Dump Wells Fargo!

If you bank with Wells Fargo it's time to dump that scandal-plagued institution and find another bank, or better yet, a credit union. Why would any consumer continue doing business with a bank that defrauds its customers? The scandal has been front page news in The Wall Street Journal for the past week. Bank policies resulted in high pressure on low-paid employees to con customers into buying additional bank products they didn't really want and even making up fictitious customer accounts to make it appear as if the bank were growing.  It's really sad the CEO John Stumpf is collecting an outrageous salary while the bank has now fired the low-paid employees that were subject to pressure to produce or lose their jobs!
I know from experience that it is a time-consuming process to change financial institutions, especially when you have automatic deposits and payments but it is absurd to give this bank your business now that it's egregious policies (toward both customers and low-level employees) is public.
"Cross-selling," encouraging customers to buy other bank products, is common in the industry but WF took the practice to fraudulent extremes and now is punishing their employees who had no choice. The head of the unit that perpetrated this practice got a $125 million payout and is being allowed to retire with full benefits! The fired employees are out of a job for doing what their bosses insisted they do!
Almost everyone qualifies to join a credit union, financial institutions that are member-owned rather than stock holder-owned. Virtually every research study that has compared banks and credit unions on interest rates paid on savings and rates charged for loans has concluded that consumers are better off with a credit union than a bank.
Sometimes consumers feel helpless to bring about change. But this one is simple. DUMP WELLS FARGO! There are lots of much better options! If you stay with this bank you are voting for more of the same egregious behavior!
Read the Washington Post editorial (9/22/16): "Accountability at Wells Fargo" at the Salt Lake Tribune's website: http://www.sltrib.com/opinion/4384134-155/washington-post-editorial-accountability-at-wells
and Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank's opinion: "Wells Fargo: Too big to fail, too arrogant to admit it" https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/wells-fargo-too-big-to-fail-too-arrogant-to-admit-it/2016/09/20/5c7ee1fe-7f6e-11e6-9070-5c4905bf40dc_story.html