Paul Joseph Watson
Infowars.com
January 15, 2014
According to a Florida woman, Wells Fargo is telling its customers
that they will have to pay a $5 dollar fee every time they deposit funds into
their checking or savings account. The bank itself has subsequently said that no
such policy has been instituted, although it will begin charging for U.S. dollar
deposits sent from abroad.
The woman sent us the bank statement above which she received on
Monday informing her of changes to her Wells Fargo checking and savings
account.
It reads: “Effective April 7, 2014, the fee for deposited U.S. or
foreign currency denominated international items, including drafts, will be
$5.00 per item.”
In other words, every time a customer deposits funds into their
account, be it a paycheck or anything else, Wells Fargo imposes a de facto flat
rate tax of $5 dollars. However, it remains unclear as to whether this relates
to domestic deposits or deposits being sent from abroad in U.S. dollars.
UPDATE: Wells Fargo now says that this new fee applies only to
international deposits.
The Florida woman says she was told directly by Wells Fargo that
the new policy applied to domestic deposits.
“I called their 800-869-3557 Texas call center to make sure I
wasn’t seeing things and the customer service rep Adelina informed me that
whenever I will make a deposit of my paycheck or anything I will be charged
$5.00,” said the woman, adding that she closed her account because she is a
single mother and cannot afford to pay the fee every time she deposits
money.
The policy sounds similar to a 2011 move by Bank
of America to charge customers a $5 dollar fee for every debit card
purchase, a proposal that was swiftly abandoned after a huge customer
uproar.
As the language suggests, this is only related to international
deposits for now, but fears have been rife for months that banks could start
charging customers for keeping money in their account.
Why is this important?
Back in November, numerous
mainstream news outlets reported on the rumor that banks were about to start
charging fees for deposits, but that such a scenario was “highly unlikely,” and
only possible if the Federal Reserve reduced its bank lending rate from 0.25%,
which hasn’t happened.
While JPMorgan Chase asserted they were not planning on charging
customers for deposits, Citigroup, Bank of America, SunTrust and Wells Fargo
declined to comment. Falling margins on what banks make on loans compared to
what they pay out on deposits is the major factor behind banks being forced to
charge customers for depositing their own money.
Just three months ago, Wells
Fargo John Stumpf defended the bank’s decision to continue raking in
deposits from checking accounts and that he would not turn away customers.
Financial analysts have asserted that banks charging customers for
depositing money would signal a major shift in the state of the U.S.
economy.
According to Senior San
Francisco Business Times reporter Mark Calvey, such a move would, “send
shudders throughout the nation’s economy as it underscores that loan demand is
so weak that banks can no longer make money on lending.”
The Financial Times also recently
noted that customers, “paying just to leave money in the bank would be
highly unusual.”
Should it come to pass, imposing what amounts to negative interest
rates on customers would merely the latest example of banks resorting to onerous
capital controls as the economy begins to meltdown. Back
in November, we also exclusively reported on how Chase Bank was banning cash
withdrawals over $50,000 total per statement cycle while preventing business
customers from sending international wire transfers.
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