U.S. Bank opened fake accounts for unsuspecting customers
CBSN
One of the largest banks in the U.S. illegally opened accounts for customers without their permission, according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).
Minneapolis-based U.S. Bank, with over $559 billion in assets, accessed unsuspecting customers' credit reports, opened checking and savings accounts, credit cards and lines of credit without customers' authorization in order to increase sales, the CFPB found in a five-year-long investigation.
U.S. Bank knew its employees were opening the unauthorized accounts, but failed to regulate them, according to the CFPB. The bank imposed sales goals on workers and introduced an incentive-compensation program that financially rewarded employees for selling its products like deposit accounts and credit cards, the CFPB said.
Ashley White received her earliest combat action badge from the United States Army soon after the first lieutenant arrived in Afghanistan. The silver military award, recognizing soldiers who've been personally engaged by an attacker during conflict, was considered an achievement in and of itself as well as an affirming rite of passage for the newly deployed. White had earned it for using her own body to shield a group of civilian women and children from gunfire that broke out in the midst of her third mission in Kandahar province. All of them survived. She never mentioned the badge to anyone in her battalion.