Long story- I’ve been a customer of Wachovia for ~6 years: three personal checking accounts and a credit card that I never use. I’ve had mortgages with Wells Fargo for ~6 years as well… on my second one. ~18 months ago, Touchmark Bank opened up in Atlanta and was offering 5% interest on their checking accounts; so we moved our personal banking over there to take advantage of that extremely competitive rate. We left the three accounts open with minimal balances for some odd reason. Last year when I started my business I opened a business checking account at Wachovia as they are just too damn convenient with locations on every corner (plus that interest rate at Touchmark has dwindled, not to mention it isn’t offered for business accounts anyway)…. Well fast forward to today and the business account (~20k working capital) and credit card were transitioned over with the Wells Fargo acquisition with the three personal accounts with little money were left to transition at a latter point. Now, two weeks ago we entered into a 24 month lease purchase contract on a house to which I would need to “escrow” the deposit and any additional funds the tenant would like to build for closing. I opened the account with a 0 balance (first mistake) as the tenant was going to deposit the $6k escrow and $1600 first month rent at her convenience. She had just drew a check off a trust account for $7k into her personal BOA checking account to cover the expense, but apparently didn’t realize the holding period at BOA for the check. Wells Fargo moved quite a bit quicker….. .she deposited $3600 cash and wrote a check for $4k as the opening $7600 deposit into the “escrow” account…. Well, the $4k check came back insufficient funds as the trust check hadn’t cleared BOA yet. Now comes the BS… understandably, they froze the new account as the opening deposit check was returned NSF. To make things worse, BOA stamped it “counterfeit” instead of NSF, so Wells Fargo did not resubmit; allowing for her $7k check to clear. So, later in the week when her check cleared and she wants to wire the money- no good; account frozen. She takes $4k cash in had to deposit- no good; account frozen. Fine, whatever. I’ll let them close the account and open another one and move forward- nope; they froze my unrelated business account as well. They are holding my $20k business account as well as the $3600 escrow account for another week to allow transactions to process, then they will close both accounts and mail me a check. I am no longer welcome to bank at Wells Fargo- ever. Seriously?!?! Someone writes ME a bad check and you freeze MY money because I have been deemed a risk? As if this wasn’t f-ed up enough- it doesn’t reflect on my ability to borrow money from Wells Fargo as that is a different department. I am too much of a “risk” because of someone writing me a bad check that you don’t want me to deposit, but you’ll loan me money for a mortgage as well as a credit card? Oh, and the lady that wrote the “bad check” opened an account with Wells Fargo on Saturday……..
And do what? Both fortunately and unfortunately I am not in need of my cash for working capital at the moment, so really doesn't do me any harm. I'm just trying to get the word out to those willing and able to forgo any relationships with Wells Fargo....
Another "F**k BoA" here as well. I could write a book with the bad shit I dealt with them. I can see that this may fall under suspicious activity only for the fact the check came back NSF but the assholes could of at least had the courtesy to call you and discuss the pending issue.
you could sue them for loss of business on the time your account is frozen and for the hassle in the amount of her $7600. im positive you can sue, for how much more than that i dk. but almost positive you could win. just call a lawyer and ask questions
That's what I'm saying- I have no hardship to claim due to the frozen funds. I have accounts at other banks; so I don't "need" the money right away. Suing for "inconvenience" ain't my way. I'll get all my money back; so no use giving it to an attorney as that won't do as much as to hurt their business as getting the word out will. In reality, either option is just a gnat buzzing an elephant.
That sucks... I wouldn't say it's a matter of needing the money. It's still a business account that you use for your business. Whether or not you were actually going to spend that money in there shouldn't be a factor. It's a matter of principle that they give you, the upstanding customer that you've been, the benefit of the doubt. Freezing an unrelated business account should not happen. What if you did need to spend some of that money as you didn't have the amount needed in your personal account. Now I understand you manage your money very well, so this wouldn't happen, but if it were someone else who it DID happen to, this could very well mean their business tanking and them ending up having to shut down due to money issues. Granted, you're smarter than the average bear, but there's always the "what-if" that could easily and does happen.
I switched to Chase. The transition between Wells Fargo and Wachovia was terrible...especially on the business side. I hate it too...Wachovia rocked.
also agree... wachovia was awesome. wells fargo... not so much. i've got a chase account now... the only problem with chase is that they don't have as many locations... :/