Wells Fargo says operations back to normal on Friday

SAN FRANCISCO —Wells Fargo's problems appear to have continued into a second day despite assurances that  most of the company's services will be available Friday after a nationwide outage.

Frustration was high for customers on Thursday who could not use Wells Fargo's credit cards, ATMs, website, or app on Thursday due to a power outage at a server facility. The company did not disclose the location of the facility. The Lake Johanna, Minnesota Fire Department told CNBC that a "fire suppression system" was set off around 6 a.m. and was notified by the bank at 10 a.m.

A Facebook post by the department blamed dust from construction.

In messages on its Twitter account on Thursday, the bank, with 270 branches and 467 ATMs in New Jersey, said it was a "contained issue" and not a cybersecurity event.

Attempts to access Wells Fargo account via the website by two New Jersey 101.5 employees were unsuccessful on Friday morning.

Wells Fargo employees discovered the direct deposit of their paychecks did not show in their account balances. An internal email obtained by New Jersey 101.5 acknowledged that "some team members and customers may not yet be able to see the payroll deposits in online banking. However, those team members and customers should operate as they would normally assuming funds are in their accounts. Thank you for your patience. We will continue to provide updates."

Stephanie Ahenkora, a Wells Fargo spokeswoman said in an email that that as a result of the process to restore systems yesterday, some transactions and balances were not reflected in online banking or ATMs earlier today.

"The transactions were processed normally, and customers and team members can use their accounts with confidence," Ahenkora said. She updated the situation at 11 a.m. and said the issue with the website and app had been corrected.

"All transactions are now visible. We are experiencing higher than normal volumes so there still may be delays in online banking and contact center response times.

The country's fourth-largest bank said in a release issued Thursday night that all of its ATMs, websites and bank branches were operational. Customers can use their Wells Fargo credit and debit cards to make purchases and get cash. However, customers may experience delays contacting customer service on Friday.

Mobile and online banking systems are operational but some features may be unavailable, such as consumer credit card and mortgage balances.

The bank said any fees incurred because of Thursday's problems will be "reversed."

Angry customers took to Twitter to vent about the problems they encountered.

Contact reporter Dan Alexander at Dan.Alexander@townsquaremedia.com or via Twitter @DanAlexanderNJ.

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