Wachovia Teller Transaction Service Fee

I checked my Wachovia checking account balance the other day and noticed I got hit with a $8 "Service Fee" charge at the end of the month that I had never seen before. The description for the Service Fee was (4) TELLER TRANSACTION FEE. This hasn't been the only service fee I have received, I also got slapped with a pfm monthly access fee back in May.

I immediately submitted a customer service inquiry to Wachovia for an explanation. Heres the reply I got:

I have received your e-mail regarding the $8.00 fee assessed to your Express Access Checking account. Our records indicate four teller-assisted transactions occurred during the statement cycle of 10/24/2007 to 11/26/2007. The Express Access Checking account allows for two free teller-assisted transactions per cycle.

If more than two teller-assisted transactions are made during a statement cycle, a service fee of $2.00 is charged for all transactions, including the first two. Teller service fees are charged for any statement period during which in-branch or through the drive-in transactions are made. These may include check cashing, deposit, transfer, or withdrawal transactions. The fee may be avoided by using the ATM when making financial transactions.

Also, you may make deposits at a Wachovia ATM and/or Express Drop Box at no charge. Express Drop Boxes are located inside the lobby of our financial centers.

Should we be of further assistance, please do not hesitate to ask! Have a wonderful day!

Thank you for banking with Wachovia. I look forward to serving you again.
[Customer Service Rep]

Ofcourse! Since I have been on my international assignment I have been having various folks deposit rent checks, refunds, rebates, gifts, etc into my bank account. I use to do this all through the ATM, but now people are going to the teller to do it on my behalf. I will have to ask them to look at the Express Drop Box to help me avoid the teller transaction fees.

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Comments (14)


I'd say look at another bank instead of the express drop box once you get back to the states. To charge for teller transactions is ridiculous. Too many options out there.

I cant believe they charge a fee to use a teller. I guess the nickname "Walk all over ya" really fits.

If you ask through the Secure Message facility you were using to switch your account to the Free Checking product, you won't be nickel-and-dimed like that to actually do business with them. I think the Express product you have now is deprecated.

What a rip! Why would the first two be free if you didn't use more than two, but then if you go over they charge you? Sounds like it's time for a new bank. May be hard for you in your current situation though.

I'd recommend checking in to see if you can qualify for an "At work regular checking" account, since you are with IBM. I work for a large company and they have a deal with Wachovia where you get free checking (including as many teller visits as you want).

$2 to use the services of a teller? And your solution is to talk to those depositing on your behalf rather than immediately closing the account?

You are much more forgiving than I!

Yeah - fire WalkAllOverYa and go somewhere else.

What a joke. Does any other business charge their customers for coming to see them?

I don't take this kind of crap from banks.

Man, the day EVERY bank charges you a 'convenience fee' for speaking to a person is a sad day indeed.

while we're in the present though - choose another bank.

Time to find a credit union... I'm amazed anyone uses a commercial bank. Toooooo many fees.

My wife has a checking account at her credit union and they charge her $1/mo account fee. I thought that was even worse than this fee -- at least I can avoid the teller fee.

Wachovia - got charged $6 last month for "personal inquiry fee"...They made an error on a year end tax statement, it took multiple calls to get it corrected, and I get charged! I was told "you are allowed 2 calls per month....then it's $2 for each additional call"! To get their error corrected! Got the charges reversed and will bank elsewhere. Their claims for great service are laughable. Walk all over you is so true.

Perhaps I'm biased cause I work for a bank. (not Wachovia though) But, being devils advocate here, why would you expect a service to be free? Do you walk into a taco bell and expect the taco to be free simply cause you walked in? On the other hand, banks in general (expect apparently WAMU) do make the majority of their usable capital from the interest on home equity loans and mortgages. This makes nickel and dimeing people with $2 fees here and there seems like a public relations nightmare. I happen to have the power to reverse those fee's and when I see a customer that has a monthly service charge, I have the decency to let them know the options to stop that charge. Perhaps, I just work for a better bank, but thats how I see it. Just remember, be nice to your teller, cause you may be paying $2 to talk to her, but she is getting minimum wage to listen to you scream.

I have a Wachovia account. You have one of their old accounts. I used to have one of these accounts but they offered to switch me for free so that I wouldn't receive any more fees. I would suggest knowing what kind of account you have and reaching out to somebody if you have any questions. Too many times, we as consumers do not spend enough time knowing what we have or have signed up for and wait until a problem comes up before doing anything.

I work for the bank in question. The type of account you have is "grandfathered" and therefore has some really odd fee structures. you need to make the change to a free checking (which by the way means free of a monthly service fee for balance not free of any fees!). as for the 2 calls a month thats true if your callign to get a balance or to see if certain checks have cleared (things you cna do online or through the automated system) but when you reach the expensive part of customer service, a rep then you will be charged but if you have a genuine problem or a mistake made by us then you are not to be charged that fee and should be refunded and would be if you called me. Further our business customers are not charged to call us no matter how many times they call!
The PFM software is charged because intuit charges us, if you physically go to our website and download the transactions to yoru computer (which is easy by the way) you will not be charged but to esnure you don't get charged if you have that fee you MUST call online banking at wachovia and they will unenroll you.

Any other questions id be happy to answer you and as for walk all over you that is such a lame comment to make we refund more of our fees than ANY other bank in the US and customer service is our watchword!

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