. I felt really awful, as a matter of fact. I mean, I know that banks are gigantic, soulless, money sucking institutions that exist purely to take advantage of their customers, but of course, I would never mean to imply that she personally was taking advantage of a widow. I understand that not everyone who works for a bank is evil. Hell, there aren't a lot of other jobs out there! Our banking industry has become so bloated that a sickening percentage of our population now works for them. I apologized several times during the course of that phone call, and she assured me that if I signed the paperwork that she was faxing over that Id have a check for the full amount within a couple of weeks. No problem. Please accept our sincerest condolences. I felt a lot better after that phone call to tell you the truth. I still didnt feel any better about the banking industry in general, but at least banks had not yet reached some new low where they were intentionally charging widows and other next of kin to inherit their loved ones' money. What a horrible world that would be! So imagine my RAGE when I got a check in the mail this morning and guess how much is missing between the amount transferred out of my husbands account and the amount of the check?? 85 FREAKING DOLLARS!!! I know a lot of people will say that what Im going to say next is a bit harsh, but you know what? YOU CAN ALL SUCK IT. ANYONE WHO CONTINUES TO BANK WITH WELLS FARGO IS SUPPORTING AN INSTITUTION WITH A POLICY OF STEALING MONEY FROM WIDOWS. This wasnt just a "clerical error." I had multiple conversations with this woman. This is clearly a Wells Fargo POLICY DECISION. Even if I ever did somehow get that money back, you know what would make me a lot happier? Seeing as many people as possible pulling their money out of the big Wall Street banks and supporting local banks and credit unions that actually give a shit about their members! Dont whine to me about how its difficult and
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The Social Socialist: How Wells Fargo STEALS MONEY from Widows

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youre too lazy and blah blah. And dont whine about the big banks getting bailouts and how thats so unfair and boo-fucking-hoo. If you leave your money in institutions that intentionally steal money from you and your friends then you have completely given up your right to complain. What you need to do is quit whining and do something about it: MOVE YOUR MONEY. The way I see it, its pretty simple: You can support institutions that are nonprofit that give dividends to their members and offer home and small business loans to your neighbors or you can support institutions that look for ways to screw your neighbors, friends, and families. And if you can honestly say to yourself, "Who cares? It doesn't affect ME!" If you can still support an institution that has a policy of stealing money from widows... Well, guess what? YOU ARE AN ASSHOLE.

** By the way, the $450 that Bank of America wants me to pay them for the outstanding credit card balance? That was a SECURED credit card. Sean actually PAID Bank of America $500 like 5 or 6 years ago, so he could rebuild his credit. And then they send ME a letter in the mail saying that I owe them $450 after he dies?? If anything they owe me $50. I'm sure I'll get another letter from them though!
Posted by Rachel M at 3:27 PM
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1 comments:
Rachel M said... P.S. They charged an additional $5 fee to transfer the funds from Sean's account into my account, so really they charged me $90. But hey, I'm not complaining! I'm sure Wells Fargo really NEEDS that money!!! November 17, 2011 3:32 PM

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