Wells Fargo has spent the last year and change mired in scandal, after it came to light that, under pressure from the organization, employees had fraudulently opened as many as 3.5 million accounts in the names of people who never wanted or requested them. Since then, the bank has been doing its best to wriggle out of the numerous lawsuits, with mixed results. This week, a judge ruled that Wells can’t avoid accountability in one suit brought by shareholders. [More]
fake account fiasco
Wells Fargo CEO: We Can Block Customers From Filing Lawsuits Because We Promise To Not Screw Up Again
By 10.3.17
Imagine a teenager who has been repeatedly caught sneaking out with their friends to get drunk and pilfer garden gnomes from the neighborhood. The teen’s parents ask “Why should we trust you anymore?” and the best answer the adolescent nincompoop can provide is, “Because I started cleaning my room and I’m gonna pass that Geometry quiz, I think.” Now, replace that teen with Wells Fargo, and you’ll basically have the scene from this morning’s Senate Banking Committee hearing. [More]
Wells Fargo CEO “Deeply Sorry” About That Time His Employees Opened Millions Of Fake Accounts In Customers’ Names
By 10.2.17 — Updated: 10.3.17
Tuesday morning, Wells Fargo CEO Tim “Apology Machine” Sloan will appear before the Senate Banking Committee to take some public tongue lashings for his bank’s fake account fiasco, which saw Wells employee opening up millions of bogus accounts in customers’ names in order to game the bank’s sales quota system. Sloan’s prepared remarks for this televised tomato-throwing include all manner of statements about how badly the bank behaved and how it’s darn-tootin’ not gonna let that happen again, but also don’t discuss one issue that will certainly be a hot-button topic among some senators in the room. [More]
Wells Fargo Fake Account Fiasco Grows By 1.5 Million Customers
By 8.31.17
It’s been nearly a year since Wells Fargo was slapped with a $185 million fine for pushing their employees to increase their sales numbers by opening new accounts without proper authorization from the customer. Now the bank has revealed a new estimated number of so-called ‘fake accounts‘ that is 1.5 million higher than the bank had previously disclosed. This brings the new total to 3.5 million. [More]
Wells Fargo Board Gets Makeover Amid Continuing Scandals
By 8.16.17
Months after lawmakers urged the Federal Reserve to oust the 12 Wells Fargo board members who served during the bank’s fake account fiasco, the banking giant has taken it upon itself to revamp some board seats. Next year, Chairman Stephen Sanger will step down and two other members will retire. [More]
Will The Federal Reserve Fire Wells Fargo Board For Fake Account Fiasco?
By 7.13.17
Last month, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren urged the Federal Reserve to oust the 12 Wells Fargo board members who served during the bank’s fake account fiasco. Today, she received a response, sort of. [More]
Judge Gives Preliminary Approval To $142M Wells Fargo Fake Account Settlement
By 7.10.17
Two months after a federal court judge tasked with reviewing the pending $142 million settlement for million of fake accounts opened in customers’ names warned he might reject the deal, he finally rubber-stamped the proposal, signaling yet another closed chapter in Wells Fargo’s fake account fiasco. [More]
Lawmaker Calls For Ouster Of 12 Wells Fargo Board Members
By 6.19.17
Since Wells Fargo’s fake account fiasco came to light in Sept. 2016, the top executive at the bank has “retired,” other executives have departed, and many have lost bonuses. Despite this, there are many holdovers from the years when employees opened millions of unauthorized accounts. To this end, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren is calling for the ouster of 12 Wells Fargo board members. [More]
Judge Says He May Have To Reject $142 Million Wells Fargo Fake Account Settlement
By 5.17.17
The federal court judge tasked with reviewing the pending $142 million settlement for the millions of fake accounts opened in customers’ names isn’t ready to rubber-stamp the deal. In fact, the judge’s questions about this settlement appear to indicate that he may reject the agreement. [More]
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]
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 Ordered To Rehire Whistleblower, Pay $5.4M In Lost Wages
By 4.4.17 — Updated: 5.10.17
Wells Fargo must rehire a wealth management group manager who was fired after reporting suspected fraudulent behavior to the bank’s ethics hotline. [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]
