Wells Fargo trying to put the burden on me...

[zEmini]

My company uses Wells Fargo as our bank.

Every day we get a exception report about each check that gets cashed without us approving it through the bank. That exception report lists all checks that were not uploaded or incorrectly uploaded to the bank. Most of the time, there is a miss spelling or missing punctuation on the check (Inc instead of Inc.) These are OUR checks that we write to our vendors almost every day of the week. Since we do so much business (hundreds of thousands of dollars each day) the bank REQUIRES us to do the uploading. FYI every time there is a exception the bank charges you a fee. When you want to look at the check's image, the bank charges you a fee. They charge you a fucking fee for just logging into their CEO website just to make sure the checks that clear are fucking good. Banks being a bank right? This gets them off the hook if something goes bad ... which is exactly what happened.

For the second time, we had one of our vendors (supplier) cash the same check twice. First question is, how the fuck does that happen? No check should ever be cashed twice. But because one of the checks happened to be approved through the exception report it puts the burden on us.

Sometimes check exceptions just get missed (our bad) because you see a vendor that you use a lot and think that the check is okay to go. There is a little note on the listing that says "Duplicate Entry" or something to that degree. It isn't that obvious and not something you would expect to see. But the bigger problem is that there shouldn't even be such a scenario. Checks are not meant to be cashed twice. If the amount, name, check number and date match ... it is a dupe! Do you cash checks from your grandma twice? If you wrote a check and someone cashed it twice and the bank said "To bad you didn't look at your statement every day, fuck you" would you be okay with it?

Thankfully both times we managed to get the money back. The first time I just got a credit. The second time (42k check) I had to yell at Wells Fargo to reverse it and they finally did only because the exception was recent.

What do you think? I am considering doing banking with a credit union but they don't have the credit line needed for a company this size.

[PACOX]

Oh course Wells Fargo is, thats what they do. Its their brand.

[zEmini]

Oh course Wells Fargo is, thats what they do. Its their brand.

Pretty much all banks do this. This is why I use credit unions for personal banking. I suggest everyone else do the same.

[Tennis]

Honestly what type of company is this when decisions are going to be made based on advice on a gaming website?
That is the real issue at hand.

infracted - trolling

[Azadina]

What can one say? Checks belong into a museum.

[Molis]

Wells Fargo has been in hot water all year. They should be careful or they will follow Washington Mutual.

[zEmini]

Honestly what type of company is this when decisions are going to be made based on advice on a gaming website?
That is the real issue at hand.

This is more about venting frustration and looking for peoples opinion. Not surprised you would post something stupid. Learn to read first.

[Spectral]

Yeah, they're an awful company.

Agree on using CUs. That's what I've gone with since before adulthood.

[Wrecktangle]

My company uses Wells Fargo as our bank.

Every day we get a exception report about each check that gets cashed without us approving it through the bank. That exception report lists all checks that were not uploaded or incorrectly uploaded to the bank. Most of the time, there is a miss spelling or missing punctuation on the check (Inc instead of Inc.) These are OUR checks that we write to our vendors almost every day of the week. Since we do so much business (hundreds of thousands of dollars each day) the bank REQUIRES us to do the uploading. FYI every time there is a exception the bank charges you a fee. When you want to look at the check's image, the bank charges you a fee. They charge you a fucking fee for just logging into their CEO website just to make sure the checks that clear are fucking good. Banks being a bank right? This gets them off the hook if something goes bad ... which is exactly what happened.

For the second time, we had one of our vendors (supplier) cash the same check twice. First question is, how the fuck does that happen? No check should ever be cashed twice. But because one of the checks happened to be approved through the exception report it puts the burden on us.

Sometimes check exceptions just get missed (our bad) because you see a vendor that you use a lot and think that the check is okay to go. There is a little note on the listing that says "Duplicate Entry" or something to that degree. It isn't that obvious and not something you would expect to see. But the bigger problem is that there shouldn't even be such a scenario. Checks are not meant to be cashed twice. If the amount, name, check number and date match ... it is a dupe! Do you cash checks from your grandma twice? If you wrote a check and someone cashed it twice and the bank said "To bad you didn't look at your statement every day, fuck you" would you be okay with it?

Thankfully both times we managed to get the money back. The first time I just got a credit. The second time (42k check) I had to yell at Wells Fargo to reverse it and they finally did only because the exception was recent.

What do you think? I am considering doing banking with a credit union but they don't have the credit line needed for a company this size.

I work in Commercial Banking at a large East Coast Bank (so while I can't help you directly), I can say that you should be contacting your relationship manager and making them work the relationship. If they're unable to accommodate you, definitely worthwhile to get some meetings with other institutions on the books. Make them compete for your business. Trust me when I say they'll want you especially if you bring that LOC over to them.

