Did State's Largest Bank Bilk You?

The city of Los Angeles is suing Wells Fargo, alleging that rigid sales quotas at the bank have driven employees to open unauthorized accounts for customers, sticking them with bogus fees and damaging their credit.

City Attorney Mike Feuer filed the civil complaint in Los Angeles Monday, the Los Angeles Times reported, saying the suit echoes an investigation conducted by the newspaper. Feuer is scheduled to discuss it publicly at a City Hall news conference this morning.

The complaint says the largest bank based in California encouraged its employees to engage “in unfair, unlawful and fraudulent conduct” through a pervasive culture of high-pressure sales. Employees misused customers’ confidential information and often failed to close unauthorized accounts even when customers complained, the suit alleges.

Some employees went so far as to raid client accounts for money to open additional accounts, according to details of the suit reported by The Times ahead of this morning’s scheduled news conference.

“The result is that Wells Fargo has generated a virtual fee-generating machine, through which its customers are harmed, its employees take the blame, and Wells Fargo reaps the profit,” the lawsuit alleges.

Wells has blamed the problems on a few rogue employees who the bank has appropriately disciplined or fired. The city’s investigation, however, allegedly found only token efforts by Wells to prevent customer abuses.

“On the rare occasions when Wells Fargo did take action against its employees for unethical sales conduct, Wells Fargo further victimized its customers by failing to inform them of the breaches, refund fees they were owed, or otherwise remedy the injuries that Wells Fargo and its bankers have caused,” according to the suit.

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City News Service

Photo Credit: Patch Archive

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