Wells Fargo Has Been Issuing People Accounts Without Telling Them

They were just fined $185 million for illegal banking practices.

This already feels like old news, but: yesterday afternoon, we learned that Wells Fargo and its employees have been signing people up for accounts—without telling the people involved—for years.

Wells Fargo Fined for Years of Harm to Customers

Credit cards issued secretly without a customer’s consent. Bank employees creating fake email accounts to sign up customers for online banking services. Customers accumulating late fees on accounts they never even knew they had.

Those illegal banking practices were widespread and pervasive at Wells Fargo, which on Thursday was fined $185 million, including a $100 million penalty from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the largest such penalty the agency has ever issued.

I’ve already seen a handful of articles along the lines of “Wells Fargo fires 5,300 employees,” as if this was simply the fault of a few thousand individuals. But back in 2013, the Los Angeles Times talked to current and former Wells Fargo employees who tell a slightly different story:

Wells Fargo’s pressure-cooker sales culture comes at a cost

Erick Estrada, a former Wells Fargo personal banker and business specialist at a Canoga Park branch, said managers there coached workers on how to inflate sales numbers.

[…]

In February, Becky Grimes, 57, quit Wells Fargo after 14 years as a branch manager in Victoria, Texas. She said she retired early because employees were expected to force “unneeded and unwanted” products on customers to satisfy sales targets.

“I could no longer do these unethical practices nor coach my team to do them either,” Grimes said.

So if y’all want to talk about this, the comment section is open.

Support The Billfold

The Billfold continues to exist thanks to support from our readers. Help us continue to do our work by making a monthly pledge on Patreon or a one-time-only contribution through PayPal.