Wells Fargo Fined for Illegal Sales Tactics

Wells Fargo has been hit with a record $185 million fine by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau for pressuring workers to meet extreme sales quotes and set up unauthorized bank and credit card accounts for customers.

The Committee for Better Banks – a coalition formed by CWA, bank workers, and other community and consumer advocates – has been working since 2013 to expose the predatory practices of banks like Wells Fargo and Santander and to spotlight the damaging working conditions that bank workers endure.

"The Wells Fargo sanctions are a long overdue victory for the frontline workers who have been standing together to fight Wells Fargo’s predatory sales practices in Los Angeles for years," said Khalid Taha, a member of the Committee for Better Banks. "At Wells Fargo, I faced the threat of being fired if I didn’t meet their unreasonable sales quotes every day. But sanctions on one bank are not enough – we need to crack down on the hostile work conditions and predatory sales metrics that hurt underpaid bank workers like me and our consumers alike."

Better Banks Los Angeles was launched this week, and already 1,700 people have signed the petition calling on the Los Angeles City Council to adopt a "responsible banking ordinance" to help end the predatory actions of banks that harm workers and consumers. Read more here.

Next week, the Senate Banking Committee will hold a hearing on Wells Fargo's illegal activities. CWA is reminding senators that low-wage bank workers are being forced by their employers to meet extreme sales goals or face termination, and that the problem of predatory banking starts at the top.