Consumerist reader Jake got a big scare a few weeks back when his father called to let him know he’d been contacted by Wachovia. The bank told Jake’s dad that not only was Jake’s law school loan in default, but that, as a co-signer, he was responsible for paying $11,750 immediately. Two problems with that: 1) The loan wasn’t in default. 2) Jacob’s dad wasn’t a co-signer. [More]
wachovia
Wachovia Harrasses Me For Phantom Car Loan Payment
By 12.9.09
Richard bought a vehicle, returned it and bought another from the same dealership. He says Wachovia erroneously paid off the second loan instead of the first. Once he got the finance department to correct the mistake — a process that took a month — Wachovia started hassling him to make a payment for which he was never billed. [More]
My Bank Refused To Believe I Was A Person
By 11.25.09
Inspired by the tale of a couple whose Wachovia checking account was frozen for a month, Loan shares a similar tale. [More]
Wachovia Froze My Checking Account For Nearly A Month
By 11.24.09
Kate and her husband knew they had to settle a big debt to Capital One, but elected to wait until the bank came to them to pay up. The move ended up costing them, because Capital One got Wachovia to freeze their checking account with the assurance that it would release the funds once the couple paid up. [More]
Former Customer Says Wells Fargo Bills Him $101.70 On Closed Account
By 11.9.09
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.
Wachovia's "Way2Save" Account Triggers Over $5,000 In Penalty Fees
By 10.27.09
Wachovia has a new financial product called Way2Save that automatically moves $1 from your checking account into a high interest personal savings account every time you make an electronic bill payment. Susan tried to maximize her contributions by making a lot of little bill payments, but Wachovia cut off access to her funds without notice and triggered an avalanche of penalty fees. Now she owes over $5,000 to her credit card companies, far more than she would likely have ever earned through Wachovia’s complicated savings program, and of course Wachovia is denying any responsibility.
Wachovia Teller Refuses To Deposit Check Written In Two Ink Colors
By 9.2.09
“The best advice I can offer to those who wish to commit check fraud against Wachovia Bank,” writes Jim, “is to purchase a typewriter.” Although he’s been a customer of the bank for years and had a hefty balance that more than covered the deposit amount of his handwritten check, because the dollar amount was in black ink and the signature was in blue ink the teller said it might be fraudulent and refused to take it.
The Real Reason Behind The $23 Quadrillion Errors
By 7.16.09
The secret of the $23 quadrillion VISA debit errors looks like a specific and not uncommon programming error. Take the insanely large number, if you convert 2314885530818450000 to hexadecimal, you end up with 20 20 20 20 20 20 12 50. In programming, hex20 is a space. Where a binary zero should have been, there were spaces instead. What made this instance special is that it wasn’t caught in time. A Slashdot commenter identifying himself as working in the industry explains more about what very likely happened:
The $23 Quadrillion Meal
By 7.15.09
I hope he cleaned his plate. Jon Seale was another of several VISA customers who were charged $23 quadrillion for mundane purchases. This time it was his July 13th meal a Dallas restaurant, reports KXAS. VISA said a temporary programming error affecting prepaid accounts was responsible for the error . Jon spent the rest of the day calling between Wachovia and VISA to try to clear the $23,148,855,308,184,500 charge.
County Sells Wachovia Bank For $16,900 For Failure To Pay Taxes
By 5.29.09
When Wachovia closed its bank branch in Shoemakersville, PA, last month, a spokesperson made it sound like it was part of a normal review of locations. Local newspaper the Reading Eagle, however, found out that the bank lost the branch last September in a tax sale, when a local company bought the building for only $16,900.
Wachovia Sends Out Its Own "Free Credit Report!" Offer To Customers
By 5.27.09
Tom just received a great offer from his bank. He can receive a free credit report just by peeling off this sticker and affixing it to another part of the same page. That’s right, a free motherloving credit report! Who doesn’t want one of those? Free, you say? Sign me up!
Helpful Service from Wachovia via Twitter
By 4.24.09
Reader Mike wrote to us about a problem he was experiencing with Wachovia (now part of Wells Fargo, but apparently keeping its own identity.) A day later, he he wrote back, informing us that the problem had resolved itself via Wachovia’s Twitter account. (Customers, take note: that’s http://twitter.com/Wachovia.)
Meet The Savings & Loan That Destroyed Wachovia
By 2.23.09
60 Minutes recently took a look at World Savings Bank, the acquisition that ultimately wounded Wachovia so badly that it had to be acquired by Wells Fargo. What was wrong with an institution for which Wachovia was willing to pay $25 billion? Well, one whistleblower claims that World Savings was engaged in fraud and predatory lending — tricking its customers into signing up for dangerous “option-arm” or (as they cheerfully called them) “pick-a-payment” loans.
Secret Phone Numbers And Email Addresses To Reach Executives At 101+ Companies
By 11.7.08
Inside, email addresses, phone numbers, and addresses for over 100 different companies to inject your customer service complaints into their corporate executive offices, and get it well on the way to success.
By 10.22.08
../../../..//2008/10/22/wachovia-announced-their-237-billion/
Wachovia announced their $23.7 billion third quarter loss with an all-too-easy-to-mock pre-taped conference call. “Let’s just close our eyes and imagine what the combination of Wells Fargo and Wachovia will create,” said CEO Bob Steel. We suppose that does make it easier not to rudely stare at the number “23,700,000,000.” [WSJ Deal Journal]
Wells Fargo Wins, Will Buy Wachovia
By 10.10.08
Wells Fargo is the winner in the battle for Wachovia, says the New York Times. Apparently, Citibank became nervous about splitting the bank when they saw the size of the “bad assets” it would have to take on, and quietly walked away. The bank will continue to seek $60 billion in damages, however.
Citibank, Wells Fargo May Carve Up Wachovia, Feast On Its Bones
By 10.6.08
Bloomberg is reporting that Wells Fargo and Citibank may split Wachovia. Neither bank would get assistance from the government and taxpayers under the deal being discussed now.
Not So Fast: Judge Blocks Wachovia Sale To Wells Fargo, Citibank Rejoices
By 10.5.08
Tsk tsk, Wells Fargo. You should’ve known that stealing Citibank’s unspoiled bride at the alter was going to draw a bitter legal challenge. Late last night, Citibank’s team of repo-lawyers claimed a partial victory, announcing that a New York judge has agreed to block Wachovia’s sale. Citibank is also demanding $60 billion from Wells Fargo for interfering with the deal.
