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Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf Steps Down

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Re: Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf Steps Down

#121
post #14

I highly recommend listening to a recent episode[1] of Planet Money. This was by no means an accident. As a short summary of one employee's plight: Ashley, working for them and making only $35k per year in San Francisco, was continually harassed to sign people up for accounts they didn't want. An old man comes in, pensioner, $200 in overdraft fees due to being duped into excess accounts. She dips into her own savings…

Remember WF was one of the banks that failed the stress tests after the 2008 financial crisis. I've been trying to get away from WF for a while now, but no other bank can fill its shoes in terms of online services and ubiquity. Yet it has a culture of predatory capitalism where "your loss is our gain".

I've never been a customer of wells fargo, but USAA is great if you can get in. They don't have any branches, but I've never had an issue with that in the 5 years I have been a customer of theirs.

Re: Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf Steps Down

#122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Remember WF was one of the banks that failed the stress tests after the 2008 financial crisis. I've been trying to get away from WF for a while now, but no other bank can fill its shoes in terms of online services and ubiquity. Yet it has a culture of predatory capitalism where "your loss is our gain".

I am limiting the amount of money I keep in Wells Fago (for their online services, etc.) and am instead using two locally owned and run credit unions. As convenient? No, but it feels more secure.

I abandoned the big banks long ago, choosing to exclusively use credit unions. I use online banking, bill pay etc...

The only thing I can think of that I can't get from my credit union is depositing a check via phone/photo. For me that's not a big deal, a local ATM machine works fine for those infrequent occasions.

What other online services am I missing out on, that only the big banks have?

Re: Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf Steps Down

#123
post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> upper management were willfully negligent of the impact that their insane sales goals had on the ethics of the company. > "Our average retail banking household has about six products with us. We want to get to eight ... and beyond," stated one Wells Fargo "brochure" called "The Vision and Values of Wells Fargo," according to the lawsuit. http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wells-fargo-bankers-accused-f...

One bank in NL (abn amro) is currently running an ad campaign with the slogan 'sign up for 3 more products and get 75 euros cash back' or something to that effect. It seems they've been going to the same seminar.

> It seems they've been going to the same seminar.

Was it hosted by Alec Baldwin? Was he constantly yelling "Always be closing!"?

    ...we're adding a little something to this month's sales contest.
    As you all know, first prize is Cadillac Eldorado.

    Anybody wanna see second prize?
    Second prize's a set of steak knives.

    Third prize is you're fired.
(Warning: very NSFW language) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H68eCEWKb7M

Re: Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf Steps Down

#125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Remember WF was one of the banks that failed the stress tests after the 2008 financial crisis. I've been trying to get away from WF for a while now, but no other bank can fill its shoes in terms of online services and ubiquity. Yet it has a culture of predatory capitalism where "your loss is our gain".

What is special about WF? I use schwab as a main account (free ATM usage world wide w/ no currency exchange fees), keep a free BoA eChecking account for cash deposits that I haven't done in years and have credit cards with various banks. I also use schwab & vanguard for index funds.

Ditto; switched from WF to Schwab and haven't looked back.

Re: Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf Steps Down

#126
post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would be fine with "Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf Ordered to Pay Back Fraudulent Fees to Wells Fargo Clients, Out of Own Pocket" (possibly down to some wealth limit, say, he can keep the $35K he apparently pays to his employees if his fortune is not enough to restore the damage). I am not a big believer in jail as punishment (as opposed to "place we keep people who are dangerous to others, for the good of society at…

Wells Fargo made about $2.5m from the fraudulent accounts, and Stumpf had $40m+ of compensation clawed back.

Were those $40M used to pay back the victims of the fraudulent accounts, reimburse them for the stress, money and time spent fighting those charges and used to restore their creditworthiness, plus to fund the government and press groups involved in uncovering and fixing this mess? If so, I actually see it as a pretty reasonable outcome[1], specially given he is also not in charge there anymore.

[1] well... modulo the fact that his compensation sounds surprisingly high to begin with, but that's between him and his stockholders.

Re: Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf Steps Down

#127
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"permanent blacklist"? That sounds like the High Tech Employees Lawsuit case, but a much easier win for a more sympathetic class of victim.

According to the episode it was the U5 form[0]. Banks use the form as one of the employment references. [0] http://www.finra.org/industry/terminate-individuals-registra...

http://i.imgur.com/KM2fzuS.png

Every time she tries to get a job anywhere, that form will be checked by her potential employer?

Re: Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf Steps Down

#128
post #117

Let me just link to Matt Levine's take: https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2016-09-09/wells-far... . TL/DR: The bank probably didn't benefit on net from the fraud, even before the fines. This is more a case of management setting unreasonable sales goals and creating a terrible work environment than a conspiracy to commit fraud against bank customers.

Did you read @Smerity's top comment above?

Re: Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf Steps Down

#130
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"permanent blacklist"? That sounds like the High Tech Employees Lawsuit case, but a much easier win for a more sympathetic class of victim.

Not to be overly dramatic but I would imagine it depends on who the jury sympathizes with.

> it depends on who the jury sympathizes with

It does, but can you really see a 'jury of peers' sympathizing with Wells Fargo in these circumstances?

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