Wells Fargo refuses to pay woman what they owe her!

NEW YORK (PNN) - November 25, 2014 - The recent actions of mega behemoth Wells Fargo show us just why so many people are distrustful of large financial  institutions. The bank, which claims it will help you achieve what’s important, has done exactly the opposite in the case of Rosemary Ronstein.

At the height of the 2009 financial crisis, Ms. Ronstein was facing a home foreclosure. After her husband passed away that same year, the widow was searching through personal records when she happened across a 30-year old CD purchased by her husband in 1984 for the sum of $18,000. The CD, which offered the bearer a 10.9% interest rate and renewed automatically until it was cashed in, was originally issued by First Interstate Bank, an entity that has since been acquired by Wells Fargo.

At the time, Ronstein faced the real possibility of having her house seized for failing to pay her mortgage. The CD was like a dream come true. All her problems would be solved, which is exactly the reason why her late husband originally purchased the CD and gave it to her for safekeeping.

But when Ronstein arrived at Wells Fargo to trade in her financial instrument, she says that not only did the bank refuse to make good on the Cash Deposit, they practically laughed in her face.

Wells Fargo refused to comment on the story but claims in court documents that it had no records of the CD and believes it’s possible that it could have already been paid out at some point in the past, pointing out that First Interstate had a policy of allowing customers to retain paid-out certificates.

The widow insists that her late husband never cashed out the CD, while her lawyer notes that the CD states that it must be “presented and surrendered” in order to be redeemed. He claims that it’s not enough for Wells to cite a lack of documentation on its part as evidence that the CD had been paid.

“Given the passage of the time, the bank doesn’t have a record of it,” says the lawyer. “What really needs to be decided by the court is, what’s the import of the lack of a record in the face of the instrument?”

According to Ronstein’s attorney, the accumulated interest and automatic renewals on the CD amount to over $400,000 today, a claim disputed by Wells Fargo, which says it is worth only around $60,000.

In essence, Wells Fargo says that because it doesn’t have a record of the 30-year old legal financial instrument it doesn’t have to pay the sum owed. Moreover, it claims that even if the certificate was legitimate, First Interstate Bank used to allow CD bearers to keep the CD after being paid out, so it may have already been paid. But Ronstein disputes this claim, noting that the CD clearly states the instrument must be surrendered to the bank at the time it is paid.

Wells Fargo, like many other large financial institutions, may claim it is looking out for the little guy. It may have vibrant advertisements telling you it will take care of you when you need help. But in reality, it is interested in one thing and one thing only - your money.

This isn’t the first time Wells Fargo has had some serious issues with paperwork and record keeping. Last year the very same bank actually showed up at someone’s home with the local terrorist pig thug cops and claimed that the owner had failed to pay her mortgage. They seized everything in her home, boarded it up, and sold the delinquent homeowner’s possessions. Except there was one problem. They seized the wrong house. What’s worse, after they sold the owner’s possessions they refused to repay them the retail value of the goods! According to the homeowner the bank president told her, “We’re not paying you retail here, that’s just the way it is.”

Ms. Ronstein’s case is just another example of how little you should trust your local banking institution to do what’s right.

What you can expect is that banks will take from you whenever they can and refuse to make good when they make a mistake.

Now, with the introduction of “bail-in” provisions, which essentially turn your personal account deposits into bank assets (rather then your assets), should the bank make a mistake on the order of Lehman Brothers in the 2008 financial crisis, you can fully expect to lose every single dime you’ve deposited. In fact, the Vice Chairman of the Federal Reserve recently warned that this is exactly what would happen to your life savings should your bank ever need to recapitalize itself.

Ms. Ronstein is just the latest example of how Amerika’s large financial institutions are taking everything they can from the little guy to further enrich themselves.

If you have your money at a bank then you should fully expect it to be disappeared at the very moment you need it most.