Royal says it’s costing him more than $100 to break free of Wells Fargo after he closed his checking account before waiting for all pending charges to clear.

The charges stem from a $30 gas charge that came through on the account after he closed the account. The bank is piling on the charges and Royal’s new bank is reacting by closing his account. He writes:

I closed my account with Wachovia/Wells Fargo on 9/2/09, receiving the total balance of my checking account from the teller. About a month later I received a bill from Wachovia for $60.

Apparently a charge came through a day after I closed my account (Shell Oil, $30) and because my account was closed with no balance they charged me a $30 NSF fee. I went into the bank to dispute the NSF fee, and they teller told me that due to them having to put me in Cheksystems I now owe a total of $101.70. My current bank CalNational (just taken over by US Bank) is telling me that they are closing my account.

Do I have any recourse? Small claims court? Please help.

Any suggestions on how Royal can get out of the mess he got himself into by closing the account before it was totally reconciled? For while Royal is responsible for starting the chain of events, the fees are harsher than the infraction deserves.

(Photo: nmmercer)

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