Wells Fargo has uncovered up to 1.4 million more fake accounts after digging deeper into the bank's broken sales culture.

The findings show that Wells Fargo's problems are worse than the bank previously admitted to when the scandal began almost a year ago.

Wells Fargo (WFC) now says it has found a total of up to 3.5 million potentially fake bank and credit card accounts, up from its earlier tally of approximately 2.1 million. In other words, there are two-thirds more fake accounts than previously realized.

The additional fake accounts were discovered by a previously announced analysis that went back to January 2009 and that further reviewed the original May 2011 to mid-2015 period.

About 190,000 accounts were slapped with unnecessary fees for these accounts, Wells Fargo said. That's up from 130,000 previously.

Wells Fargo also discovered a new problem: thousands of customers were also enrolled in online bill pay without their authorization. The review found 528,000 potentially unauthorized online bill pay enrollments.

Related: Wells Fargo accused of ripping off mom-and-pop shops

Wells Fargo blamed unrealistic sales goals placed on employees for encouraging the unauthorized bill pay and bank account openings.

"We apologize to everyone who was harmed by unacceptable sales practices that occurred in our retail bank," Wells Fargo CEO Tim Sloan said in a statement.

Wells Fargo is trying to make things right by scrapping its sales goals, installing new management and paying out millions in refunds.

Wells Fargo said it will now pay a total of $6.1 million to refund customers for unauthorized bank and credit card accounts, up from $3.3 million previously.

The bank also promised to pay $910,000 to refund customers for the 528,000 potentially improper online bill pay enrollments. The review of online bill pay was required by the September 2016 settlement.

Additionally, Wells Fargo has agreed to a $142 million national class action settlement to cover fake accounts that were opened back to 2002. That settlement received preliminary approval from a federal judge in July.

Related: Wells Fargo customer: It felt like my car was held as extortion

Senator Elizabeth Warren, a fierce critic of Wells Fargo, called the discovery of more fake accounts "unbelievable" on Twitter. The Democrat renewed her calls for Congress to hold more Wells Fargo hearings and for the Federal Reserve to remove board members who served during the scandal.

"I don't know what they're waiting for," Warren said.

Wells Fargo declined to comment on Warren's tweets, but said its management and board have "taken many steps" to "make things right," including installing new leadership and holding executives accountable by clawing back compensation.

The Federal Reserve didn't respond to requests for comment on Warren's tweet. Federal Reserve chief Janet Yellen said in July that the Fed does have the power to oust directors "if it proves appropriate."

The @federalreserve should remove every @wellsfargo Board member who served during this scandal. I don't know what they're waiting for. — Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) August 31, 2017

Jaret Seiberg, an analyst at Cowen Washington Research Group, predicted the latest news means the political and legal "spotlight will continue to shine brightly on Wells Fargo."

"Every new disclosure seems to expand the scope of the bank's troubles, which creates the perception that the scandal is getting bigger rather than going away," Seiberg wrote in a report on Thursday.

Wells Fargo is struggling to put the fake account scandal that began last fall behind it. New allegations of harming customers have rocked the bank in recent months.

In late July, Wells Fargo admitted to forcing up to 570,000 borrowers into unneeded auto insurance. About 20,000 of those customers may have had their cars repossessed due to these unnecessary insurance costs.

Wells Fargo has also been accused in a recent lawsuit of ripping off vulnerable mom-and-pop businesses on credit card fees -- an allegation that the bank has denied.

Wells Fargo urged customers who believe accounts were opened in their name to call a dedicated hotline: 1-877-924-8697.</s>Wells Fargo has uncovered up to 1.4 million more fake accounts after digging deeper into the bank’s broken sales culture.

The findings show that Wells Fargo’s problems are worse than the bank previously admitted to when the scandal began almost a year ago.

Wells Fargo now says it has found a total of up to 3.5 million potentially fake bank and credit card accounts, up from its earlier tally of approximately 2.1 million. The additional fake accounts were discovered by a previously-announced analysis that went back to January 2009 and that reviewed the original May 2011 to mid-2015 period.

About 190,000 accounts were slapped with unnecessary fees for these accounts, Wells Fargo said. That’s up from 130,000 previously.

