Dear John: Wells Fargo client feels churned & burned
Dear John: I’m a retired 71-year-old who moved to Florida in May 2014, and I’m not very happy with the so-called advisers at Wells Fargo regarding my Individual Retirement Account (IRA).
The one adviser who was handling my account does not get back to me after I call and leave messages on his voicemail stating my concerns over my account regularly losing money after he advised me to go more aggressive months back. I get new advisers on the phone who don’t impress me with their knowledge of investments, stocks, portfolios, etc.
I know you can’t always make money each period, but I feel he put me in a position that keeps losing money — which wasn’t the case before the change — after he advised me to change my portfolio distributions.
Anyway, I want to take my account to another bank. But I’m told it would cost me $95 for Wells Fargo to transfer it. Is this a standard fee, and is there anything else I could do to save my account? I no longer trust Wells Fargo to make any changes to my portfolio. J.S.
Dear J.S.: I shared your concerns with Wells Fargo, and now the company seems concerned.
Says Tony Mattera, senior vice president and spokesman for Wells Fargo: “John, thanks for the chance to comment. While confidentiality policies and regulations preclude us from discussing individual client accounts, I can tell you that we are aware of J.S.’s concerns and are working with him to address them.”
So, there you go!
Here’s what you need to do next: Give Wells Fargo permission to talk with me. Because anything Wells Fargo can do in secret isn’t going to work to your benefit.
The kick in the rear, really, is charging you a fee to get your money back when they’ve lost money trading your account. Yes, there have been a lot of losses this year, and I think things will get worse. And if you agreed to the changes in your investment goals, then you have to bear some responsibility.
The big question is, did your Wells Fargo adviser give you the appropriate investment choices for someone your age? Did he have permission in writing to trade your account more aggressively? And did he churn the account — make more trades than necessary to build up his fees?
Even if you don’t want Wells Fargo to talk with me directly, please keep in touch. I always like to know how these stories end.
Dad’s rage over Facebook page
Dear John: Great article on Facebook!
About four years ago, a boy made a Facebook page using a photo of my daughter, who was 15 years old at the time. The page name was “(Name of daughter) has big boobs.”
So I had to reach out to Facebook about three or four times, and only after I mentioned legal action did it take down the page. It took at least two months for Facebook to take action. P.W.
Dear P.W.: As I said in a column recently, Facebook is now a changed company. Today you’d probably only have to call two or three times, and it would only take a month.
Readers, if anything like this happens to you, just call Facebook’s advertising department and tell them you are going to contact advertisers. It works like a charm.
Facebook, now a public company, can’t have its ad revenue messed with.
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