If you see ‘ONLINE PAYMENT WEST DES MOIN’ payment transaction in your bank statement, it is simply the result of paying off your outstanding Wells Fargo credit card balance, either partly or in full.
A screenshot of the Wells Fargo app below is shown to display an example of this transaction that may appear on your bank statement.
It is more than likely that you made the payment (manually or through auto-pay) either using Wells Fargo’s online banking or via their mobile app, which is why the transaction mentions that it is an online payment.
However, if you made the credit card payment over the phone, in person at a Wells Fargo branch, or through mail, the payment may appear on your statement as ‘PAYMENT WEST DES MOIN’ instead.
Regardless of your method of payment, rest assured that if you are a Wells Fargo customer and have a credit card with them, that it is not a fraudulent charge, and you should not be alarmed.
Typically, the transaction is a payment to reduce or pay off the outstanding balance on your credit card, and therefore should appear with a ‘+’ sign in front of the payment amount, to signify a deposit.
Otherwise, if you are not a Wells Fargo customer, and the amount appears as a charge instead, contact your bank to dispute it.
It is important that you determine whether the amount is either a credit payment into your account or a credit charge, since falsely disputing the amount could possibly land you in trouble.
What is WEST DES MOIN?
The words ‘WEST DES MOIN’ that appear as part of the payment entry in your bank statement is a shortened reference to the city of West Des Moines in the state of Iowa.
Although Wells Fargo is primarily based in San Francisco, the city of West Des Moines is home to their mortgage lending department, Home Mortgage Corporate Office.
The payments made to your credit card are billed and processed at this location.
Will “ONLINE PAYMENT WEST DES MOIN” still show up if I don’t pay my entire credit card balance?
Yes, the message will still appear on your bank statement if you only paid a proportion of your credit card balance.
Keep in mind though that it is good practice to pay your balance in full each month, since it has the potential to maintain or improve your credit score.
However, there are instances perhaps where you may want to influence your credit utilization ratio using techniques such as the AZEO method, where you keep all of your credit cards, assuming you have multiple, at zero balance except for one.
Why does “ONLINE PAYMENT WEST DES MOIN” appear on my statement when I haven’t made a credit card payment?
The message may appear on your bank statement because either:
- you have forgotten that you made the credit card payment, or
- perhaps the bank has made an error, or
- there is fraudulent activity on your credit card
Determine whether the amount on your bank statement is the result of a credit into your account or a deduction.
Usually a symptom of a scam is when a small amount of money has been deposited into your account.
Another sign of suspicious activity is when a large deduction as a result of your credit card being used fraudulently has been made.
In either of these scenarios, it is important to compile as much information as you can, before filing a dispute with your bank, or contacting Wells Fargo customer service directly.
This is particularly important in cases where you neither do not own a Wells Fargo credit card nor do you have any open Wells Fargo bank accounts.
Someone may have opened a credit card under your name unbeknownst to you and has made legitimate payments in an attempt to operate under the radar.
In most cases though, the “ONLINE PAYMENT WEST DES MOIN” label is the result of you paying down your credit card balance, whether you remember it or not.