Philadelphia has become the latest city to accuse one the nation’s largest banks of deliberately pushing minority mortgage applicants into home loans that cost more than these borrowers would have received if they were white. [More]
wells fargo
Total Number Of Bogus Wells Fargo Accounts Could Be As High As 3.5 Million
By 5.12.17
When Wells Fargo finally acknowledged what some had been alleging for years — that bank employees may have opened up fake, unauthorized accounts in customers’ names — it estimated the total number of bogus accounts at around 2.1 million. However, recently filed court documents contend that there could be as many as 1.4 million additional bogus accounts. [More]
Supreme Court Says Cities Can Sue Banks Over Fair Housing Violations
By 5.1.17 — Updated: 5.9.17
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled this morning that cities are allowed to sue banks for alleged violations of the Fair Housing Act if the city is able to show that it was harmed by a bank’s discriminatory actions. [More]
Wells Fargo Shareholders Say Bank Staff “Rounded Up” Undocumented Workers As Part Of Phony Account Scam
By 4.27.17 — Updated: 5.9.17
We’re all well aware by this point that Wells Fargo employees opened up more than 2 million bogus accounts in customers’ names in order to game the bank’s sales incentive/quota system. Some former bank staffers revealed what they claim are some of the tricks used to create these fake accounts — including rounding up undocumented day laborers at convenience stores and construction sites to get them to sign up for accounts (only to then allegedly give them additional accounts they didn’t ask for). [More]
Wells Fargo Adds Another $32 Million To Fake Account Settlement; Will Cover Customers Going Back To 2002
By 4.21.17 — Updated: 5.9.17
Wells Fargo recently reached a $110 million deal that it hoped would close the books on a variety of class action lawsuits related to millions of fake accounts opened by Wells employees trying to game the bank’s system of sales quotas and incentives. That settlement was intended to cover affected Wells customers going back through 2009, but it’s now been expanded by $32 million to add compensation for bank accounts as far back as 2002. [More]
Bank Regulator Knew Of Problems At Wells Fargo In 2010, Did Nothing
By 4.20.17 — Updated: 5.9.17
Now that Wells Fargo has completed its internal investigation into the fake account fiasco that resulted in millions of bogus accounts being opened in customers’ names, one federal banking regulator is admitting that it was aware of hundreds of related complaints nearly a decade ago, but failed to do anything to correct the problem. [More]
Wells Fargo CEO Claims Employees Can Call Ethics Line Without Fear Of Losing Jobs
By 4.19.17
In the six months since Wells Fargo’s fake account fiasco came to light dozens of employees have come forward claiming that their attempts to shed light on other employees’ bad behavior by calling the company’s ethics hotline ended in their termination. But the banking institution’s new executive says that’s no longer a worry. [More]
Wells Fargo Takes Back Another $75M From Former CEO & Exec Blamed For Fake Accounts
By 4.10.17 — Updated: 5.10.17
The Wells Fargo board of directors has completed its investigation into the bank’s fake account fiasco, which saw Wells employees open more than two million bogus accounts in customers’ names. For their failure to curb this bad behavior, “retired” CEO John Stumpf and former head of retail banking Carrie Tolstedt have had an additional $75 million in compensation clawed back.
[More]
Wells Fargo’s High-Pressure Sales Tactics Also Affected Credit Card Processing Division
By 4.6.17
Seven months after Wells Fargo’s fake account fiasco came to light and the bank ditched its high-pressure sales goal incentive program for retail banking employees, a new report reveals the company also revised its aggressive sales tactics for its credit-processing business following an internal probe. [More]
Wells Fargo Still Has A Lot Of Fake Account Fiasco Investigations To Deal With
By 3.31.17
Wells Fargo may believe that its recently announced $110 million settlement will put an end to the many federal lawsuits over the bank’s fake account fiasco, but that may be wishful thinking. In fact, the financial institution is still party to nearly a dozen investigations and lawsuits. [More]
Wells Fargo Says It Will Pay $110 Million To Settle Fake Account Fiasco Class Action
By 3.29.17 — Updated: 3.31.17
Wells Fargo is currently facing — and trying to get out of — a dozen class action lawsuits involving a fake account fiasco that saw bank employees opening millions of bogus, unauthorized accounts in customers’ names. Now Wells says it has agreed to settle the oldest of those disputes, and that the settlement could close the books on the other complaints. [More]
Complaints About Student Loan Servicing Increased 429% In Past Year
By 3.28.17 — Updated: 5.10.17
In the past year, federal regulators and consumer advocates have highlighted issues with student loans and the servicing of these often crippling debts: from finding that educational loans continue to haunt older borrowers, to suing Navient, the largest student loan servicing company. Because of this, it might not come as much of a surprise that the number of complaints the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau received related to student loans has skyrocketed. [More]
Wells Fargo Customers Won’t Need A Card To Get Cash At ATMs Anymore
By 3.23.17
Can’t be bothered to carry a debit card, but need some cash on the go? Not a problem for Wells Fargo customers with smartphones, as the bank is rolling out its cardless technology at all of its roughly 13,000 cash machines. [More]
NY Fed President: Banks Must Change Culture That Led To Wells Fargo’s Fake Accounts
By 3.21.17 — Updated: 3.25.17
Giving employees incentives to do a good job can go a long way in getting results, but as we learned with Wells Fargo’s recent fake account fiasco, it can also cause serious issues: hefty fines, loss of customers, and fired executives. One top banking official says the issue needs to change this culture now, and learn to balance incentives with the interests of the customers. [More]
Wells Fargo Tries, Fails To Explain Why Customers Shouldn’t Be Allowed To Sue Over Fake Accounts
By 3.1.17
Wells Fargo has admitted that thousands of its employees opened fake, unauthorized accounts in customers’ names, but the bank is doing everything it can to prevent these wronged customers from having their day in court. We asked Wells Fargo to explain why it believes hundreds of thousands of Americans shouldn’t be allowed to exercise their constitutional right to sue. The bank’s response made little sense (unless you’re a Wells Fargo executive). [More]
Wells Fargo Won’t Pay $32M In Bonuses & Equity To Top Execs
By 3.1.17 — Updated: 5.10.17
Prior to his “retirement” as CEO of Wells Fargo, John Stumpf said he would forgo his salary and bonus for 2016 as penance for the bank’s fake account fiasco. Now, fast forward several months, and the bank’s board has decided to take away millions in extra money that was supposed to go to new CEO Tim Sloan and other top executives. [More]
Four Executives Fired Over Wells Fargo Fake Account Fiasco
By 2.21.17
The Wells Fargo fake account fiasco has already resulted in the “retirement” of the bank’s CEO, John Stumpf, and Carrie Tolstedt, Wells’ head of retail banking, for allowing employees to open millions of unauthorized accounts in customers’ names. But the bloodletting isn’t done yet, as Wells has dismissed four additional executives without the PR-friendly spin of “retirement.” [More]
Wells Fargo’s New Account Openings Down 30% After Fake Account Fiasco
By 2.17.17
Despite overhauling its teller pay system and ditching a high-pressure sales goal incentive program, Wells Fargo continues to face the consequences of its fake account fiasco perpetrated by employees who opened more than two million unauthorized accounts, as customers continue to avoid opening new accounts and credit cards with the banking biggie. [More]
