I would like to share a frustrating experience I recently had at a neighborhood bank. When I went into a branch about two weeks ago, the teller asked me if I am interested in opening a bank credit card. I responded that I am not sure, but if they send me information I will look it over and make a decision.
Imagine my surprise when I received a letter congratulating me on my approval for that bank’s credit card. I never filled out an application nor did I authorize one in my name. The bank obviously had all of the necessary information and the teller took the liberty of applying for the card for me. I obviously demanded that the credit card account be closed immediately and reported as fraudulent activity. I also reported the incident to the Better Business Bureau. I am curious to know if this is a common bank practice and if other people in the community have had similar experiences. The main point of this letter, however, is to warn people that even a hint of acquiescence to a credit card at the bank may be taken as a sign of approval by a banker. Buyer beware!
Attached are 2 of the letters we received from them. The first one, dated April 9, 2014 indicates that further information is needed to approve the credit card application. We received that one on Sunday of Chol Hamoed and were unable to reach any representatives that day. Monday and Tuesday were Yom Tov so we were unable to make any phone calls to cancel the application and report the fraud. On Wednesday 4/23/14 we received the second letter congratulating us on the account approval. We called that day to report the fraud and have the account closed.
I have done some research online and it seems like this has happened to other people before, specifically with Wells Fargo. I believe it was the LA Times that ran a full article about Wells Fargo business practices and how they pressure the tellers to “sell” additional products to clients (I can’t remember which newspaper it was but there is definitely an article online.
This is the response we received from the Better Business Bureau. To date there has been no apology from Wells Fargo and no action to stop the employee from continuing this illegal practice.
(TLS welcomes your letters by submitting them to [email protected])
They are so fraudulent. They told a friend that they can’t clear a check made out to the. Person for 10 days because the person is in bankruptcy and then charged them a fee. She tried to fight it but had no luck
She left the bank but they are refusing to close the account unless she pays the fee she should not be responsible for to begin with.
you also want to complain to experian to make sure it doesn’t affect your credit score
the same thing happend to me in sovereign bank after i a big tumel i made they got rid of that teller
Send a copy of the correspondence to the following regulatory agencies;
Office of the Comptroller of the Currency at (800) 613-6743
Federal Reserve Board at (888) 851-1920
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation at (877) 275-3342
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau at (855) 411-2372
This is what happens when tellers are paid on commission. They are forced to sell products to make a living.
The poor teller has to feed her family too. She figured, she’ll open a credit card for you – she’ll get paid a commission and you’ll have a credit card – no harm done!!
The solution: Banks should pay their tellers a living wage. This way, the tellers won’t feel a need to push unwanted products on consumers just to make a decent living. To pay for these higher wages for tellers, banks should charge $50 per month for each bank account. This should more than cover it.
Problem solved!!
The bank should charge $50 for each account!?! They should charge me cuz I was nice enough to chose their bank to lend my $ to. Lets not forget that the bank invests our $$$, profits from our $$$, and therefore we get paid interest (altho very little).
Did I say $50 per account?! I meant $500 per account per month. This would cover a nice salary for each teller. I think each and every teller deserves at least $60k per year – how else will a teller marry of her kids and send her kids to yeshiva?!?!
Banks really need to give tellers a nice salary, and therefore should definitely be charging at least $500 per account per month to cover these salaries.
This will solve all the problems, of course.
.
about 7 years ago, wells fargo opened a credit card for me without my approval.
The had several billion dollars of profit last year, they can afford to pay their tellers a normal living wage, they may choose not to. Billion Dollars in Profit (not millions). They automatically open savings account when you open a checking and then push other products on you. They opened a credit card for my husband on each of his business accounts because he told the teller he would think about when she asked him if he was interested. Do what I do, sorry to be rude, but I can’t open one now. Let them think whatever they want.
The same thing happened to me at Wells Fargo bank they only suggested I open some other type of savings account before long I got a letter stating I opened that account & they then started charging no activity charges.
Good thing is when I called in about they took care of it without a problem.
I opened an act in Wells Fargo and they said it was a free account next thing i know they were chargeing me . Until i made it there to close the account it cost me$62.00 in fees