Wells Fargo Class Action Says Bank Opened Unauthorized Accounts

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Wells Fargo has been hit with another class action lawsuit that takes issue with its scheme to open bank accounts and other services in customers’ names without their knowledge, consent or approval.

Plaintiff Lee Blanchard says he has been a customer of Wells Fargo since 2005.

According to the class action lawsuit, Blanchard learned that Wells Fargo opened a new unauthorized account in his name, causing him to be assessed overdraft fees and other unauthorized fees and penalties.

Blanchard alleges that Wells Fargo has engaged in illegal sales tactics to maintain high levels of sales of its banking products. According to the Wells Fargo class action lawsuit, the business model relies on selling customers products called “solutions.”

“In order to achieve its goal of selling a high number of ‘solutions,’ Defendants imposed a sales quota on employees, and adopted policies that drove its employees to engage in unlawful acts to meet those unachievable goals, including, but not limited to, opening customer accounts, and issuing credit cards, without customer authorization,” the Wells Fargo class action lawsuit states.

Faced with these unachievable sales quotas, Wells Fargo’s employees allegedly engaged in high pressure sales tactics to push customers to open new accounts.

According to the Wells Fargo class action lawsuit, the bank misled customers by stating that certain products are only available in “bundled” packages that include additional accounts, insurance, annuities and retirement plans.

Employees also allegedly assigned PIN numbers to customers’ ATM cards in order to impersonate them on the company’s computers and enroll consumers in online banking and bill pay without their consent.

Blanchard asserts that Wells Fargo has engaged in these unlawful practices for many years. According to the Wells Fargo class action lawsuit, the company’s executives directed its lower-level employees to create as many new accounts as they could.

Wells Fargo allegedly opened more than one million accounts without the consent of their customers.

Wells Fargo agreed to pay $190 million in fines to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and the City and County of Los Angeles.

However, Blanchard says that only a tiny proportion of this payment will be paid to affected Wells Fargo customers.

By filing the Wells Fargo class action lawsuit, Blanchard seeks to represent a Class of all Wells Fargo customers who had unauthorized bank accounts, credit card accounts or other banking “solutions” opened in their names.

The Wells Fargo class action lawsuit asserts violations of the Electronic Fund Transfer Act, violation of the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act, conversion and unjust enrichment.

Blanchard seeks injunctive relief, restitution, disgorgement, damages, pre-judgment interest, attorneys’ fees and other relief deemed proper by the court.

Wells Fargo has recently been hit with other class action lawsuits over its scheme to open bank accounts without customers’ knowledge or consent.

Last month, a group of customers sued Wells Fargo over the practice. The bank was also sued by a group of former Wells Fargo employees who claim they were fired when they failed to meet unrealistic sales goals.

Blanchard is represented by Barry J. Gainey, Thomas J. McKenna and Gregory M. Egleston of Gainey McKenna & Egleston.

The Wells Fargo Unauthorized Accounts Class Action Lawsuit is Lee Blanchard v. Wells Fargo Bank NA, et al., Case No. 1:16-cv-07509, in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.

UPDATE: On Nov. 23, 2016, Wells Fargo asked a New Jersey federal court to compel arbitration in a proposed class action lawsuit brought by customers who allege the bank opened thousands of unauthorized accounts without their consent.