Wells Fargo also discovered a new problem: thousands of customers were also enrolled in online bill pay without their authorization. The review found 528,000 potentially unauthorized online bill pay enrollments.

Wells Fargo blamed unrealistic sales goals placed on employees for encouraging the unauthorized bill pay and bank account openings.

“We apologize to everyone who was harmed by unacceptable sales practices that occurred in our retail bank,” Wells Fargo CEO Tim Sloan said in a statement.

Wells Fargo is trying to make things right by scrapping its sales goals, installing new management and paying out millions in refunds.

Wells Fargo said it will now pay a total of $6.1 million to refund customers for unauthorized bank and credit card accounts, up from $3.3 million previously.

The bank also promised to pay $910,000 to refund customers for the 528,000 potentially improper online bill pay enrollments.

Additionally, Wells Fargo has agreed to a $142 million national class action settlement to cover fake accounts that were opened back to 2002. That settlement received preliminary approval from a federal judge in July.

Wells Fargo is struggling to put the fake account scandal that began in September 2016 behind it. New allegations of harming customers have rocked the bank in recent months.

In late July, Wells Fargo admitted to forcing up to 570,000 borrowers into unneeded auto insurance. About 20,000 of those customers may have had their cars repossessed due to these unnecessary insurance costs.

Wells Fargo has also been accused in a recent lawsuit of ripping off vulnerable mom-and-pop businesses on credit card fees — an allegation that the bank has denied.</s>Wells Fargo fake accounts scandal grows, with bank now saying 3.5 million accounts were opened without customers' OK. .</s>Wells Fargo (WFC) on Thursday disclosed that its fake accounts scandal affected up to 3.5 million customers in total, far more than the 2.1 million accounts it previously said were possibly opened without customers’ knowledge.

The San Francisco-based bank first acknowledged in September 2016 that employees opened scores of unauthorized accounts since 2011. It subsequently revamped its pay structure and eliminated sales goals, moving away from policies that encouraged branch employees to open multiple accounts for customers. After news reports indicated that the problem dated back to 2009, Wells Fargo launched a new review of account data.

Wells Fargo said the third-party review revealed up to 1.4 million additional fake accounts, and the total number of accounts that incurred fees and charges grew to 190,000. The bank will provide another $2.8 million in refunds and credits on top of the $3.3 million it already refunded to affected customers.

Also, Wells Fargo said 528,000 customers were enrolled in its online bill pay service without signing up for it. Those customers will receive a combined $910,000 in refunds.

“We apologize to everyone who was harmed by unacceptable sales practices that occurred in our retail bank,” Wells Fargo CEO Tim Sloan said in a statement.

Wells Fargo recently settled a class-action lawsuit for $142 million, and a federal judge preliminarily approved the agreement in July. The lawsuit covered allegations of fake accounts opened since 2002.</s>NEW YORK (AP) – Wells Fargo is now saying 3.5 million customers were impacted by its fake accounts scandal, a dramatic increase from the 2.1 million accounts it originally estimated.

In the weeks and months after the bank acknowledged in September 2016 that its employees opened 2.1 million accounts without getting customers’ permission, the bank agreed to look for fake accounts going back an additional two years to 2009. This was because news reports showed that problems at Wells started before 2011, which is what Wells originally admitted.

Wells plans to pay out an additional $2.8 million in refunds to the impacted customers.

Separately Wells also found 528,000 customers were signed up for online bill pay when they did not ask for it. The bank will give $910,000 in refunds to those customers.

WHAT OTHERS ARE CLICKING ON:
• HOW TO HELP VICTIMS OF HURRICANE HARVEY</s>An internal investigation at Wells Fargo revealed that the bank’s fake account scandal is a much larger issue than anyone thought.

Nearly a year ago, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and the city and county of Los Angeles levied a $185 million fine against Wells Fargo for 5,000 of the bank’s former employees opening as many as 2.1 million accounts without authorization in order to get sales bonuses.

As it turns out, the number of potentially fake accounts was actually 3.5 million – 1.4 million more than first thought.

