Wells-Fargo has been our bank now for a couple years, since they bought Norwest. Since then, Mr. Athena and I have had a hell of a time actually getting them to give us our money. They randomly decide to put holds on checks - my last paycheck from a client (I’m self employed) had a five day hold put on it because they said it looks like it might be a credit card check. They were unable to verify that it WAS a credit card check, and I’m fairly sure it wasn’t, but still, they put a hold on it. Mr. Athena gets paid from his client (he’s also self employed, but has only one client) once a month. He deposits a check for about the same amount, from the same client, once a month. About 1/3 of the time Wells-Fargo decided the check isn’t good enough, and puts a hold on it.
Now, Mr. Athena brought them a certified check from a bank that he recieved when he sold his motorcycle. He needs the funds to pay off the motorcycle loan. When he brought the check to them and requested that they give him a money order so that he could then send a money order to the bank that holds the loan, they informed him that there was a 1 day hold on certified checks. WTF? Isn’t the whole POINT of a certified check that it’s like cash?
Are all banks like this now, or is it just #@$! Wells-Fargo? We’re incredibly sick and tired of having to wait for them to decide the checks we deposit are valid and good.
Sounds like you need to look into switching to a different bank. There’s nothing worse than bad customer service, is there?!? I would think that a certified check is the same as a money order. Why they put a hold on it is beyond me.
Your bank balance at the time vs. the amount of the deposit
The length of your relationship with the bank
The type of instrument deing negotiated
When I was a teller at a MAJOR bank using the term “America” in its name, we would place holds on almost all checks deposited if the banking relationship was 6 months or less to cut down on fraud.
Usually, cashiers checks were approved without holds unless there was reason to doubt the authenticity of the check.
my good friend and personal banker was employeed at First Interstate. Wells bought them out and she left because Wells sucked! She went to Norwest. Wells bought them out and she left because Wells sucked. Now she works for a smallish, local bank.
I just dealt with this today myself. I took my certified check from my retirement loan (which UPS lost until this morning, but that’s another story) to my bank to get a cashier’s check to purchase a motorcycle. They have known me on first name basis for a couple years now, but they told me they had to put a 5 day hold on it to make sure it cleared. I got them to call and verify that the check and the amount were valid and guaranteed, but they still wouldn’t do anything without a 5 day hold because “that’s their policy” on large checks.
I wound up having to go to an area of the city that is a slight step up from the ghetto to a check cashing place. I am still not sure how I got out of there alive after they quite loudly counted off 5 grand in 50’s, four times to make sure that everyone in there heard it, before handing me a brick of cash. I was a rather popular person at that point among some rather unsavory characters.
If it is any consolation, Wells Fargo is (in my opinion) a screwed up banking institution.
My best friend had/has a mortgage through them. They have routinely put her payments in late. They have called her about these payments, she’s then called her checking account bank (US Bank, I use them too) to find that the funds cleared her account days before they have called her and harassed her.
She has since left her house and is filing bankruptcy. She has an attorney and even though she has stated to them she is in the process of filing bankruptcy (all calls are required to go through her attorney according to her) and they still call her, at her place of work, even though she has requested they don’t. This, if I remember correctly, is against the Fair Credit Act.
They are dumb as rocks there. Get out and find another banking institution. I have very good luck (knock on wood) with US Bank. They even reversed an over draft charge after reviewing a series of events that took place. I didn’t even have to “fight” to talk to a supervisor. The woman that answered the phone put me on hold and came back after a minute or two and said she’d reverse it. I thanked her very much because I completely expected to have a “fight” on my hands.
Also, they have been very good about personal service when I go in the bank closest to me. Not everyone recognizes me but I can cash a check with hardly a glace at my ID. I cashed a $40 check the other day, had my two sigs there (one because it was written to Liz My-Last-Name) and my account it under Elizabeth and my account number. She looked at the ID for a second and I cashed it.
If I get a check deposited by 2:59 pm, the funds are available at 3:00 pm. Or something like that, anyhow, it shows up almost immediately.
To underwrite my trip to Spain, my mom had to give me two large checks: one for the plane tickets, one for expenses. (I pay my rent and my groceries the whole rest of the year. I don’t want to hear about it.) Anyway, I brought in the first check and, as is my custom, had the clerk phone mom’s bank and clear it so it wouldn’t be held.
A month later I came in and tried to do the same thing. I found out it was against bank policy, had always been against bank policy, and in fact they had never heard of such a thing. O - kay.
