My Wells Fargo Business Account Illegally Closed

I just found out the only banking account I've had with Wells Fargo, which was opened as a business account in 1997 or 1998, was closed without notice or authorization on, allegedly, September 18, 2011. First they said the 18th and then they said it was the 13th.

My bank card says I have been a customer since 2003, but I believe it was earlier than that, because I opened up the account with approximately $40,000.

I sold my house in 1997, and then put the money into a business account. I also moved at that same time from St. John's to Lake Oswego and that was part of the reason for using a new bank. Previously I had been with U.S. Bank. It was a business account because of the amount of money involved and because it had better privileges and benefits. Possibly, a better interest rate for checking & savings. They didn't require a tax ID number (which is what someone asked me today). So maybe at some point, someone at Wells was giving me a lower interest rate on my accounts when it should have been higher because it was the same original business account (and now they want me to start over with a new crap account). So this is what they're telling me to do now. To start over with a crappier account under "personal" checking & savings, and that's besides the point of how much interest I was given under the wrong designation when my original account was business not personal.

Yesterday I talked to Wells Fargo and they found my banking information online, with my accounts and bank card number. They were pulling up all of my information through my ID and bank card and then after I talked to "Tamesha" and then to Matthew Sexton in Nashville, TN, they were telling me through the 800 number, they no longer showed my existence in any Wells Fargo computer systems.

Yesterday they confirmed it was started as a business account, not as a personal account. I had 3 or 4 different representatives confirm this. Then as of this morning, they claimed there was no indication of a business account and it was only personal. After this I talked to TN and then when I called back they claimed my bank card pulled up no account (when it did yesterday) and that I wasn't in the system.

Not only that, I have an active safety deposit box through the same business account. So I said yesterday, if I still have a safety deposit box through my original account, you shouldn't have a problem reopening that same account.

And yesterday they said yes this was possible. Melinda of Coos Bay, Oregon Wells Fargo said this was possible last night and a rep through the business 800 number for Wells said this was possible and confirmed my active safety deposit box.

Overnight, they changed the entire story. I called Nashville and they said that (all of a sudden) my safety deposit box was no longer linked to my original account and I said that was a change. I said then how are you billing me? and they said they had no way to bill me.

Yesteday, Wells told me all of my statement history, back to 1997-1998, was taken off the online system and could only be accessed by "ordering" statements. And then they said they were going to "purge" my savings records too. By taking my information off of the system, they have made it impossible for me to reference the history of my own account.

I asked how my account was "closed" with ZERO notice to me and they claimed they sent statements. I said I had specifically asked to receive all bank notices by email and never got even one notice that way.

So just now I was talking to someone who was polite and helpful and she was out of a San Francisco office (which I called because last time I called San Fran they were helpful too, regarding discussing safety deposit box procedure). She said, after the 800 people said I wasn't in the system and my bank card didn't pull anything up, that yes I was there in the system. She asked for my address and I said I could give her my email address because I had actually used that with Wells and indicated it was my primary means of communication. So she asked what it was and I told her and she said she didn't have that address on file at all. I gave her the same email address I provided to Matthew Sexton in Nashville, TN when I introduced myself at their offices.

Actually, that branch had good people there and then they moved people out and moved new people in after I was already banking there. Sexton was the horrific replacement to a banker who was actually good. Then the branch manager was transfered out and a new one came in who wasn't good either.

When I went into that branch, not with the first banker I talked to, but with Sexton, I told him I needed to have email as my primary notice and told him I wanted to use an alternate email address which was the regular one I used (because I did not use online banking). He said this was fine, and entered information into the system and told me it was done. Then there was a problem with a stop-payment for gym auto withdrawal for the YMCA. I had put in a stop payment to the Y and they didn't honor it and I did it with the bank too but $100 went into the red when I had nothing in my account (I had withdrawn some of my money). They said they could fix this and I said, at that time, that I was leaving the state and needed to keep my email as primary means of sending me notices. I said I was moving around and this was the best form of contact still (because he asked about my address again).

He said yes, it was still there and he'd do that. But he had a guilty look on his face which tipped me off so I knew he was lying about something or not wanting me to confirm something about my email address with him. So I said, "You do? and which email address do you have for me?" and he repeated back: "Cameocares@live.com".

Over the phone to this woman in San Fran or through 800, I told them he said he didn't have it but I was mistaken and remember, he read back to me the email address he had which I'd already given him. So I guess, since I said Sexton told me he didn't have it, the San Fran argument was to say my actual email address was one through online checking, not cameocares@live.com. But it has always been cameocares@live.com.

When he read back the email address I had, I said, "And you have this for my primary contact right? because I need to be contacted by email for any notices" and he said yes, and typed something into the system and still had a guilty look on his face. I thought it was the "not-happy" look, not from guilty then, but from being displeased that I had thought to check and confirm notices were to be sent this way.

He'd already done some things that concerned me so I had tried working with another banker there. So when I saw his face fall and that he was unhappy or looking defeated when I confirmed notices were to go through the email address I provided, I figured it was because he had hatched another plan in mind (who knows, maybe bc he knew I was moving and the $100 was unresolved so he figured they could do something without telling me and claim they didn't have my address).

By the time I walked out of that office, I had confirmed, clarified, and confirmed again, any important banking notices would go to me at that email address which I specifically had provided, instead of any online eaccount associated with my name.

I never got notices from them so I figured since there was no activity on my part, there was nothing going on that I needed to attend to immediately. I contacted them about my safety deposit box though, by email, because I couldn't remember when I was due to pay my next annual fee.

So I had correspondence with Sexton by email about this but he said he couldn't give exact dates over email until they confirmed it was me by phone. But they knew it was me enough to discuss several issues by email and I said, "why are you saying you can't use email when I set it up with you to use email as my primary form of contact and address?" and I had that email address set up for receiving any kind of formal bank notice.

Now they're telling me to set up a new account, at least that's what Matthew Sexton wants. They want me to set up a crap account, and then also, they know if I do, it will likely be confused with my other account and give them an excuse to muddle things.

Yesterday they said I could reopen checking and savings through the same original account that my safety deposit box was under if I "went in-person to Coos Bay" and then overnight that story changed and now they are claiming there is no debit card connected to my name, or safety deposit box either (I guess bc they know having a box with the acoount means the account is still live).

They basically wanted me to start a new account and discard my original business account and then hoped when I closed out my box, it would give finality to closing the original business account.

Now, they've found out I want to restart my checking and savings and all of a sudden the argument is that I have a floater box with no account and no way to even bill me.

I'm not starting a new account with them.

They closed down my original account without following the procedure they are required to follow and by dishonesty on the part of Sexton and that branch manager, both who I did not get along with. I had tried to take my banking to another rep when I was still in TN and then later I was forced to still communicate with him by email from Oregon. They closed my account in retaliation.

I asked Sexton how they were going to bill me for my box and he said he didn't know. I said so how am I supposed to pay for it? and he said I couldn't pay for it by direct deposit and that I couldn't pay to my account. He said I would have to "make other arrangments".

This is so similiar to my being thrown into a psych ward after I filled my FAFSA for college.