Wells Fargo outage: Customers say direct deposits aren’t showing up

Wells Fargo said some customers experienced outages that impacted its ATMs and mobile and online banking apps, and said it would reverse any fees that hit its customers as a result. Although the bank said the issue was largely resolved on Thursday, customers said they were still having problems accessing their accounts on Friday, including their direct deposits.

On Thursday, the bank said its ATM services had been restored and its mobile and online systems were working, although not all features were restored. For instance, it said consumer credit card and mortgage balance weren’t yet working. The company blamed a “contained issue” at one facility, and said it wasn’t a cybersecurity issue.

Even so, customers on Friday morning complained via Twitter about not receiving their direct deposits, while others said they still couldn’t access their accounts. Some customers reported that their cards were declined while attempting a purchase, and some said they couldn’t pay their bills on time because of the glitch. 

Tim Knotts, a certified financial planner, told CBS MoneyWatch he wasn’t able to get onto his account on Friday morning, and was worried because his employees were scheduled to receive their salaries via direct deposit today. 

“I am concerned for my employees,” he said via a Twitter message. “Just tried to log in again, but no luck … for the nation’s 4th largest bank this is unacceptable!”

Financial stress

Others said the glitch was causing stress about financial milestones like closing on a home purchase. 

“I’ve supposed to sign my mortgage docs tomorrow and my lender can’t ‘access the system’ to generate them. If I can’t close on my house and the seller defaults me then what? U giving me my $45k earnest $ back?” one Twitter user wrote to Wells Fargo. 

The stress felt by consumers underscores the thin financial margins that many Americans experience, said Matt Schulz of 
CompareCards.com.

“When everything goes smoothly, they have no problem paying the bills,” he noted. “However, when there’s a hiccup in the form of a medical emergency, job loss, government shutdown or even a technical snafu at the bank that hits their bottom line, it doesn’t take much to cause real problems.”

The outage comes after a series of scandals at the bank, including bank practices such as phony accounts and manipulative sales practices. In December, Wells Fargo agreed to pay $575 million to settle a range of allegations from 50 states and the District of Columbia over those issues. 

The same month, Wells Fargo blamed a computer glitch for an error affecting an estimated 545 customers who lost their homes. The giant bank filed papers with the Securities and Exchange Commission last month, revealing it incorrectly denied 870 loan modification requests. About 60 percent of those homeowners went into foreclosure.

On Friday morning, some customers vowed to switch banks. 

“How have y’all not given an update in 10hrs? You suspend my online access yet I can’t create a new password to get logged in. I hope you lose every customer. I know I’m one that’s leaving,” one Twitter user wrote.