w w w . nytimes.com/2016/09/09/business/dealbook/wells-fargo-fined-for-years-of-harm-to-customers.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=second-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=1

To be clear, the employees were doing it to get bonuses and such. It was not company policy.

Now, that being said, we're talking about 5,000+ employees! That doesn't happen without some higher-ups at the company figuring out what was going on.

So, clearly, Wells Fargo is also to blame (which is why they are being fined for their employees' actions even if it wasn't company policy). :)

- John...

Anybody know exactly what was being done with these new accounts/cards.

Were the cards being used without the customers' knowledge or were the accounts just opened to fluff up the "new account" numbers?

TenantWhisperer: I did some quick research and what I could find indicated that none of them were actually being used. They were just signing up new accounts to reach their bonus levels.

And this is something that went on for years. They didn't suddenly fire 5000+ people -- they have been firing for this activity over the past 3+ years. It's been an ongoing problem.

Also from what I hear, pretty much everyone there knew about it. Higher-ups got their bonuses that way too. So, it was a known thing. My guess is that the ones that got fired were the ones that did it so blatantly that they had to be fired -- but others were allowed to continue doing it for quite a while.

- John...