An Illinois man can’t access the $25,000 he saved for his son’s college due to a Wells Fargo check error
When Derek Monroe, 56, had his check bounced at Old National Bank, he found out that getting his money wasn’t as easy as he thought.
Monroe told The Sun that he was trying to move funds from a Wells Fargo checking account he opened for his son in college to a new financial institution.
Using two checks from Wells Fargo would surely result in a simple transaction of $25,000, at least that’s what Monroe expected.
But Monroe’s account at Wells Fargo was a non-checking bank account.
A Wells Fargo spokesperson told The Sun that the Clear Access bank account Monroe opened for his son does not process checks, and customers are informed of this when they open the account.
Wells Fargo told Monroe that the entry check he received was the wrong one and that his son, who was at the University of Illinois, would have to go to the Chicago branch in person to get any funds.
After taking a bus into town to visit a branch campus, Monroe said he drove 11 hours and more than 400 miles over two days to get his son back to school.
“I don’t understand Wells Fargo’s corporate governance and culture at all, because the only comparison I can make to it is to a pirate ship without any helm control,” Munroe told The Sun. “This thing is up.”
He filed legal action against the bank for negligence and breach of contract, but Wells Fargo eventually apologized and offered Monroe a settlement of $750, an amount that Monroe accepted.
Initiation checks or counter checks are temporary checks that banks can provide to customers immediately.
The check does not contain personalized information such as your name and address, but it does contain your account number and bank routing code.
Personalized checks need to be printed and may take some time to be delivered, whereas initial checks can be provided by the branch on the spot.
Account holders are still required to fill in their personal information on the check when filling out the dollar amount and who the check is to be sent to.
With any other account, these checks might be very convenient, as long as they are accepted by the receiving merchant – but that’s not always the case.
