The Aftermath of the Wells Fargo Scandal
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This is a followup to a post that @dollarvigilante wrote on banks and the recent Wells Fargo scandal.
What Happened
To recap - Starting in 2011, bank employees opened roughly 1.5 million bank accounts and submitted applications for 565,000 credit cards without customers authorization and using false email accounts. This was done so employees could hit sales targets and receive bonuses which also led to the bank earning extra fees from unwitting customers, as well as artificially inflating its sales figures.
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The way it worked was that employees moved funds from customers' existing accounts into newly-created ones without their knowledge or consent. As a result, customers were being charged for insufficient funds or overdraft fees because there wasn't enough money in their original accounts. Of the 565,000 Credit Card accounts applied for, 14,000 of those accounts incurred over $400,000 in fees (a mixture of annual fees, interest charges, and overdraft-protection fees.)
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Aftermath
Aside from the number of fines that Wells Fargo has incurred
$100 million will go toward the CFPB's Civil Penalty Fund, $35 million will go to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and another $50 million will be paid to the City and County of Los Angeles.
Really?!?! Does the government really need more money?
The bank has also fired about 5,300 employees over the last five years who were said to have been involved in the scams and has also agreed to refund $5 million to impacted customers. What does this mean for CEO John Stumpf and what about his career? Absolutely nothing - He simply said "sorry," but he has no plans to exit. As for the bank itself - the fines are just small change given Wells Fargo has the highest market valuation among any bank in America, worth just over $250 billion.
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According to CNN, the U.S. House Financial Services Committee announced it would launch an investigation into the bank and hold a hearing in later September where John Stumpf will testify. Let's see what else is uncovered during the investigation.
What about the customer
According to Wells Fargo, they have already refunded about $2.5 million to customers. On top of that there are several class action lawsuits underway against Wells Fargo.
What does this mean for you
Because of the continued issues we face with governments and the banking system, I don't believe that this will be the last time we here about scams such as this. The financial system as we know it will eventually collapse and we all know that it will be us left holding the bag. I continue to believe that the support and the need for alternative decentralized currencies will continue to grow.
Hold onto your Steem, your Bitcoin, your Ethereum, and any other cryptocurrencies you have. I have a feeling that one day you will need them and that all of them will increase in value.
Thanks for reading. Let me know what you think!
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That's fucked up. My mortgage is through wells fargo but I don't use them for my banking otherwise.
I still think they are better than BoA. I've seen a few of your posts now, and I think you are doing great. I am going to follow you to see if you continue to do good work. If you want to bounce ideas off each other, hit me up in steemit.chat
Thanks for the support.
Im using both Chase and Wells Fargo, but in the end i think they are all the same
Probably, they are the big banks. And big banks just bend us over the table, don't they.
My normal account is a local credit union, probably the best thing to do.
Yea. My parents bank at a credit union too and it seems much better
just started to follow @cloh76 too. :-)
Thanks Ace!
you're welcome
Very informative and detailed post about the corrupt banking systems. I used to use Wells Fargo but I'm not longer associated with them directly. But I agree it is the greed within all main big corporate banking systems which work in privatized sectors to manipulate the money flow in their favor. Money created out of thin air built and grown from the debt existing and ever growing. Upvoted, nice stuff keep writing interesting topics such as this please :)
Thanks for the encouragement and support. Hopefully we can one day take the power and control away from the banks
You're very welcome. Decentralized cryptocurrency ungoverned by these same corrupt corporations is a step in the right direction for new beginnings
I banked with Wells Fargo for a year. They were the worst and the most shady bank I've ever dealt with. Its disgusting to read about this. I hadn't been aware of this situation. Thank you for compiling this article.
I opened my checking account with them early this year. Guess I was one of the lucky one's, although I will be keeping a closer eye on my account
What a bunch of fucking crooks. I don't follow the news much at all. So thanks for the info... Hehehe. Now I know, and knowing is half the battle... G.I.JOE!!!! j/k
Take care. Peace. Upvoted.
All banks are crooks nowadays! The way they nickel and dime their customers. Especially with those minimum balance fees. Long live crypto!!!
This is quite sad. There can never be a perfect system when we have less than perfect people in the world. Suppose Mr Buffet has not seen this coming.
Yea. It is sad. I dont think anyone saw this coming at one time or another.
It is so ridiculous that these banksters get away with this stuff. Send the rat bastards to club fed.
And the people in positions of power in these organizations always get away with just a slap on the wrist because they always have someone else who they can pin it on
Wow, the dangers of putting money in the bank. I used to think that is was very safe.
yep. nothing is safe these days!
great article bud
Thanks mrgrey. Thanks for the support
hi @cloh76, just stopped back to let you know that you were one of my favourite reads today. You can read my comments about your post here
Sure. Thanks for making me one of your favorites for the day
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