Calif. Man Moves His Money The Wrong Way, Gets Burned By Bank
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Mike Iacuessa learned two things from his recent experience with a Wells Fargo checking account. First thing: It's expensive to be poor.
Iacuessa said that in August he overdrew his account with three transactions that together totaled about $28, triggering several $35 overdraft fees and $5 daily charges totaling $205.17. Furious, he walked away from the account. After receiving a few collection letters, he figured Wells Fargo charged it off.
"I refused to pay it," said Iacuessa, who is 45 and lives in San Francisco, Calif. "I was broke. I couldn't anyway."
In October, Iacuessa said, Wells Fargo called him up and made an offer. "One of the managers said, 'If you come back and open a checking account we'll waive those fees.' They're around the corner from my house, so I said OK."
This is where Iaceussa went wrong.
A Wells Fargo spokeswoman told HuffPost that the bank does not have a policy that encourages employees to go out and solicit former customers to open new accounts. She said that if a returning customer owed money from his previous account, then that person would be notified upfront that he still owed the money.
Iacuessa suspects a rogue manager is to blame. He claims that he was tricked into coming back to Wells Fargo on the promise the debt would be forgiven (a good question: "Why else would I go back there and open an account if I owed $200?"). He deposited $1,500 in a new account in October.
If Wells Fargo notified Iacuessa upfront that he'd be liable for the $205, his balance statement shows that the bank waited until Jan. 6 to actually take the money. Iacuessa didn't find out until after he received a letter informing him of two overdraft fees from Jan. 8. The involuntary payment left the account $43 short when a rent check cleared that day. Two subsequent transactions for less than $10 each wound up costing an additional $70.
"It was as if somebody broke into my house and stole my guitar," said Iacuessa. He didn't see the overdrafts coming because an ATM receipt from Jan. 8 (which he shared with HuffPost) shows he had over $1,000 in his account. His monthly balance statements show that the charges from Jan. 8 held until Jan. 11, after the rent check had already put him in the red. To make things even more confusing, Iacuessa's online statement says the overdrafts cost $25 each; the notice he received in the mail said they cost $35 each.
Iacuessa, a sound engineer and former journalist, said he's been unemployed since November. He thought the fees unfair, so he went to the press. After a reporter contacted Wells Fargo, the bank called Iacuessa and told him the bank would refund the overdraft fees.
The second lesson from Iacuessa's experience: It's expensive to be poor, but it pays to complain.
First Posted: 3/29/10 Updated: 5/25/11