Wells Fargo scandal

[The Minsky Moment]

This pattern keeps recurring.

The OWS/Berniebros crowd likes to think of the big banks as evil masterminds, implementing their fiendish plots to rob ordinary folks and shovel untold profits to the top 1 percenters.  The reality is rather different.  Far from being capable, Bond-villianesque "vampire squids" - the banks are sprawling bureaucracies that struggle to get a firm sense about what the hell is really going on in their own organization.  Given the risk-return, its very believable Strumpf didn't know what was going on until it hit the fan, but in a way that is even more disturbing.  Because it gives a sense how the banks blundered into the last financial meltdown and why it will almost certainly happen again.

[Razgovory]

Question:  Can Vampire Squid ingest Haemoglobin or are they restricted to Haemocyanin?

[MadImmortalMan]

Vampire Squid ingests all.

[11B4V]

U.S.: Wells Fargo illegally repossessed 413 service members' cars

Wells Fargo will pay $24 million to settle allegations that it mistreated members of the military -- including illegally repossessing their cars.
The bank, already reeling from a scandal over fake accounts, will pay $4.1 million to settle Justice Department charges that it seized 413 cars owned by service members without a court order, a violation of federal law.
The Justice Department said the illegal repossessions took place from 2008 to 2015. The first complaint came from an Army National Guardsman in North Carolina who said the bank seized his car while he was preparing to deploy to Afghanistan.
Wells Fargo then auctioned his car and tried to collect a balance of $10,000 from his family, the Justice Department said.
The bank will pay $10,000 to each of the affected service members, plus lost equity in the cars with interest, and repair their credit.
Related: Wells Fargo worker retaliation claims rile up Congress
The bank was fined $20 million more by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency for breaking three provisions of the same law by denying members of the military certain banking protections, including capping their interest rates at 6%. Those violations began in 2006, the OCC said.
Wells Fargo said in a statement that it apologizes for not living up to its commitment of ensuring that all service members "receive the appropriate benefits and protections."
"We have been notifying and fully compensating customers and will complete this work in 60 days," the company said.
Related: Lawmakers say Wells Fargo is like a 'criminal enterprise'
News of the penalties came as Wells Fargo and CEO John Stumpf faced the wrath of the House Financial Services Committee at a hearing about the millions of fake bank and credit card accounts, plus claims that it retaliated against whistleblowers.
The company is also facing lawsuits from shareholders, former employees and customers.

http://money.cnn.com/2016/09/29/news/wells-fargo-servicemembers-cars/index.html

[CountDeMoney]

Wells Fargo will pay $24 million to settle

...

a violation of federal law.

Stop settling.  Start prosecuting.  Fuck.

[11B4V]

Wells Fargo will pay $24 million to settle

...

a violation of federal law.

Stop settling.  Start prosecuting.  Fuck.

No kidding, what will it take.

[CountDeMoney]

No kidding, what will it take.

Blessed are the Bomb Makers.

[HVC]

Service members interest is capped at 6%? What's the average interest rate people in the states pay for loans?

[CountDeMoney]

Service members interest is capped at 6%? What's the average interest rate people in the states pay for loans?

I believe that's all part of the Servicemembers' Cocks Sucked For Relief Act.  Because Service Guarantees Citizenship!

[11B4V]

Service members interest is capped at 6%? What's the average interest rate people in the states pay for loans?

I believe that's all part of the Servicemembers' Cocks Sucked For Relief Act.  Because Service Guarantees Citizenship!

Fucking straight, Skippy. 

[CountDeMoney]

I'm sorry you were drafted, Mr. Inner City Vietnam Dude.

[11B4V]

http://money.cnn.com/2016/09/30/investing/wells-fargo-workers-wage-theft-overtime/index.html?iid=hp-stack-dom

Wells Fargo made me work overtime -- without extra pay

Wells Fargo's notorious pressure-cooker culture led the bank to force some hourly employees to work late without overtime pay, former workers say.
The mandatory overtime took place during "call nights," where workers would call customers to sell them additional products like credit cards in an effort to meet the unrealistic sales goals.
"If we didn't hit our numbers, branch managers would make us stay after work for an hour, with no pay, to cold call customers and try to sell accounts," Graham Gourley, who worked as a Wells Fargo banker in Charlotte until 2012, told CNNMoney.
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CNNMoney interviewed nearly a half-dozen additional former Wells Fargo (WFC) workers who said they too were frequently forced to work overtime without extra compensation as they chased their sales targets. This week, Wells Fargo scrapped the sales goals, amid the firestorm engulfing the bank.
Allegations that Wells Fargo violated federal law requiring overtime pay for hourly workers go beyond the fake account scandal. So-called "wage theft" complaints and related class action lawsuits go back to 1999, according to U.S. Senators who requested the Labor Department investigate whether the company "aggressively skirted overtime laws."
The letter to the Labor Secretary, signed by Senator Elizabeth Warren among others, cited the "staggering neglect by management," and pointed out how Wells Fargo stands out among all banks for repeatedly violating wage and hour provisions of the law "by denying employees overtime pay for hours worked in excess of 40 hours a week."
This week, the Labor Department has launched a "top-to-bottom review" of Wells Fargo complaints related to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and other labor laws. Effective in 1999, FLSA requires employers to pay workers overtime rates of at least one and one-half times the regular rate after 40 hours of work in a workweek.


Related: I called the Wells Fargo ethics line and was fired
However, Gourley said he wasn't allowed to input his hours beyond 5:30 p.m., when his shift technically ended. If he did, Gourley, who was making $15 per hour plus commission at the time, said the managers would go in and change it.
Efforts to push back about unpaid wages were met with stiff resistance, Gourley said, echoing what other employees have also told CNNMoney.
"They said, 'Deal with it -- or leave,'" Gourley recalled. "I have a wife and two young children. I didn't have a choice. I had to keep working to make ends meet," he said.
Gourley gave in to his branch manager's instructions to open unauthorized accounts -- the problem that has landed Wells Fargo in hot water with regulators and Congress. Gourley said he tried to push back against the orders to open fake accounts, but was unsuccessful.
"We were forced to do that -- under the threat of termination. The entire branch was doing it," Gourley said.
Gourley said Wells Fargo bullied him into signing a false confession for opening unauthorized credit cards, leading to his termination in 2012. The firing put a red flag on his securities license, making it difficult to find another job.
"I lost my home and was forced to go on welfare and food stamps for almost a year," he said.
Gourley has since rebounded and is today happily employed at a restoration company.

[11B4V]

Illinois suspends business with Wells Fargo

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2016/10/03/illinois-suspend-business-wells-fargo/91459014/

[11B4V]

So sad. 


http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/wells-fargo-says-litigation-costs-could-exceed-provisions-by-dollar17b/ar-AAjQXtj?OCID=ansmsnnews11

[Martinus]

So sad. 


http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/wells-fargo-says-litigation-costs-could-exceed-provisions-by-dollar17b/ar-AAjQXtj?OCID=ansmsnnews11

More money for lawyers.