In the wake of the bank’s fine, the bank’s CEO and chairman John Stumpf resigned, the bank revoked the 2016 bonuses for its top executives, clawed back even more money from several top execs, fired four senior managers in February, tossed out another two executives in March, and split the role of chairman and CEO after Stumpf stepped down.

The bank is also nearing a $142 million settlement in a class action lawsuit brought by the customers affected by the fake accounts.

The bank also launched an independent investigation into the fake account issue, and back in March, the bank warned that the investigation could show that there were more fake accounts opened by the bank’s employees.

The results of Wells Fargo’s investigation, released Thursday, show exactly that.

According to the bank, its original account analysis reviewed 93.5 million current and former customer accounts opened in an approximately from May 2011 through mid-2015, and found approximately 2.1 million “potentially unauthorized” accounts.

But the bank expanded its investigation to cover a longer period of time – from January 2009 through September 2016. That investigation revealed that there were approximately 3.5 million potentially unauthorized consumer and small business accounts opened during that time.

According to the bank, this new investigation “erred on the side of customers” by conducting “data-driven” analysis and looking at account usage patterns of consumer and small business checking, savings, and unsecured credit card and line of credit account data.

The expanded investigation found that not only were there more total potentially fake accounts opened, there were actually more fake accounts opened in the original review period than first thought.

During the original time period, from May 2011 through mid-2015, Wells Fargo’s investigation found that there were actually 2.55 million potentially fake accounts opened, up from the 2.1 million fake accounts originally thought to be opened during that time.

The expanded investigation found that in the time period outside of that original window, from January 2009 all the way through September 2016, there were 981,000 potentially fake accounts opened.

According to the bank, of those 3.5 million potentially fake accounts, approximately 190,000 accounts incurred fees and charges, up from 130,000 previously identified accounts that incurred fees and charges. The bank said that it will provide a total of $2.8 million in additional refunds and credits in addition to the $3.3 million previously refunded as a result of the original account review.

But that wasn’t all the new investigation found.

The expanded analysis included a review of online bill pay services, as required by the consent orders signed as part of the original CFPB fine.

That review found that during the nearly eight-year review period, the bank engaged in approximately 528,000 potentially unauthorized online bill pay enrollments. The bank said that it will refund $910,000 to customers who incurred unauthorized fees or charges during the time.

In addition to the original remediation efforts, Wells Fargo said that already provided more than $3.7 million in refunds and credits to customers for complaints and mediation claims from Sept. 8, 2016, through July 31, 2017.

“We apologize to everyone who was harmed by unacceptable sales practices that occurred in our retail bank,” Wells Fargo CEO Tim Sloan said in statement.

“To rebuild trust and to build a better Wells Fargo, our first priority is to make things right for our customers, and the completion of this expanded third-party analysis is an important milestone,” Sloan continued. “Through this expanded review, as well as the class action settlement, free mediation services, and ongoing outreach and complaint resolution, we’ve cast a wide net to reach customers and address their remaining concerns. Our commitment has never been stronger to build a better bank for our customers, team members, shareholders and communities.”

Wells Fargo said that it will so begin communicating with affected customers who are part of class action lawsuit that led to a $142 million settlement to ensure that they receive their part of the settlement.

Wells Fargo also encourages customers who believe they had a fake account opened in their name to contact the bank to receive appropriate remediation and compensation.

“As always, we welcome – and encourage – customers with questions or concerns to visit a branch or call our contact center,” Sloan added. “There is nothing more important to me and to Wells Fargo than rebuilding trust with our customers and helping them succeed financially. We are working hard to ensure this never happens again and to build a better bank for the future.”</s>Wells Fargo admitted today that an additional 1.4 million fraudulent accounts may have been created by its employees over an eight year span, in addition to the 2.1 million such accounts that were revealed last year.

The new figure is the result of a second company investigation that delved into 165 million retail banking accounts that were opened between January 2009 and September 2016, the company said in a statement. The original 2.1 million fake accounts were found during a separate study of 93 million accounts that were created between May 2011 and 2015.

In order to make the false accounts appear legitimate the workers accessed their customer's personal records and created fake email addresses and enrolled the accounts in various online banking programs using the names and personal information of actual Wells Fargo customers. Debit cards and PINs were also issued in the customer's name.

