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Scandal Plagued Wells Fargo gets Hit Again

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More problems at Wells Fargo. Emily Glazer and Ruth Simon report that the Merchant Services LLC branch of Wells Fargo has fired at least two dozen employees over the last two years after a probe found them falsely reporting customers’ sales and pushing costly contracts on small businesses. This comes after the market-shaking scandal last fall that saw millions of fake accounts opened for customers without their knowledge. They write:

Wells Fargo discovered the full scale of abuses in the merchant-services business after undertaking a broad examination of the bank’s business practices in light of the account-opening scandal.

Wells Fargo said in a statement it has taken “significant steps” over the past several years to strengthen Wells Fargo Merchant Services, its merchant-processing unit for credit- and debit-card payments. The bank had fired some merchant-processing employees before the wider scandal broke last fall. After taking a deeper look into the business in the wake of those problems, it terminated several other employees and revamped the unit.

Merchant processing, which involves helping businesses handle debit- and credit-card transactions for customers, might seem like a mundane business. But small-business owners and industry participants say high-pressure sales tactics are common. They add that complex pricing structures and costly early termination penalties that can lock customers into contracts are also prevalent.

Read more here.

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E.J. Smith - Your Survival Guy

E.J. Smith is Founder of YourSurvivalGuy.com, Managing Director at Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd., a Managing Editor of Richardcyoung.com, and Editor-in-Chief of Youngresearch.com. His focus at all times is on preparing clients and readers for “Times Like These.” E.J. graduated from Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, with a B.S. in finance and investments. In 1995, E.J. began his investment career at Fidelity Investments in Boston before joining Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd. in 1998. E.J. has trained at Sig Sauer Academy in Epping, NH. His first drum set was a 5-piece Slingerland with Zilldjians. He grew-up worshiping Neil Peart (RIP) of the band Rush, and loves the song Tom Sawyer—the name of his family’s boat, a Grady-White Canyon 306. He grew up in Mattapoisett, MA, an idyllic small town on the water near Cape Cod. He spends time in Newport, RI and Bartlett, NH—both as far away from Wall Street as one could mentally get. The Newport office is on a quiet, tree lined street not far from the harbor and the log cabin in Bartlett, NH, the “Live Free or Die” state, sits on the edge of the White Mountain National Forest. He enjoys spending time in Key West and Paris. Please get in touch with E.J. at ejsmith@yoursurvivalguy.com