APY GUY: Maximize Your Savings & Earnings

Wells Fargo

Wells Fargo “Way2Save” and CD Rates


image credit: wellsfargo.com

Wells Fargo is a household name—a bank with as much recognition as history. Founded during the peak of the Gold Rush in 1852 to transport gold by steamship from San Francisco to New York City, this behemoth of a bank has grown tremendously alongside the American economy.

However, although the bank’s history is rich, their current savings rates will leave you far from it. Their most recognizable savings account – the Wells Fargo “Way2Save” – plus its current certificate of deposit rates are appallingly low.

The Wells Fargo Way2Save savings account may have racked up a lot of users in the past due to its previous incentives and lucrative rates, but it doesn’t have a lot of rave reviews currently and today’s APYs are abysmal. Similarly, Wells Fargo CD accounts would need to reward much higher rates in order to stand up to competitor products.

Simply put, there are minimal (if any) benefits to saving with a Wells Fargo Way2Save or a certificate account at the moment. Take a look at the rates, account details, and customer reviews of Wells Fargo accounts before you dismiss these products entirely, but don’t expect too much from the savings side of this bank anytime soon.

Way2Save Savings Account Details + APY

The Wells Fargo Way2Save savings account was designed for individuals (including minors) that need help setting aside savings regularly in an automated way. The account remains mildly popular despite historically low rates because of this benefit.

A Wells Fargo Way2Save savings account offers the option of having funds automatically transferred from a linked Wells Fargo checking account. You can achieve this by enabling “Save As You Go” transfers or by scheduling automatic transfers on a monthly basis. The Save As You Go savings feature is an optional program that automatically transfers $1 from your checking account into your Way2Save account for each debit card or online bill pay transaction.

Wells Fargo Way2Save Savings Account APY

BalanceAPY
$0 or more0.01%

To put this offer in perspective the current national average for a savings account is 0.07% APY, although many online only banks still offer above 0.50% APY on all sums. And in addition to offering a shockingly bad rate, the Way2Save account comes with some potential monthly service fees, minimum daily balance requirements, and incidental charges that many consumers only put up with in exchange for high yields.

You will be charged a $5 monthly service fee unless you meet one of the following criteria in any given month:

  1. maintain an average daily balance of $300 or more,
  2. make one or more Save As You Go transfers from your checking account,
  3. schedule an automatic transfer of at least $25 per month or $1 per day from your checking account, or
  4. you are under the age of 18.

Interest is compounded daily and credited monthly. These accounts are regulated by federal regulation D, which limits transactions to six a month. You will be charged $15 for each withdrawal or transfer over this.

As we mentioned, the Way2Save account was designed to help people reach savings goals without requiring them to plan or take much action. With a savings account of this nature, you’re prioritizing ease and convenience over everything else – namely respectable rates.

Generally speaking, savings accounts with higher interest rates are considered to be the best. But if you struggle with saving money and just want to take the pressure off of remembering to set aside funds each month, then this account might be beneficial for you.

Wells Fargo CD Rates + Account Details

You won’t find excellent certificate account rates with Wells Fargo either, but you will at least have options. The bank offers standard, step rate, and special CDs with normal and bonus APYs that in more favorable interest rate environments can be quite competitive. Currently however, the rates sit well below the national average.

Wells Fargo CD Rates

CD TermNormal APYBonus APY
3 months0.02%0.02%
*5 months special CD––
6 months0.02%0.02%
1 year0.02%0.02%
**24 month Step Rate CD0.03%0.04%

All the deposit products (above) require an opening deposit of $2,500. There are no monthly service fees on certificate accounts with Wells Fargo and their rates are the same across all balances currently.

* 5 Month Special CD – This promotional deposit has been discontinued.

** A Step Rate CD with Wells Fargo will earn you either 0.03% (standard) or 0.04% (bonus) and the only term available is 24 months. Over the course of this term, you will receive guaranteed rate increases and the option of making one penalty-free withdrawal per six month period (as long as the minimum opening deposit of $2,500 is maintained).

To qualify for bonus rates on any certificate, you must maintain a Wells Fargo Portfolio Checking account. This account comes with a $30 monthly service fee (avoid by maintaining $25,000 or more in qualifying linked bank deposits or $50,000 or more in qualifying linked bank, brokerage, and credit balances).