The scheme resulted in about 130,000 customers being charged fines for having insufficient funds and overdraft fees on the fake accounts that they did not know existed in their names. Customers were also charged finance and interest charges on the unauthorized cards created in their name.

The new study found additional 60,000 people had been similarly charged. Wells Fargo said in a statement these victims will be reimbursed.

“We apologize to everyone who was harmed by unacceptable sales practices that occurred in our retail bank,” said Wells Fargo CEO Tim Sloan.

Sloan replaced John Stumpf, who was forced out of his position by the scandal that also saw 5,300 Wells Fargo employees fired. In addition, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau fined the company $185 million. The Bureaus report found that employees created the false accounts in order to meet sales goals.

“Spurred by sales targets and compensation incentives, employees boosted sales figures by covertly opening accounts and funding them by transferring funds from consumers' authorized accounts without their knowledge or consent, often racking up fees or other charges,” the CFPB wrote.</s>The scope of Wells Fargo's fake accounts scandal grew significantly on Thursday (31 August), with the bank now saying that 3.5 million accounts were potentially opened without customers' permission between 2009 and 2016.

That's up from 2.1 million accounts that the bank had cited in September 2016, when it acknowledged that employees under pressure to meet aggressive sales targets had opened accounts that customers might not have even been aware existed.

People may have had different kinds of accounts in their names, so the number of customers affected may differ from the account total.

Wells Fargo said Thursday that about half a million of the newly discovered accounts were missed during the original review, which covered the years 2011 to 2015.

After Wells Fargo acknowledged the fake accounts last year, evidence quickly appeared that the sales practices problems dated back even further. So Wells Fargo hired an outside consulting firm to analyse 165 million retail bank accounts opened between 2009 and 2016.

Wells said the firm found that, along with the 2.1 million accounts originally disclosed, 981,000 more accounts were found in the expanded timeline. And roughly 450,000 accounts were found in the original window.

The scandal was the biggest in Wells Fargo's history. It cost then-CEO John Stumpf his job, and the bank's once-sterling industry reputation was in tatters. The company ended up paying $185m (£143.7m) to regulators and settled a class-action suit for $142m.

New managers have been trying to amends with customers, politicians and the public. But it's been tough, as new revelations keep coming.

Wells Fargo said last month that roughly 570,000 customers were signed up for and billed for car insurance that they didn't need or necessarily know about. Many couldn't afford the extra costs and fell behind in their payments, and in about 20,000 cases, cars were repossessed.

Other customers have filed lawsuits against Wells Fargo saying they were victims of unfair overdraft practices. Wells Fargo is also still under several investigations for its sales practices problems, including a congressional inquiry and one by the Justice Department.

Wells Fargo said Thursday that of the 3.5 million accounts potentially opened without permission, 190,000 of those incurred fees and charges. That's up from 130,000 that the bank originally said. Wells Fargo will refund $2.8m to customers, in addition to the $3.3m it already agreed to pay.

In addition, San Francisco-based Wells admitted that 528,000 customers were likely signed up for online bill payment without authorisation. It'll refund $910,000 in fees to those customers.

Since last fall, Wells has changed its sales practices, ousted other executives and called tens of millions of customers to check on whether they truly opened the accounts.

