Most banks in the US have policies that their customers may be unaware of. Regardless of how much paperwork you sing when you open a bank account, it is easy to just go down to the bottom of the page and sign without reading the normal let alone the fine print that might explain all the conditions for your account. Wells Fargo is no different, and some of their customers are finding this out in a very specific manner, and that is getting their accounts closed seemingly without reason.
That is, of course, not what is happening in reality, but it might definitely seem that way to those that are caught unaware by the new measure. This policy is a standard one, and it is used by banks to close both checking and savings accounts that have not been used in a while. How long is a while? In this case sixteen consecutive months without any meaningful transactions.
Wells Fargo and their account closing policies
Opening bank accounts is easy as long as you have some money to do so. Many people choose to redirect their income into a different bank from their usual institution because of a bonus or a specific situation that warrants a separate account, but closing said account is a lot harder, as most businesses do not want to lose clients and make the process a lot harder than it needs to be. That means that many people put off the process and just leave the money behind until they forget about their account.
Keeping an account active is not hard though, things like regular deposits and logins through the app can be enough to signal to the bank that you are indeed using your account, and if you have a list of bank accounts and once a year decide to make some movements to ensure that you are not neglecting your finances, you are likely fine to continue as you are, but if that is not a practice that you have, your account may be closed soon without any other heads-up beyond regular notifications.
That is the main reason why we always insist on reminding our readers about keeping their data, especially their email, current and checked often. This will allow you to see any and all notification from your bank, even those that go to spam, and prevent problems like this from taking you by surprise.
While this policy of closing unused accounts is not new, Wells Fargo and other banks do not typically enforce it, but now there is a push towards streamlining operations and reducing costs, and a big part of this is to make sure that only active accounts are being serviced. Plus, there is also the legal side, unclaimed funds from closed accounts have to be sent to the state, and this policy helps them stay in compliance with those rules.
Still, many are not pleased with the policy, one client whose account had $130,000 was affected by the closing and had his money sent to the Treasury Department. There are plenty of ways to get your money back once this happens, but the process is tedious and long and requires a lot of paperwork. Plus, many people are unsure about what counts as activity and are unhappy about the notice the bank gave them to solve the account issue.
According to Wells Fargo, any customer-initiated action will do the trick and will count towards using your account:
- Sending or receiving a transfer (even a small one)
- Making a deposit or withdrawal
- Using your debit card
- Loging into the app or online banking