[james4beach]

I know I'm not the only person here who has a Wells Fargo bank account in the US.

I had read online that some Canadians were getting warnings that their accounts might be closed. I had not seen such a warning myself, but I recently was in a branch and the teller immediately told me that my account was "flagged" due to the Canadian address.

I was informed that the address had to be urgently changed to a US address, otherwise the account would get (1) frozen eventually leading to (2) account closure, though they don't seem to know the time line.

The simple solution is to use a US address, or even a family member's address, for the primary profile address. The mailing address can still be different, and even in Canada. It's just the primary address that has to be US-based.

WF used to allow Canadian addresses for accounts. This appears to be a new policy that came into effect during the pandemic. My account was working normally, and I had no idea such a problem existed until a teller told me.

 

[AltaRed]

There have been previous reports of WF closing accounts of non-resident aliens, e.g. ex-pats who have returned to Canada, over the past year (or more). I don't think it is widespread among the US banking industry or regulatory motivated. It may be WF is still trying to clean up its previous business sins.

I have both a WF chequing account (since 2001) and a WF Visa credit card that remains functional. I have not received any letter (yet) telling me I am no longer welcome and I am not doing anything about it for now. I do have a back up BMO Harris bank account in place should WF go off the rails but do not have a USD credit card with them. I will just let this play out and deal with the fallout if/when it happens.

 

[Retiredguy]

I posted here in March about this. I was told then the same as James is reporting now. I've sold my California property and no longer needed the account so have closed it.

I'm thinking it was just some regulatory or audit recommendation that they're not going to enforce it but just have their tellers give some lip service to it and try and clean it up over time. Expect if it was a strict must do, letters would have been sent out with a drop dead date. The only reason I spoke to the teller then was because I was selling and needed to ,otherwise it would be another decade before going in that door. Agree with AR WF had the scandal of employees opening bogus accounts etc. so maybe this was related? Haven't heard of any other banks, with tellers saying the same to their Canadian customers.

 

[m3s]

Just open TD US or RBC US

TD is free with $100 min balance and you can sign up online from Canadia

 

[AltaRed]

Just open TD US or RBC US

TD is free with $100 min balance and you can sign up online from Canadia

Or BMO Harris which is what I did....having BMO Canada CAD and USD accounts.

 

[james4beach]

I have both a WF chequing account (since 2001) and a WF Visa credit card that remains functional. I have not received any letter (yet) telling me I am no longer welcome and I am not doing anything about it for now.

OK but they didn't send me a letter either. I didn't see any notification from them about this.

Anyway, don't be surprised if your account gets frozen. It's easily resolved, anyway, so you can just wait until you see a problem with the account. Maybe they really won't do anything, anyway.

By the way, some time ago I also received an $87 payout on the Wells Fargo settlement for those bogus accounts. I had reason to believe my own profile/accounts were affected and I had complained about it, and also informed the law firm pursuing the class action.

 

[AltaRed]

I only use my Wells Fargo account debit and credit cards when I travel to USA or Mexico, or to pay for one off US domiciled purchases in USD. The last time I used my WF account was in Feb to pay off my WF credit card for my annual LastPass subscription. WF continues to pay monthly interest to the account (it is a daily interest chequing account).

 

[james4beach]

The only reason I keep this account is to pay a couple US based bills, such as a monthly phone bill payment.

Is there some way of making US bill payments from Canadian banks? The last time I checked, it seemed that wasn't possible and that's why I kept the WF account.

 

[AltaRed]

I know of no way to use Bill Payment for US domiciled bills. I would think they should accept a PAD against your Cdn credit card. I have everything I possibly can set up as a PAD on credit cards.

There are bigger battles to fight than that one.

 

[james4beach]

I have everything I possibly can set up as a PAD on credit cards.
...
There are bigger battles to fight than that one.

Thanks, I will look into the credit card method of bill payment.

I'm not trying to fight a battle here, but I have US bills to pay. Hopefully credit cards will work, but failing that, what is the next easiest path?

I suppose I'll just keep the WF account. Seems the status is currently OK.

 

[m3s]

The only reason I keep this account is to pay a couple US based bills, such as a monthly phone bill payment.

Is there some way of making US bill payments from Canadian banks? The last time I checked, it seemed that wasn't possible and that's why I kept the WF account.

No

TD Bank is US-based. Very confusing unfortunately

For $100 balance it's free though

 

[m3s]

I just sold a vehicle and had to use a Wire like it's 1955. 3% fees or drawbacks and limits to anything else

Also had to write a few checks and so did my replacement. Soon the cobol coders will be dead a USA will be forced to accept that mainframe banking is obsolete. China and Europe are like a century ahead. Cash app is OK but it charges a fee for instant and probably monetizes your financial activity data

Also Canadian email transfers are limited and not very secure by 2020 standards so don't think we're that much ahead