"To rebuild trust and to build a better Wells Fargo, our first priority is to make things right for our customers, and the completion of this expanded third-party analysis is an important milestone," Wells Fargo CEO Tim Sloan said in a statement.</s>The scope of Wells Fargo's fake accounts scandal grew significantly on Thursday, with the bank now saying that 3.5 million accounts were potentially opened without customers' permission between 2009 and 2016.Wells Fargo also acknowledged that roughly half a million of the newly discovered accounts were missed during the original review of the years 2011 to 2015 when the bank admitted the scandal nearly a year ago.After Wells Fargo said last year that its employees under pressure to meet aggressive sales targets had opened up to 2.1 million accounts between 2011 and 2015 without getting customers' permission, evidence quickly appeared that the bank's sales practices problems dated back even further.So Wells Fargo last year hired an outside consulting firm to do an analysis of 165 million retail bank accounts opened between 2009 and 2016.The firm found that, along with the 2.1 million accounts originally disclosed, 981,000 more accounts were found in the expanded timeline of 2009 to September 2016, Wells said. And roughly 450,000 accounts were found in the original window.Of the 3.5 million accounts potentially opened without permission, 190,000 of those incurred fees and charges, Wells said. That's up from 130,000 that the bank originally said. Wels Fargo will refund $2.8 million to the affected customers, in addition to the $3.3 million the bank already agreed to pay.In addition, Wells admitted that 528,000 customers were likely signed up for online bill payment without authorization as well. The bank will refund $910,000 in fees to those affected customers."To rebuild trust and to build a better Wells Fargo, our first priority is to make things right for our customers, and the completion of this expanded third-party analysis is an important milestone," Wells Fargo CEO Tim Sloan said in a statement.Wells Fargo has been trying to repair its reputation since the admission about the possibly fake accounts last fall. The company ended up paying $185 million to regulators and settled a class-action suit for $142 million.</s>Wells Fargo just can't get past its fake account scandal.

On Thursday, the bank acknowledged it had created more bogus customer accounts than previously estimated. An outside review discovered that 1.4 million more potentially unauthorized accounts were opened between January 2009 and September 2016.

That brings the total to 3.5 million potentially fake accounts — two-thirds more than the 2.1 million the bank had previously acknowledged.

That's not terribly surprising, actually, since questions have been raised for months about whether the bank initially looked at too narrow a time span when it reviewed the fraudulent-account scandal.

Last year, it came to light that a pressure-cooker sales culture at the bank had pushed thousands of employees to sign up customers for credit cards and checking accounts that they didn't want or know about. The bank initially reviewed accounts from mid-2011 through mid-2015.

The latest review looked at a window of time twice as long — from January 2009 through September 2016 — and found the additional accounts.

It also found that about 190,000 of the 3.5 million potentially unauthorized accounts incurred charges and fees. The bank says it will provide an additional $2.8 million in customer refunds and credits.

"We apologize to everyone who was harmed by unacceptable sales practices that occurred in our retail bank," Wells Fargo CEO Timothy Sloan said in a statement.

This most recent revelation is likely to ratchet up the congressional and regulatory scrutiny that Wells Fargo already faces. Federal and state investigations are ongoing. The fake-account scandal has taken a financial and reputational toll on the bank: Former CEO John Stumpf retired last year, and the bank was ordered to pay $185 million in fines and penalties for opening accounts without customer permission.

Earlier this summer, news broke of yet another scandal, this one involving some 490,000 auto loan customers whom Wells Fargo signed up for insurance they didn't need. The bank has acknowledged that tens of thousands of people wound up in default, which affected credit scores. And thousands had their cars repossessed.

The bank also faces a series of lawsuits, including a racketeering case, over allegations that it overcharged homeowners for appraisals after they defaulted on mortgage loans.

The sales practices at Wells Fargo have come under harsh criticism in Congress, most notably from Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., who has sought the ouster of 12 bank board members over the scandal. In a letter to Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen, Warren said the Fed has the legal authority to oust those board members who served at the bank while customer accounts were being created without permission. Yellen has called Wells Fargo's activities during this period "egregious and unacceptable" and hasn't ruled out ousting the board members.

Former branch workers at Wells Fargo have told NPR they faced unrelenting pressure from managers to open as many customer accounts as possible.

Some of them say they were fired after trying to blow the whistle by complaining to the bank's ethics hotline. They say the bank retaliated not only by firing them but by putting negative comments on their permanent records in the banking industry, which has prevented them from finding other jobs with banks and financial firms. There is an ongoing Senate inquiry over the issue. Wells Fargo has said it is disturbed to hear such reports and is also looking into the matter.

Meanwhile, Wells Fargo has opened an Office of Ethics, Oversight and Integrity to oversee internal investigations and implement better monitoring systems to try to prevent future scandals.
Wells Fargo reports finding an additional 1.4 million potentially fake bank and credit card accounts, bringing the total problematic accounts to approximately 3.5 million.