Where was the huge scandal in the Wells Fargo scandal?
"The Wells Fargo scandal was and still is a big deal because Wells Fargo opened over 1.5 million unauthorized bank and credit card accounts. The credit card accounts were opened without authorization, which means people's credit scores and reports were pulled without permission. That is considered fraud and identity theft. Other than the legal side of it, by opening more bank accounts without authorization, it was showing ""synthetic growth"", which resulted in an inflated number when quarterly and annual performance numbers were reported. This caused people to invest more in Wells Fargo stock, not knowing that the growth in stock was not organic. After the scandal was uncovered, stocks decreased. However, the root cause of this can be traced to the culture at Wells Fargo, where customer service reps (i.e. bank tellers, and store operations employees) were faced with the challenges of meeting quotas that could be considered a stretch. As a result, faced with pressure from upper management, they opened unauthorized accounts.  In addition, these unauthorized accounts cost consumers money either because credit cards had balances, or bank accounts did not meet a minimum balance. It is not about ending ""up with 8 rows in their database instead of just 1 row"" as OP wrote. It is about stealing consumer money and committing fraud and stealing the consumer's identity.  *Suggestions and constructive criticism are welcomed in improving my answer."
The mortgage I got last year through Wells Fargo explicitly indicates in its terms that excess payment will be considered against future payments (i.e., pay $500 extra in January and you owe $500 less in February) unless indicated otherwise. It goes on to state that with electronic payments you do not get to specify where excess payment goes, so excess payment made electronically always goes toward future payments. If you want to make excess payments toward principal, you must actually send them a check and your payment stub, with the appropriate box ticked.  This won't be very different for other major banks, I wouldn't imagine. "All the ""money"" you might receive from a pyramid scheme is ""ill-gotten gains"". Even if you didn't know it was a pyramid scheme. If through deliberate planning or dumb luck, you manage to get more money out of a pyramid scheme than you put in, the government can sue you for any ""profit"" you made.  For example, in the Bernie Madoff scandal, more than 1,000 people, funds and institutions were sued for the excess money they made above their initial investment. Suffice to say, if you make enough ""profit"" from a pyramid scheme to materially change your life, it's only going to last until the scheme collapses and the government comes after you for the excess." &gt; Ok, I see your sarcasm, but what specifically did the executives do to cause the scandal?  You should read this:  https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/05/wells-fargo-corporate-culture-fraud  And this:  http://fortune.com/2016/10/12/wells-fargo-fake-accounts-scandal/   And watch this sack of shit who walked away with a $133M payday testifying before Congress:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJhkX74D10M  If you're sincere, it's hard for me to believe that these things won't change your mind.  If I'm wrong, there's not much point in continuing. "In 2007, Samsung was accused, and their chairman implicated, in a bribery scandal involving US officials. They placed their lawyers in front of it as scapegoats.  But you go ahead and keep saying that bribery and dishonesty pay, and i'll just never do business with you.   In 2007, former Samsung chief lawyer Kim Yong Chul claimed that he was involved in bribing and fabricating evidence on behalf of the group's chairman Lee Kun-hee and the company. Kim said that Samsung lawyers trained executives to serve as scapegoats in a ""fabricated scenario"" to protect Lee, even though those executives were not involved. Kim also told the media that he was ""sidelined"" by Samsung after he refused to pay a $3.3 million bribe to the U.S. Federal District Court judge presiding over a case where two of their executives were found guilty on charges related to memory chip price fixing. Kim revealed that the company had raised a large amount of secret funds through bank accounts illegally opened under the names of up to 1,000 Samsung executives—under his own name, four accounts were opened to manage 5 billion won." Deserved. There's not nearly enough accountability in the finance industry these days. No one went to prison for anything related to the 2008 housing/mortgage crisis; also read in the Chicago Tribune today that somebody got off with just *fines* for billions of dollars of tax fraud. It's ridiculous. What a joke. The world economy would have collapsed without Goldman Sachs and Citibank? That is blatant propaganda and you're deluded if you believe it. Government intervention caused the housing bubble, and government intervention is what those huge banks relied on when they made 30:1 securities swaps wagers. Those bankers acted like criminals and the government cheered them on and made it easier. There is absolutely zero incentive for either the bankers or the politicians to be fiscally responsible, that is the problem.  Printing money has not caused harm? Are you mental? Printing money is outright theft from every working man. It is the epitome of corruption and the hallmark of a failing government slipping into fascism and plutocracy. They won't even tell us how much money is on the books anymore. It is an arbitrary amount which changes at their discretion.  There is more debt in the system than actual value, and the debt gains interest faster than the value appreciates. The entire currency system is designed to transfer money to the wealthy and carry a debt which can never be paid off. Those dollars that you and I work for every day are just a means to control us. "I second what ""powercow"" and ""Osetic"" said.  I switched away from Wells Fargo to Patelco (Pacific Telephone Company, i'm in the bay area).  They are world's better.  My biggest issue with WF was the overdrafts, how much they charged, and the way in which they processed incoming transactions (which they are being sued in a class action for, btw).  I had my new account setup so it could never overdraft, it would just decline.  In my first month with Patelco, I ordered checks.  When that charge processed, it dipped my account into the negative due to it being an internal CU charge and their system not performing all the checks/balances first.  They called me about 24hrs after it happened to let me know:  * How sorry they were * That they would refund me the amount of the checks * That they added $10 on top of the refund to ensure I understood it was a mistake * If there was anything else they could do to make the situation right  And like others here, I have shorter lines, more helpful tellers, a more inviting atmosphere, oh and free coffee.  You gotta find a better CU, yo" Lets be honest. Credit bureaus are too integral to the financial system. Equifax wont see any consequences from any of this, and none of the executives responsible will be held accountable. The investors, executives, and government officials all know that this crisis will blow over after a few weeks and everybody will forget it happened. Hell, the mainstream media have barely even covered it, and everyone i talk to about it either doesnt care, doesnt understand the impact, or doesnt even know what Equifax is.