Normally, Wells Fargo CD accounts earn tiered interest rates based on balance. Right now, APYs are the same across all balance tiers. For future reference, these balance tiers are as follows:

  • $0 – 4,999.99
  • $5,000 – 9,999.99
  • $10,000 – 24,999.99
  • $25,000 – 49,999.99
  • $50,000 – 99,999.99
  • $100,000+

Interest is compounded daily and paid at your interval of choice. If your term is 12 months or less, you may choose to have your dividends paid monthly, quarterly, semi-annually, or at maturity. If your term is 12 months or more, you may choose to be paid your dividends monthly, quarterly, semi-annually, or annually. These payments can be redeposited into the certificate account, transferred to a linked Wells Fargo saving or checking account, or paid by check (provided your balance is $5,000 or more).

Wells Fargo CDs can be altered within a grace period of 7 days after renewal or account opening. Making changes or withdrawals after that qualifies as early withdrawal. Early withdrawal from terms of less than 3 months will cost 1 month’s interest, from terms of 3 to 12 months will cost 3 months’ interest, from terms of 12 to 24 months will cost 6 months’ interest, and from terms over 24 months will cost 12 months’ interest.

Wells Fargo Banking Experience and Consumer Reviews

You might be wondering how Wells Fargo performs in the eyes of the people from a customer service and overall experience perspective. According to 311 ratings submitted to Consumer Affairs, not well. With an overall score of 1.2 stars out of 5 and almost entirely 1-star ratings in 2020, the verdict is that Wells Fargo does not deliver high-quality customer care but instead delivers unexpected closures and poor account protection in addition to enforcing rigid policies. 

Many customers have reported being solicited by Wells Fargo to take out loans they shouldn’t take out, experiencing longer-than-usual wait times on everything from payments to getting customer service help, and having their accounts locked for no apparent reason. Of course, all customer reviews should be taken with a grain of salt—Wells Fargo is one of the biggest banks in America and it’s difficult to consolidate all customer experiences into a neat and tidy description of what to expect. 

It’s worth mentioning also that Wells Fargo is still trying to restore its reputation as a trustworthy institution after its 2016 public account fraud scandal in which credit and debit accounts were wrongfully opened under customer names by Wells Fargo representatives in order to boost sales, and it’s clear that the people haven’t recovered from this offense. So while it may not clear whether Wells Fargo can be trusted as a corporation, you should at the very least be wary if you choose to bank with them. 

There’s no shortage of Wells Fargo branches and ATMs. You can get a separate ATM card with a Way2Save account or link your funds to an existing debit card. And if you do wish to manage your money from an ATM or branch, you’ll have no problem locating one. You’ll have access to more than 13,000 ATMs and about 5,400 in-person branches. But if you prefer to manage your money on-the-go, you can through the Wells Fargo mobile app or secure online portal.

To contact customer service with general banking questions or concerns, call 1-(800)-869-3557. To get online banking help, call 1-(800)-956-4442. Both lines are open 24/7. If you don’t mind a longer wait time, you can mail a letter to one of these addresses or reach out on social media through Twitter or Facebook.

Final Thoughts

Although FDIC-insured savings products from Wells Fargo have been lucrative in the past – both on their deposits and the Way2Save account – they are downright awful at the moment. They don’t come close to the national average and online institutions are offering APYs up to 20x Wells Fargo’s rates.

A Wells Fargo Way2Save savings account only has the benefit of automating the money one sets aside for savings each month. If you’re after high rates and zero fees, we’d suggest looking elsewhere.

Wells Fargo Checking Account Bonus – Now $400 [Nationwide]


image credit: bonusoffer.wf.com/promo400

Yes, you read that right—a $400 checking account bonus available to new customers nationwide!

​Wells Fargo​ routinely proves how much they want your business with excellent welcome offers such as this one. From now until the end of July 2020, Wells Fargo will provide all new checking account customers with $400 after jumping through a few hoops.

We know this is a lucrative checking account bonus and we’re excited to see Wells Fargo offer it. Just be sure this checking account would be right for you even without the bonus before signing up.

How To Get The $400 Checking Bonus From Wells Fargo

The ​Wells Fargo Everyday Checking account​ is Wells Fargo’s most popular account and from now until the end of June you can snag $400 for opening it!

image credit: bonusoffer.wf.com/promo400

Here’s how to earn the $400 bonus (Online and In-Branch):

  1. Open an Everyday checking account using this link OR bring a printed out copy of the bonus code to your nearest branch. You can use the link (above) and click the “open in-branch” tab to have your code emailed to you.
  2. Deposit at least $25 into your new checking account to fund it.
  3. The kicker: You must receive a total of $4,000 or more in qualifying direct deposits to the new checking account within 90 days from account opening (the qualification period).
  4. $400 will then be deposited into your account within 30 days of meeting the above requirements.