I'm surprised that their system didn't kick a dup back. As a business analyst that's surprising that there are no controls in place to mitigate these types of issues. a CM(cash management) relationship would probably help reduce these errors too (but that costs money), I'm not sure the size of your business (whether it falls into SB, or Com) so I can't recommend which services best fit your circumstances.

Needless to say, if WF isn't working with you, they don't deserve you. I know it's a pain to switch banks, but the only way to hurt these people is to hurt their wallet. Don't be afraid to switch. If you were on East Coast I'd have a RM out to you next week and a solution in your hand not much later.

[zEmini]

I work in Commercial Banking at a large East Coast Bank (so while I can't help you directly), I can say that you should be contacting your relationship manager and making them work the relationship. If they're unable to accommodate you, definitely worthwhile to get some meetings with other institutions on the books. Make them compete for your business. Trust me when I say they'll want you especially if you bring that LOC over to them.

I'm surprised that their system didn't kick a dup back. As a business analyst that's surprising that there are no controls in place to mitigate these types of issues. a CM(cash management) relationship would probably help reduce these errors too (but that costs money), I'm not sure the size of your business (whether it falls into SB, or Com) so I can't recommend which services best fit your circumstances.

Needless to say, if WF isn't working with you, they don't deserve you. I know it's a pain to switch banks, but the only way to hurt these people is to hurt their wallet. Don't be afraid to switch. If you were on East Coast I'd have a RM out to you next week and a solution in your hand not much later.

I have been working with my Commercial RM regarding the issue. They did eventually make it right. My problem is that such things shouldn't happen in the first place or a much bigger fail safe should be in place that doesn't involve me having to be checking my statement every hour to make sure a check didn't get cashed twice.

And switching banks is one hell of a bitch. It is something that the CFO does not want to do until he retires and has me do it lol. Besides where else could we go? Chase? US Bank? The big banks are the only ones that can handle our volume. Maybe it is time to charter my own corporate credit union!

[Holofernes]

I have been working with my Commercial RM regarding the issue. They did eventually make it right. My problem is that such things shouldn't happen in the first place or a much bigger fail safe should be in place that doesn't involve me having to be checking my statement every hour to make sure a check didn't get cashed twice.

And switching banks is one hell of a bitch. It is something that the CFO does not want to do until he retires and has me do it lol. Besides where else could we go? Chase? US Bank? The big banks are the only ones that can handle our volume. Maybe it is time to charter my own corporate credit union!

Checks are not used in most Countries in the world because of moneylaundering and fraud and terror organisation financiation. If i would be a bank, i would try to get rid of customers that issue multiple checks per day, and alert the police for likeliness of money laundering- organised criminal business beeing done. Nobody with ethics uses checks anymore.

[zEmini]

Checks are not used in most Countries in the world because of moneylaundering and fraud and terror organisation financiation. If i would be a bank, i would try to get rid of customers that issue multiple checks per day, and alert the police for likeliness of money laundering- organised criminal business beeing done. Nobody with ethics uses checks anymore.

That is unrealistic. How do people pay their bills? Cash? Nothing can go wrong with that!!! Credit Cards? There are so many fees associated with credit cards that companies either raise their margins or just flat out not accept them. Checks are king in the business world.

[Svifnymr]

It's like auto insurance, I think. Most folks have this perception that staying with a company will mean your loyalty will be rewarded. In reality, I think the banks figure the longer you're with them the less likely you are to change so they can screw you over more.

They no longer want to keep you happy, they just want to not piss you off enough to leave.

[Kapadons]

So your vendor screwed up, or worse, committed fraud. You approved it. And you're mad at Wells Fargo for it ? Makes sense.....

[zEmini]

So your vendor screwed up, or worse, committed fraud. You approved it. And you're mad at Wells Fargo for it ? Makes sense.....

What part of "you shouldn't be able to cash a check twice" did you not get? There shouldn't even be a option to approve or disapprove this kind of transaction. It should get rejected immediately.

The vendor didn't commit fraud. They happened to run the check twice through the scanner by accident. Fraud is intentional.

[Barnabas]

Ask the vendor to repay the money or go to the police. You have enough proof for the police to file a criminal complaint. Yes it's the banks fault because of their systems they use but it's ultimately up to you to keep track of it. Moving to another financial institution will come with the same result if this happens again. Don't use that vendor again even though this should be obvious.

- - - Updated - - -

What part of "you shouldn't be able to cash a check twice" did you not get? There shouldn't even be a option to approve or disapprove this kind of transaction. It should get rejected immediately.

The vendor didn't commit fraud. They happened to run the check twice through the scanner by accident. Fraud is intentional.

The vendor stole the money. Under criminal law it is theft.

[TirielWoW]

I work in Commercial Banking at a large East Coast Bank (so while I can't help you directly), I can say that you should be contacting your relationship manager and making them work the relationship. If they're unable to accommodate you, definitely worthwhile to get some meetings with other institutions on the books. Make them compete for your business. Trust me when I say they'll want you especially if you bring that LOC over to them.

