The banking giant just keeps hemorrhaging money over the scandal
Wells Fargo just keeps hemorrhaging money over its fake-accounts scandal. It’s already paid $185 million in penalties to state and federal agencies – including a $100 million CFPB fine, the largest penalty of its kind ever imposed. And now the banking giant will have to fork over another $110 million to settle a class-action suit filed by customers affected by the scandal.
Wells Fargo found itself in hot water last year when it was revealed that its employees had opened 2 million unauthorized accounts in order to meet sales goals. The bank has announced that it’s reached a settlement in a suit filed in 2015 in California.
“The settlement class will consist of all persons who claim that Wells Fargo opened an account in their name without consent, enrolled them in a product or service without consent, or submitted an application for a product or service without their consent,” the bank said in a statement. Wells Fargo said it expects the settlement to resolve claims in 11 other pending class-action suits.
“This agreement is another step in our journey to make things right with customers and to rebuild trust,” Wells Fargo CEO Tim Sloan said. “We want to ensure that each customer impacted by our sales practices issue has every opportunity for remediation, and this agreement presents an additional option.”
Sloan said the bank encouraged affected customers to contact it directly “so that we can act quickly to refund fees and address any concerns.”
The settlement must be approved by the court before it becomes final.
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