Uncategorized

CFPB says Fifth Third Bank opened fake accounts using customers’ money

Posted on by Allison Zieve

The Washington Post reports today that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has filed a lawsuit against Fifth Third Bank, alleging the bank’s employees opened fake accounts for customers in order to meet aggressive sales targets.

The federal regulator alleged Monday that the bank knew its employees were opening fake accounts since at least 2008 and up until 2016, the same year that Wells Fargo admitted its own employees had opened fake accounts to meet aggressive sales goals. Wells Fargo was forced to pay billions of dollars in fines and penalties for its bad behavior.

The CFPB alleges that some of the fake Fifth Third accounts were actually funded, meaning bank employees moved money from a customer’s existing account to their new one, without their consent. Fifth Third’s sales program required the accounts to be funded, so once the employee was credited for the sale, the money was moved back.

The full article is here.

Allison Zieve

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *