Are you kidding me, Wells Fargo???

Pardon me for a minute as I vent some frustration regarding one of the larger financial institutions in the country.  If anyone reading this is an employee or fan of Wells Fargo sorry, sort of.  For a majority of my adult life I have done my banking at a credit union and been very satisfied.  Well, a few years ago we refinanced our mortgage and Wells Fargo happened to have the lowest rates and they offered us an even lower rate if we would open a checking account.  Sounds pretty harmless, right?  If hindsight were 20/20 we would have opened that account, kept the minimum balance in it and continued banking with our friendly credit union.  They are occasionally attempting to sneak in some random fees even though we have a "free" checking account, then take several weeks, sometimes months and several phone calls before reversing the fees that never should have been there in the first place.  I have thought of switching back to our favorite credit union, but oh what a pain.  I am sure at some point in the near future it will be worth the chaos of making the change.  I live in chaos and love it, isn't that right!?!

Today my mom and aunt offered to watch my kiddos while I ran some errands.  Of course, I took them up on it and ran like the wind to get to as many places possible.  I went to Target, Costco, and Hobby Lobby.  I spent $18 at Target, $90 at Costco and $8 at Hobby Lobby.   At Hobby Lobby the clerk very casually informed me that my debit card DECLINED.  With my stomach now in my shoes, knowing that there was plenty of money in my account to cover the transaction I asked him to try again.  Still DECLINED.  Fortunately I had some cash in my wallet, which is a miracle since I usually don't carry much if any cash.  Not very smart, I know and if my dad happens to read this I am pretty sure I will be getting a little bit of "loving feedback" and concern for my safety on the subject.  I paid for my purchase and prayed all the way home that the thieves that stole our identity a few years ago hadn't drained our entire bank account in the twenty minutes between Costco and Hobby Lobby.  I was quick to hop online to check the account only to see that, yes there was plenty of money available.  With that information I assumed there must have been some tehcnical difficulties with the credit card processor at Hobby Lobby and went to the grocery store.  I quickly got all of my groceries.  It's amazing how fast grocery shopping can be done when a couple of cute two year olds are not throwing groceries out of my cart as fast as I am putting them in.  I got to the check out and once again my debit card DECLINED....Ugh....My five year old was very upset to be leaving her Peeps (Easter treat, not friends) at the store and I was so mad I didn't even think to just give the clerk $1 for them.  We went to the car and I called the phone # on the back of my debit card to see what the heck was going on.  After entering my 16 digit card #, 8 digit checking account #, SS#, and all of my deep dark secrets I was finally connected with an operator.  She very sickningly, sweetly said, "I am assuming you are calling about the block on your debit card."  My response, "You're right, why is it on there?"  She very slowly explained that my $8 purchase at Hobby Lobby triggered the fraud department and they placed the block on my account.  I said, "Are you kidding me?"  "No, ma'am, we like to make sure that we are always keeping our customers safety as one of our top concerns."  I can appreciate that, but wouldn't it make more sense for the fraud department to be concerned about a large purchase from an electronics store, or maybe online shopping being shipped to a strange address.  No, no, no  Wells Fargo has got my back and apparently my $8 worth of craft supplies is very suspicious.  Oh, and I forgot to mention that the whole grocery store adventure happened with three sets of neighbors, one of them in line behind me and two others close enough for me to see, and possibly hear.  I am pretty sure I have never been that close to so many people that I have known at the store at the same time.  Maybe they will all start "anonymously" leaving money on my porch or something.