Goodbye Wells Fargo – It’s a Shame

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Sadly, Monday is the day I leave Wells Fargo completely as my main banking institution. I have been with Wells Fargo (or some variation) since 1994. First I was with Cattleman’s State Bank (in Austin), which was bought by Norwest, which was bought by Wells Fargo.

I’ve never had any major issues with WF, and almost all of the time I have very nice experiences in their branch locations, which are in very convenient locations for me. They hire very good branch employees.

However, they charge for everything. Almost every bank I know of had free online bill pay for years before Wells Fargo finally gave in more recently. ATM fees? Of course.

I kept my accounts with them because we had our mortgage through them, and it was very nice to see a big picture of our overall financial status. Now, with services like Mint, this is not a differentiator. In addition, I’ve been very happy with USAA banking, despite no physical locations. They refund every ATM fee, they give a decent % interest on personal checking, and they have superb customer service. So, all my personal accounts are now going to USAA.

Now, for business. I recently had the grand idea that, gee, wouldn’t it be great if I had all my accounts under one roof, including business? I was sure that by adding business checking, savings and credit to my already existing personal, student loan, and mortgage accounts, I’d be given a pretty good deal. WRONG.

I opened up accounts for Duce Enterprises. Had to have a $500 minimum average daily balance to avoid a $6 service fee. Annoying, but not a huge deal. So I opened the account with $100. Two days later I deposited $400 to bring it to $500. Because I didn’t have $500 in there from the beginning, and didn’t compensate by depositing more later in the month, I was dinged for $6. Ridiculous.

Then, I was looking at my transactions, and there’s a very inviting link to “View Details.”

I clicked on it, thinking “what a great feature,” only to get this message:

Sorry, but I’ve grown very tired of Wells Fargo, and all their nickel and diming for every little thing. I’m done. They have enough customers that I’m sure these fees net them a considerable revenue, so I guess from a pure business/profit standpoint, I can’t blame them. But, as a customer, and a loyal long-term customer, I expect more, and I will get more, from someone else.

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