Maybe I just have bad bank karma. Or maybe bankers should just run whenever I cross the threshold, knowing that my appearance signals certain and imminent doom for their bank. You see, every time I start to bank somewhere, the bank either goes into federal receivership, or is gobbled up by another bank-- usually within a few months. I am batting close to 1.000 on that one... no, wait, I am batting 1.000-- Wingspan Bank got absorbed by BankOne. But I digress....

A couple of years ago, I got tired of BankOne's endless fees and screwups and moved my personal checking as well as two small business checking accounts to Norwest Bank. Norwest came highly recommended by a friend, and I soon learned that they provided excellent and low cost banking services. My personal checking account was free, and my low volume business checking accounts were free. In addition, as a "multiple account holder," I also was rewarded with free cashier's checks and money orders and several other no-cost services. Basically, I was a happy camper.

Unfortunately, my banking bliss did not last long. About 6-8 months after I opened my accounts, I learned that Norwest was about to be absorbed by Wells Fargo Bank, as part of the seemingly endless consolidations in the banking industry.

This review covers Wells Fargo Bank from the perspective of banking with them in Austin, Texas. Your local area may be different, although most general banking services are likely to be very similar across different regions. I will also talk briefly about the bank's online services.

At first, I didn't pay too much attention to the ownership change at my bank. My local staff assured me that I would still be dealing with the same people, and that services would remain the same. However, I started to get a little concerned when a number of my West Coast friends would wrinkle their nose and say "eeeeewwww!" at the mention of Wells Fargo. As I write this, I have been a Wells Fargo customer for 15 months, and I must admit to mixed feelings about the new ownership.

PERSONAL CHECKING: My "free personal checking" account remains free. I can write as many checks as I want. However, it appears that most of my "fringe benefits" have gone away. No more free cashier's checks or money orders. I sometimes get US dollar checks from Canada, and I am now charged a $3.00 "foreign check fee" which was never the case with Norwest. Other than that, the account continues to pay no interest, and charge no fees. I continue to have free VISA check card to use with the account. Fair enough.

LOW VOLUME BUSINESS CHECKING: My business accounts are, alas, no longer free. There is now a $5.00 monthly service charge, and an additional $2.00 monthly "returned check fee" for mailing my checks back so I can do my bookkeeping. As with my personal account, there is a $3.00 charge every time I accept a US dollar check from Canada, which is quite unwelcome since I have a number of customers from north of the border. As with the personal account, I no longer get any "free extras."

OTHER ACCOUNTS: Wells Fargo does offer a wide range of other types of personal and business accounts. Most are "monthly fee based," with the fees disappearing if you do sufficient business with the bank. They offer a free savings account if you maintain a $300 minimum balance. For most other accounts, the "qualifying formulas" for free banking seem fairly complex and are based on a combination of your outstanding loan balances, minimum account balances, brokerage balances, and so forth. Some accounts are interest bearing, but require a higher balance to earn interest and avoid fees. There is also a special "low fee" account package for those over 55.

"ON-SITE" BANKING SERVICES: Mixed bag. When Wells Fargo took control, customers gained access to more services (Foreign exchange, brokerage, mortgage banking) than under Norwest. That's the upside. The downside is that everything costs money now. Lobby hours were shortened by an hour, but drive-through hours were lengthened.

BANK STAFF: I do still deal with most of the same people who worked for Norwest, and that is a plus to me. Call me old fashioned, but I enjoy getting to know the people at the bank-- building a "relationship" with my banker. The staff seems to have relatively low turnover, BUT-- and this is a big but-- since they became Wells Fargo employees, nobody's allowed to make a decision. Everything has to be "called in" to some division somewhere else. This inevitably means that a given task takes longer to complete than it used to.

"EASE OF USE:" The biggest plus for the new ownership is that Wells Fargo is a "mega bank" so I have a lot more locations to choose from than I used to. I am especially happy that there are convenient branches inside my local grocery and WalMart-- and these keep extended hours, including on weekends. From the perspective of my business banking, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that Wells Fargo "closes" their banking day at 4:00pm, which gives me an extra hour to get deposits in on "today's" ticket.

AN ODD QUIRK: I have received a number of overdraft notices when there has been money in my account. These will show up to tell me something like "After paying the above item you have $132.95 (positive!) in your account. Please deposit $281.73 as soon as possible to cover the shortfall." I have had many explanations for why this could happen, but nobody's been able to "say for sure." I get one about every two months, but have never been charged any fees... so who knows?

PROBLEM RESOLUTION: In January 2001, an odd thing happened. "Haddock Bros. Seafood" (Name changed to protect the innocent, but a legitimate business) started to run their payroll through one of my business accounts. Before I could say "pickled herring" I had a stack of overdraft notices and a $8,300.00 negative bank balance.

It took me about 10 seconds to take a look at the checks that came with my statement to figure out that Haddock Bros' bookkeeper had mis-keyed their payroll account number into their QuickBooks software, and now was printing checks with the wrong account number. It took me 4 1/2 months, 30-odd phone calls and threats from the Wells Fargo Collections division to persuade the bank that I wasn't trying to defraud them out of an $8,300.00 overdraft. It was not until I made "friends" with the regional manager of Wells Fargo's Fraud Division that the matter was settled-- in the form of their closing my account and mailing me a cashier's check for my balance before the first Haddock Bros. check was paid. No explanatory note was enclosed.

I continue to stand by my claim that if this issue could have remained with my local branch it would have been resolved quickly by Haddock Bros. Account Executive. Instead the matter was sent out-of-state through "proper channels" to some person who had never heard of me OR Haddock Bros. Problem resolved, but poorly handled.

ONLINE BANKING SERVICES: About six months ago, I started using Wells Fargo's online banking services. (www.wellsfargo.com) This allows you to access your accounts, make transfers between accounts, pay bills and access your brokerage account through a very easy-to-use web interface. Online banking is easy to set up, and does not require a visit to your bank to initiate. I use the online banking service almost daily to track my business accounts, and have never had any problems accessing my accounts or the web site. And the service is even free!

IN GENERAL: I am not going to rave on about how great Wells Fargo is, nor am I going to condemn them as awful. It's a solid middle-of-the-road large bank, offering a solid middle-of-the-road set of banking services at what appears to be solid middle-of-the-road cost to the consumer. Thumbs up for the online services and the many convenient locations; thumbs down for the "creeping fees" everywhere and the lack of autonomy available to local staffers.

All in all, I'd rather have Norwest back, but for now I'll keep ridin' on the Stage....

Recommended: Yes