Wells Fargo Bank, MILLBRAE BRANCH

Criminals
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by Smsfca10, Apr. 11, 2011

My mother is 90 and has suffered several strokes, thus I oversee her finances. Regardless, Wells Fargo's Millbrae branch repeatedly harassed her over the phone, urging her to open various accounts, lines of credit and a credit card. My mother can neither speak nor comprehend well and she repeatedly told this to the Wells Fargo employee and asked that he stop calling her.

Instead, without any authorization from my mother or me, he opened in her name a new checking account, an ATM card, a credit card, and a Wells Fargo line of credit. Of course, the checking account required that he move money from another account, and both it and the line of credit came with an annual fee.

Only later did Wells Fargo send notice to my mother's house acknowledging that it lacked her signature on all of these new accounts and asked that she sign a form, essentially providing authorization after the fact.

She didn't sign and instead I called Wells Fargo, the national 800 number and the local branch, and that's when the situation turned truly appalling. The 800 number fumbled its way through several calls, first providing the incorrect contact information for my mother's local branch, then keeping me on hold for fifteen minutes before hanging up, and then, finally, speaking to a local branch manager on my behalf and reporting that it couldn't determine who had called my mother or opened the accounts.

The local branch manager said the same thing, that all of its employees receive call sheets and it's impossible to track who harassed my mother and then illegally moved her money around and opened these accounts. Essentially, no one would be reprimanded and obviously the practice would continue.

Except they're not telling the truth. I spoke with my lawyer, who reported that this practice is done through the bank's marketing division and whoever fraudulently opened these accounts received a commission. Which can obviously be traced.

The bottom line is Wells Fargo acted fraudulently and while I will close all accounts there this week, based upon its indifferent response, I suspect this behavior is widespread, at least within the Millbrae branch at 490 Broadway.

When a bank harasses and subsequently takes money from a 90-year-old woman who can't comprehend or communicate, someone must be held accountable. This is fraud and elder abuse. And Wells Fargo's response to all of this has been appalling.

* this reviewer has be with this bank for >10 years
* this reviewer had 6 - 10 banks before.
* this review was made on Wells Fargo Bank, Millbrae Branch at Millbrae, CA
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