Wells Fargo ATMs and accounts disabled

Service problems disabled ATMs and online accounts at Wells Fargo & Co. for at least 24 hours starting Sunday afternoon, leaving some customers of the nation’s fifth-largest bank unable to get cash or use debit cards to pay for goods.

San Francisco-based Wells Fargo would not say how many customers or machines were affected but acknowledged that services were down throughout the company, including personal banking and Wells Fargo corporate websites, ATMs and the processing of mortgage and student loans.

“Customers may continue to experience transaction difficulties or delays in our stores, at ATMs and at the point of sale . . . and processing for some mortgage, home equity, student loans and remittances,” Wells Fargo spokeswoman Julia S. Tunis said. “Our systems teams are working to fix those problems, and we hope to have all channels fully available soon.”

Although some customers noticed nothing wrong, others complained Monday at several of the bank’s 6,000 branches.

Many customers could get cash only if they went into a branch and talked to a teller -- but they had no way of getting cash after hours at ATMs.

Charles Muturi visited a branch in San Francisco’s South of Market district Monday, intending to talk to customer service representatives about getting a home loan.

Instead, bank employees told him that they could not process his application because of the service problems, and they asked him to come back.

“I can come back tomorrow, but it’s inconvenient,” Muturi grumbled as he left the branch.