I'm surprised that their system didn't kick a dup back. As a business analyst that's surprising that there are no controls in place to mitigate these types of issues. a CM(cash management) relationship would probably help reduce these errors too (but that costs money), I'm not sure the size of your business (whether it falls into SB, or Com) so I can't recommend which services best fit your circumstances.

Needless to say, if WF isn't working with you, they don't deserve you. I know it's a pain to switch banks, but the only way to hurt these people is to hurt their wallet. Don't be afraid to switch. If you were on East Coast I'd have a RM out to you next week and a solution in your hand not much later.

I'm going to second this.

I work for a regional bank as a teller. Those duplicate checks should be kicked back automatically by the internal system, even if it's missed by the teller.

Between this and the incidents with fake accounts, I'm honestly beginning to wonder if Wells Fargo has a functional Back Office at all. Because I know ours would have caught this within one or two days.

I will also echo what Wreck said - switch banks. You and your company shouldn't be treated like this. You don't have to put up with this. There are many, many better banks out there.

- - - Updated - - -

I have been working with my Commercial RM regarding the issue. They did eventually make it right. My problem is that such things shouldn't happen in the first place or a much bigger fail safe should be in place that doesn't involve me having to be checking my statement every hour to make sure a check didn't get cashed twice.

And switching banks is one hell of a bitch. It is something that the CFO does not want to do until he retires and has me do it lol. Besides where else could we go? Chase? US Bank? The big banks are the only ones that can handle our volume. Maybe it is time to charter my own corporate credit union!

Chase would probably treat you better than Wells Fargo is. There's also Capital One, although I don't know much about their business accounts. I do, however, see business checks from Chase all day, every day, and hear few complaints. You could also try Citibank.

I'd recommend my bank, but we don't operate in Oregon.

Checks are not used in most Countries in the world because of moneylaundering and fraud and terror organisation financiation. If i would be a bank, i would try to get rid of customers that issue multiple checks per day, and alert the police for likeliness of money laundering- organised criminal business beeing done. Nobody with ethics uses checks anymore.

I process hundreds of checks a day. Maybe in your countries checks are not used, but they are still widely used here.

- - - Updated - - -

It's like auto insurance, I think. Most folks have this perception that staying with a company will mean your loyalty will be rewarded. In reality, I think the banks figure the longer you're with them the less likely you are to change so they can screw you over more.

They no longer want to keep you happy, they just want to not piss you off enough to leave.

This really depends on the bank. I know with my bank, the longer the person has been with us, the more desperate our Branch Manager is to prevent them from being upset because "we need them to stay with us."

- - - Updated - - -

What part of "you shouldn't be able to cash a check twice" did you not get? There shouldn't even be a option to approve or disapprove this kind of transaction. It should get rejected immediately.

The vendor didn't commit fraud. They happened to run the check twice through the scanner by accident. Fraud is intentional.

Question - was it twice in the same transaction, or twice in the same day?

- - - Updated - - -

The vendor stole the money. Under criminal law it is theft.

Unless the check got scanned twice accidentally. This could actually be teller error. I've seen it happen in my own branch when a customer came in with a large amount of traveler's checks she wanted to cash out. Two of the checks somehow didn't make it into the final transactions (though they have serial numbers printed on the bank indicating they were scanned at some point), and two other checks somehow got scanned twice (and one of them was scanned and the routing number didn't get picked up, and somehow our teller system didn't kick it back - which is weird because you literally can't process checks without a routing number, because the system won't allow you to end the transaction, so I have no idea how that happened). Back Office caught it a week later and we fixed it.

[Deleted]

What can one say? Checks belong into a museum.

This. Nobody in modern countries uses checks anymore. Except for US.

Many years ago a new thing was invented, its called "wire transfers". Today to due another modern invention called "computers" you can do it without leaving your office. All modern companies use it to send payments to their vendors.

[TirielWoW]

This. Nobody in modern countries uses checks anymore. Except for US.

Many years ago a new thing was invented, its called "wire transfers". Today to due another modern invention called "computers" you can do it without leaving your office. All modern companies use it to send payments to their vendors.

We have wire transfers, too. And online banking. But even wire transfers have their issues, and online banking is no guarantee that your funds will be safe (see the elderly customer at my branch who has given out his online banking information not once, not twice, but three times to scammers who cold-called him and convinced him they were calling from the bank to help him with a virus on his computer).

Wire transfers also incur CTRs, and checks do not. Most companies do not want to deal with CTRs when they can avoid it.

[cubby]

I would get away from Wells Fargo no matter what. My company is much smaller than yours, and we use Bank of America. They also fuck us at every step, so I wouldn't recommend them, either. I can't imagine there being one bank out of the few remaining that has some kind of miraculous no-fuckage-of-customers and who can also handle your volume of business, which is awful.

Not sure how else to help - but don't use BoA.