The toughest criteria for receiving this cash bonus is likely going to be receiving at least $4,000 in direct deposits. Just remember this can be in the form of salary, ACH transfers from an employer, social security, income from a rental property, side-hustle or small business, etc.

Finally, you must have a positive balance for this entire period in the account (and it goes without saying, but the account must not be closed for any reason).

If you do not meet these offer requirements within 90 days of opening your account, you will not receive the bonus. But if you ​do​ follow these steps, the bonus will be automatically deposited into your checking account within 30 days. Please keep in mind that this bonus will be considered taxable income.

Certain groups of people will not be eligible for this offer, including current owners of Wells Fargo consumer checking accounts, Wells Fargo employees, and any individuals that have received a Wells Fargo bonus offer on a new consumer checking account within the past year. So you don’t technically have to be a new Wells Fargo customer, but you can’t already have a checking account with them.

Locations That Qualify For The $400 Checking Account Bonus

When Wells Fargo first rolled out this lucrative promotion in the beginning of 2020 it was exclusively available to residents of Orlando, Florida and Phoenix, Arizona.

Now, it’s available nationwide. Simply apply online or visit the Wells Fargo branch location nearest to you and open an account with the printed out code.

How to Avoid Fees with the Wells Fargo Everyday Checking Account

As with many checking accounts offered by large, national banks, you will have to meet a few requirements to avoid a monthly maintenance fee.

The Wells Fargo Everyday checking account will charge you a monthly service fee of $10, but this can be avoided in a few different ways.

  1. First, if you are between the ages of 17 and 24, this maintenance fee will be automatically waived for you.
  2. If you are older than this, you can avoid the monthly fee by maintaining an average daily balance of at least $1,500.
  3. You may also avoid the fee by setting up direct deposits totaling $500 or more into this account.
  4. Lastly, you can avoid the fee by making 10 or more transactions with a linked debit card per statement period (not including ATM transactions or ACH transactions via account and routing number).

Some other account fees cannot be avoided, but you should still know about them.

You’ll be charged $12.50 per overdraft transfer (when you’re enrolled in overdraft protection), $35 per overdraft or returned item, $2.50 per transaction using an out-of-network ATM in the U.S., and $5 per transaction using an out-of-network ATM outside of the U.S. Withdrawals from Wells Fargo ATMs are, of course, free.

Wells Fargo Checking Account Features & Perks

By and large, this checking account is basically your standard checking account. However, it does boast a few features and perks that help to make it more attractive.

One of the most advertised features is the Debit Card On or Off feature. This is unique to Wells Fargo and is a good safety measure that could save your account balance in the event of card theft or loss.

Simply turn off a card temporarily that you’ve had stolen or misplaced without canceling it, and your balance will be protected until you turn it back on.

With an Everyday Checking account, you’ll have access to the usual—but still nice—features available through this bank such as:

  1. Online and mobile bill pay and transfers.
  2. 24/7 customer service.
  3. Over 13,000 Wells Fargo ATMs.
  4. Debit Card Overdraft Services (customer must opt-in). Details below.
  5. Overdraft Rewind. Details below.
  6. Card-free ATM access. Allows you a one-time ATM code for use at a Wells Fargo ATM right from the bank’s mobile app.
  7. Text banking. Access your account balance, transactions, due dates, and more via text message.

If you add Debit Card Overdraft services to your account, your debit card transactions could be approved and put into overdraft (at the discretion of Wells Fargo), rather than just having them automatically declined when you can’t pay for them based on your balance.

You will incur a fee of $35 for every overdraft applied, but this will be waived if you can get the money to pay for the transaction into your account on the same business day.

Overdraft Rewind, a much less common practice, is a free account feature that will allow you to dodge an overdraft fee if your account receives a direct deposit covering the full amount of the transaction that went into overdraft by the next day. You might not take advantage of this all the time, but it could come in handy once in a while.

Final Thoughts

This is a very solid checking account bonus by Wells Fargo.

The Everyday checking account that the bonus is applied to is quite versatile and can be beneficial to a wide array of customers.

The $400 bounty for becoming a new checking account customer is also on the high end for bonuses of these types, that generally stay in the $100 – $200 range.

Just keep in mind, the $4k in direct deposits you’ll need to set-up to qualify for the bonus isn’t an easy ask for everyone.

Also, in the longer run, if you see yourself having trouble avoiding the monthly fees this could eat away at the cash bonus over time, so be sure you can meet these requirements comfortably.