Lost in this week’s spectacular yet inevitable revelations that Wells Fargo illicitly opened millions of unauthorized customer accounts is the company’s illegal treatment of people living with disabilities.
Wells Fargo was ordered to pay $16 million in compensation and fines in 2011 in a settlement for denying access to facilities, products and services to people with disabilities. Why am I bringing this up now? Because, 5 years later, the discrimination is still going on.
As part of launching my businesses I have unsuccessfully tried to open small business accounts with Wells Fargo using the internet, telephone, and in person. They will not accept my computer speech as my voice, do not accept electronic signatures, and I can’t get in their branches. By their on admission, 5 years after their settlement, Wells Fargo has made fewer than one-third of their branches accessible.
What really burns me, though, is that head of Community Banking Carrie Tolstedt is retiring after this year with a $125 million bonus.